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Published: November 29th 2006
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Last week I had the privilege of visiting Kyoto for a third time. I have already shared a fair amount about the wonders of Kyoto, so I will just focus on a few highlights.
- The "Moss Temple". This was truly a unique experience, and I suspect relatively few westerners are able to make it out to this one. The general public requires special permission to visit, and because of this, the place was tranquil and serene - just the way a temple should be. The temple grounds are covered in a bright green moss, and because it is fall, many of the trees had turned a lovely red hue. Before seeing the grounds, we spent some time in the temple itself, first listening to the monks chant and then copying about 100 kanji characters on a large sheet of paper. In the middle of writing the characters, a monk came up to our row and started talking Japanese in a loud, somewhat authoritative voice. You need to picture the serenity of the temple atmosphere to get a sense of the scene that was being made in our immediate vicinity. I soon realized that I was the cause of the
scene. While he exchanged words with my friend sitting beside me, I was sure that I had committed some sort of faux pas. As it turns out, he was just telling my friend to tell me to write as many kanji characters as possible, and then to write down my wish in English on the same sheet of paper. The process of writing the characters felt relaxing and almost meditative. While my Japanese friends completed writing in about 10 or 15 minutes, I managed to only finish about a quarter in the same time.
- The night of my arrival, I visited two absolutely beautiful temples. It was dark, and the grounds were all lit up. As a result, the red and oragne trees seemed even more vibrant than during the day. Indeed, it is a magical time of year in Japan. It seems thousands flocked to see this, and in particular, young couples in their 20s and 30s. At one point, as we were walking back towards the car I heard a young man yell something very loud to the rest of crowd. (From what I can tell, spontaneous acts of yelling is a bit unusual in Japan).
Apparently he had yelled out something like "My girlfriend is the best!" This echoed throughout the grounds, and it was refreshing to hear this fellow so boldly express himself in this way.
- First Osaka visit. We stayed in Osaka. Osaka is definitely not Kure. For lack of a better description, it seems a little rougher around the edges. Probably one of my most memorable hotel experiences. It was just me and another girl in a hotel room that was bigger than my small Japanese apartment. I had a fantastic view of Osaka, and curiously, a fantastic view of a building called "Hal." I had intended to take a picture, but they turned off the "Hal" light before I got a chance. Don't worry dad, I'm sure it isn't a sign.
- Private dining in a traditional Japanese reataurant. We had our own private room, our servers wore kimonos, and we ate about five different courses of traditional Japanese fare.
- Dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant in Hiroshima. So far, I have been to this restaurant three times. This was the most memorable. I feel like the cooks decided to take it up a notch and
Battling Bell
Apparently this bell aided in keeping enemies at bay. The samurai rang the bell, and it helped defeat approaching armies. see how far they could push my culinary boundaries. Course four ended up being a full-on fish fest, complete with head and body in broth, cut up into three pieces, with fins, eyes, mouth and cheeks. I calmly started eating from the main body, quietly contemplating whether or not I would have enough courage to take on the head. I ate as much as I could, pulling out skeletal tissue, pulling off fins, all the while trying to imagine that I was eating chicken. When I got to the head, I had had enough. Tired of being the "flexible" foreigner I assertively told my friend that I would not eat the head. In the past, she has taken great pleasure in tricking me - I have eaten cow tongue thinking it was plain old beef, and stomach intestine thinking it was some kind of mushroom. She has a way of leaving out vital info. Anyways, I got to the head and said "I'm sorry, I just can't do it. The fish is looking at me and I don't really like to get to know my dinner." She seemed amused. Anyways, she was pleased to take the extra fish, which was
really quite tasty once you got over the details. And there it was. I tried not to watch as she pulled the eyes right out of the sockets, and popped them in her mouth like they were candy.
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Adeline
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I knew you'd savour...
... every moment and diarize the whole experience. You'll love to look back at it when you're in Canada again. I can see you there as I read your descriptive comments about each area. Makes me want to take a peek at that part of the world some day. So different from Europe, yet so rich in history. Enjoy - and thanks for taking us along on the journey!