30 April 2009

Checkout was at 11am, so I was up and ready by 10:30am. I got a really good night’s rest last night since the bed was big and comfortable. We met in the lobby but were held up a bit since an incident happened last night with some of my classmates. Basically, we were hanging out in two different groups: eleven people were up in the Oval Building drinking and the other seven people were in my room watching movies and just hanging out. Supposedly, the eleven drunk people broke into the hot tub at the hotel and ended up getting caught. Since the hotel is also a museum, the hot tub and surrounding area require reservations and is considered a piece of artwork. Basically, Norio and Don had a lot of explaining and apologizing to do, but the hotel has thus far taken no action against anyone. It really made the dynamic of our group really awkward since the seven of us who weren’t drinking or involved were still classified with everyone who was. After leaving the hotel, we went as a group to the Chichu Art Museum. I’m really glad that we were still able to at least go to that museum since it turned out to be the best museum I have ever been to so far in my life. The building itself was done by Tadao Ando, and the spaces were absolutely amazing. Within the museum, there were four Claude Monet pieces: Water-Lily Pond 1915-26, Water Lilies, Water-Lily Pond 1917-19, and Water Lilies Reflections of Weeping Willows. They were breathtaking, and I absolutely love Monet’s works. On top of that, there were three installations by James Turrell, a master of manipulation of light and illusion. There was the Afrum Pale Blue, Open Field, and Open Sky. Afrum Pale Blue is one of my all-time favorites, and I still can’t believe I was able to see it in person! Finally, there was an installation by Walter De Maria call “Time/Timeless/No Time”. This took up an entire room and was really cool to walk through.
After finishing up with the Chichu Art Museum, Don asked the eleven people who were involved with the incident last night to leave the island and head to our next destination in Himeji. The remaining seven of us, eight including Don, grabbed some lunch at a small vegetarian restaurant. I ordered somen, and it was really good, especially since all of the noodle dishes I have had so far have been hot. Afterwards, we rushed to see the six Art Houses located on the island. Art Houses are basically houses that have been restored and transformed into works of art by artists. The six we visited were Kadoya by Tatsuo Miyajima, Minamidera by James Turrell and Tadao Ando, Go’o Shrine by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ishibashi by Hiroshi Senju, Gokaisho by Yoshihiro Suda, and Haisha by Shinro Ohtake. Each of the Art Houses were completely different and really interesting. Minamidera was probably my favorite one out of the six houses since it was done by two of my favorite designers.
By the time we were done with the Art Houses, it was almost 5:00pm. We took the Benesse House shuttle back to the Park Building to get our bags, then took the shuttle to the port to hop on the ferry. Once we docked in Uno, we had about an hour to kill before our train would leave for Okayama. We all split up for food since it was the most time efficient. Derrick and I decided to go to a ramen place since we both like it a lot. The place only had bar seating, and their menu was hung above the seats. Nothing was written in English, and there were no pictures. Basically, Derrick and I ended up just pointing to a ramen dish that someone else already had. It was pretty hilarious. We had no idea what we were getting, but in the end, it turned out to be really really good. We didn’t even know how much it cost, so since we both got the same dish, we both put in 1,000 yen and split the change. The bowl of ramen ended up being only 630 yen. It was a good price. We caught the train for an hour back to Okayama, then jumped on the Shinkansen for one stop to arrive safely in Himeji. We checked into the Toyoko Inn, and the rest of the night we relaxed. My right knee is kind of sore from all the walking and hiking I have done recently, so I hope the rest will allow it to heal so it won’t be so painful to walk tomorrow.

29 April 2009

I woke-up at 8:00am this morning, since Derrick and I planned on taking advantage of the complimentary breakfast offered by the hotel at 8:30am. We went downstairs together and enjoyed everything they had. I had two types of nigiri, miso soup, cabbage salad, tsukemono, sliced bread, and a buttered roll. It was very good, and I’m glad I was able to save some money by not having to spend money on breakfast. We met in the lobby at 9:30am and left for our next destination: Naoshima. We took two trains and a ferry to get there. I am continually surprised by how calm the waters are and how smooth the ferry rides are. The ferry ride was much longer than the one to get to Miyajima, but it was a nice change from riding the trains and subway. Upon arriving at the dock in Naoshima, I could already tell that that city was going to be unlike anything I have seen and experienced so far. It was completely small, historic, and somewhat desolate. I couldn’t differentiate a house, from a restaurant, from a store. It was really strange. I honestly have no idea how people are able to live there. We took the Benesse House shuttle bus to our hotel, which is ironically located above the Benesse House Museum. The hotel is technically composed of three different areas, so we were split amongst all of the buildings in order to see all of them. I was set to room with Shae, Trudy, and Karen in the only quadruple room. We were in the rooms located directly over the museum. Our room is by far the largest room out of everyone’s, and it is by far the nicest place I have EVER stayed it. Oh my gosh, I can’t even put it into words! We have a beautiful wall of windows overlooking the ocean, along with a living room, kitchen, huge bathroom, and four beds. It is amazing! There isn’t really anything else to do on this island, but this Tadao Ando project is by far the best project we have seen so far. The rooms are amazing. I took the time to go visit everyone else’s rooms, and they are pretty cool too. The Oval Building, which is probably the most famous of the three buildings here, is located on top of the mountain above the museum. You actually have to take a monorail to the top, but there is also the option of stairs if you want. The monorail is really slow, so I actually prefer the stairs. The Oval Building was definitely very cool, but I still prefer my location at the bottom of the hill. The views from every room are definitely amazing nonetheless. The third building is the Park Building. It is located even below the Benesse House Museum, and only Don, Derrick, and Blake are staying in those rooms. I really liked that building by Ando since it combined the use of natural wood with his usual use of concrete.
For lunch, we once again took the shuttle bus back to the Naoshima Port area. If I wasn’t with Don and Norio, I would’ve never found a place to eat at since they just look like ordinary houses. None of the restaurants could hold more that a couple of us, so we all had to split up. I ended up going to a small restaurant with Don, Derrick, Seth, and Jeff. I have no idea how anyone else was able to order since none of the restaurants seemed to have pictures or English. The restaurant we chose only had two tables and could seat a maximum of nine people. My bedroom at home is easily larger than the size of that restaurant, and it was truly a home-cooked meal that we received. Since I am totally in love with ramen, I ordered the regular ramen for 550 yen. It was so delicious, and I wish we were staying here longer so I could enjoy it again.
After lunch, we all met up again at a central point and proceeded to follow Don to probably the only grocery store on the island. There is literally nothing around our hotel, so Don suggested that we buy food and snacks to hold us over in the hotel. The groceries were priced fairly reasonably, so I got two bananas, bottled tea, a bento box for dinner, and some sembei for snack. It was less than 900 yen for all of it. We took the shuttle bus back to the hotel and basically stayed there for the rest of the evening. It is really weird to not have anything to explore in the direct vicinity of the hotel. A small group of us hung out on my room’s balcony and watched the sunset. It was really pretty, but it would’ve been even better if the sky wasn’t so hazy. Shae, Derrick, Seth, and I watched movies and tv shows for the remainder of the evening in my living room. Everyone else was drinking, so we weren’t interested in hanging out with them. Tomorrow we won’t be leaving Naoshima until around 7pm, so I plan to spend the day visiting the Benesse House Museum, the Art House, and a James Turrell project. Our next destination is Himeji, so I’m sure new adventures will await me there as well.

28 April 2009

I decided to sleep in this morning, and it was one of the best things I could’ve done. Traveling during this week-long trip has been really great, but it has also been really tiresome since we are constantly moving. Today, after sleeping in, Shae, Jeff, Derrick, and I took the local train to Kurashiki. The weather was really weird; it was raining, then sunny, then windy, then hot. Good thing I took my umbrella and jacket! Our first stop was the City Art Museum by Kenzo Tange. It was a large concrete structure, but it was poorly executed. The lack of quality in construction directed the attention away from the good features of the building and instead created focus around the less favorable ones. So far, I definitely haven’t been impressed by any of Kenzo Tange’s projects, but hopefully I will see better pieces of work in the future. The next place we visited in Kurashiki was the Oyama Memorial Museum. It was raining, so we didn’t spend long looking at that building. Next, on our way to the Ivy Academic Hall, we stopped to enjoy the atmosphere of the Historic Avenue of Kurashiki. It was really small and very historic, which created a really interesting area. The Ivy Academic Hall, which was just a few blocks away, was very strange. It consisted of a huge red brick wall on three sides, with only one arched opening on one side. Once inside the courtyard, the feeling of the space changed completely and was actually very pleasant. It wasn’t the most interesting space, but the use of ivy growing on the brick walls was really beautiful with the contrast of colors. The weather began to clear up, so we decided to continue to explore Kurashiki. We walked back across the small river running through the city and walked by the Ohara Museum of Art and Museum of Architecture and Found Objects. The buildings were nice, but we didn’t have time to explore the inside. There was just too much to see in such a little amount of time. Right across the street from the museums was the Ohara House. This, too, was a historic building with very nice wood detailing that I wish we would’ve had more time to look at on the inside. Lastly, we visited Achi Shrine and Honeiji Temple. Achi Shrine reminded me a lot of Ise Shrine, and it was at the top of a very steep hill. We were already sore from the long hike yesterday at Mount Misen, so doing more stairs was nice to help get blood flowing to all of my muscles.
After finishing up at Kurashiki, we jumped back on the same local train we took to get there and rode it back to Okayama. Once we got back to Okayama, we walked for 30 minutes to Korakuen Garden. It was a huge garden that was alongside the river, and it cost 550 yen to get in. It was one of the largest garden I’ve been in so far, and it was absolutely lovely. When we first got there, it was raining pretty hard, but after about 10 minutes, it cleared up to be bright and sunny. The garden was really peaceful, and there were lots of areas with different types of greenery and plants. From within the garden, we were additionally able to see the top of Okayamajo Castle. We had no idea that it was even nearby, so we ventured over to the castle after we were done exploring Korakuen Garden. Since it was almost 6pm, we figured that we wouldn’t be able to get within the castle grounds in order to even photograph it. Luckily, we were wrong, and the castle grounds were completely open. We obviously couldn’t get within the castle itself, but being able to walk up to the castle exterior was impressive enough (and free)! By the end of walking around Okayamajo Castle, we were all completely done for the day. We walked for 30 minutes to get back to our hotel and got ramen in Okayama Station before retiring to our hotel for the night.
Tomorrow, we will move again, and this time, it will be to Naoshima. Naoshima is another one of Japan’s islands, so we will have two train rides and a ferry ride to get there. We will leave at 9:30am in order to get to the island somewhat early. We will be staying at the Benesse House, which was designed by Tadao Ando. I had no idea what to expect, but I am really excited to finally have the opportunity to stay in one of Ando’s projects!

27 April 2009

Jeff, Shae, and I woke-up early this morning to begin our trip through Miyajima. We had breakfast that was provided by the Ryokan, and it was really good. I had the Japanese-style breakfast, and everyone else had the American-style breakfast. The Japanese-style breakfast actually turned out to be a lot more food (and better) than the Amercian-style breakfast, so I was glad that I made that selection. After finishing, we departed the Ryokan around 8am to begin our long day. We began by walking to the Ropeway, which was a gondola that took us up the majority of Mount Misen. The elevation to the very top of Mount Misen was 1,700 feet. We stopped on the way at a small vendor to get snow cones since the weather was already getting warm, and the old lady who served us was really cute! As we sat and enjoyed the nice weather, Derrick and Seth randomly ran into us. The Ropeway was a lot of fun, but it was scary as we descended higher and higher up the mountain with seemingly nothing below us. It cost us each 1,000 yen, but it was worth every bit of it since the hike probably would’ve killed me. Once at the top of the gondola route, we were at a secondary viewpoint of the opposite side of Miyajima, and there was a monkey park. We took lots of photos of the view and monkeys. It reminded me a lot of the monkey park we visited while staying in Kyoto.
After photographing the monkeys for a really long time, we proceeded to hike up to the peak of Mount Misen where there was an observatory. The weather was warm, and the hike took about half an hour. It was intense but very much worth it. The top was very simple and had only some large natural boulders and a three level observation platform. The view around the island was clear for all 360 degrees. We even ran into our classmate Blake while up at the top, but he was traveling around the mountain the opposite way. After many more photographs, we descended the mountain the opposite way we ascended it. It was all very steep downhill traveling, and it was hard on all of our knees and feet. We stopped at a stone dam and took some really cool photos and also saw some deer on the mountainside. It took us over an hour to descend the mountain, and we were completely exhausted by the end of it. At the base of the mountain, we stopped to visit Daisho-in Temple. It was located on the mountainside, so that involved a lot of stairs as well.
For lunch, we ended up running into Don while in the downtown area of Miyajima. We invited him to join us for lunch since he usually has no one to eat with. We went to a simple noodle and rice place, and I ordered oyster udon. Miyajima is famous for its oysters, so I had to try them. They were absolutely huge, but I really enjoyed them. Oysters have never been one of my favorites, but they were definitely very tasty, and I would recommend them to everyone. After lunch, we explored the shopping arcade area and just hung out. We had to conserve energy in order to make it through the rest of the day. The group was scheduled to leave the island at 4:40pm, but Don gave us the option of staying later if we wanted to. Jeff, Shae, Derrick, and I all decided we would stay a little bit longer in order to visit Senjokaku Temple. Senjokaku Temple is famous for its 1000 tatami mats that define its floor.
At around 6pm, we grabbed our luggage from the Ryokan and returned to Japan’s mainland via the JR ferry. From there, we caught the local train, then transferred to the Shinkansen to get to Okayama. We ended up missing the correct transfer point for the Shinkansen, so we lost a bit of time in finding the next transfer station, but in the end, it all worked out. We arrived in Okayama around 9pm and checked-in at the Toyoko Inn. This time, we had shared rooms again, so I was with Trudy as usual. Since we got in later, Jeff, Shae, Derrick, and I went to get dinner and ended up just settling for McDonald’s since we were unfamiliar with the area. Norio joined us since he wanted to take a break from his roommate. The rest of the night the five of us hung out in Jeff and Shae’s room since most other people were already doing other stuff. Tomorrow we are supposed to visit Kurashiki and a garden in Okayama. Don is taking a group at 10am, but he told us we can do stuff at our own pace if we want since this week-long trip is technically our “vacation” time and break from school. Jeff, Shae, Derrick, and I plan on sleeping in until around 10am, then leave around 11am since we haven’t had the chance to sleep-in in a really long time. We are all completely exhausted, so a long and good night’s rest will benefit all of us.

26 April 2009

Even though I went to bed somewhat early last night, I still overslept a bit this morning. I was planning to get up around 8am to get complementary breakfast in the hotel with Norio and Derrick at 8:30am. I woke-up at 9am however and ended up having to wake-up Derrick, who had overslept, as well. Since breakfast ended at 9:30am, we rushed downstairs after getting dressed and brushing our teeth. Breakfast consisted of toast, miso soup, nigiri, pickled vegetables, water, orange juice, tea, and coffee. I tried everything, and it was all very good. Afterwards, we packed up our stuff and met in the lobby at 10:30am. We left our luggage at the hotel in the lobby and embarked on our way to the A-Bomb site. Once at the site, we visited the Genbaku Dome (A-Bomb Dome) and the Memorial Museum. Seeing Genbaku Dome was a very moving and emotional experience. In a sense, it was almost surreal, and it was just really sad to think of all the suffering the bomb inflicted upon innocent bystander. The museum was really intense as well. For lunch, I got some yakitori and milk tea from the basement of a department store.
We all met back up at the hotel in Hiroshima, got our luggage, then proceeded to take the Shinkansen to Miyajima. We took the JR train line to get there since it wasn’t too far. After getting to the Miyajima subway station, we took the JR ferry boat to the actual island of Miyajima. All of this travel was, of course, free with our Japan Rail Passes.
When we got to Miyajima, we dragged our luggage to the Morinoyado Ryokan. The city had a completely different feel to it, but I definitely enjoyed it. We decided to have dinner at 6:30pm, so Jeff, Shae, and I ventured out to explore. We saw the famous tori gate in the water when the tide was low, so the entire bottom of the tori was exposed. It was really cool. For dinner, we had to wear our given ukatas and sit on the floor to eat. The Japanese dinner had some of the best food items I had ever eaten. I wish we were staying there longer. Since the hotel was technically a ryokan, Shae and I tried out the public bath together. It was an interesting experience to share with people that you know since you have to wash together in an open atmosphere and sit in the hot bath naked together. I really liked the relaxing nature of it, but it was still a bit awkward to do with friends.
The rest of my night was spent hanging out in Jeff, Derrick, Seth, and Blake’s room. It was Jeff’s 22nd birthday so we were all just hanging out and having a good time. Tomorrow we will have a full day of self-exploration in Miyajima, so I’m excited to see how that turns out.

25 April 2009

This morning was once again moving day. We had to be moved out of the weekly mansion by 11am, so I had to pack and clean all morning. We will continue to rent out one of the weekly mansion rooms for this upcoming week, so we can take only what we need for the week long trip. The designated room was Norio and Blake’s, so everyone moved their luggage into their small room. There was so much luggage that we could barely walk around in there. We weren’t scheduled to take the Shinkansen bullet train to Hiroshima until 3:49pm, so I wanted to visit one more site before leaving. It was horribly raining, but I decided upon Momoyama Castle. It was about five or six stops south from Kyoto Station on the JR Line, but I figured we had plenty of time. Jeff, Shae, and Derrick joined me for the journey.
I had initially seen Momoyama Castle from the top of Kyoto Tower, and I have wanted to visit it. I had researched that the actual castle was no longer open for viewing, but the castle grounds were supposedly very beautiful. Even though it was raining, the train ride would be free once I redeemed by first Japan Rail Pass. We walked to that station and grabbed a quick bite to eat at McDonalds. I had already had a small breakfast, so I instead tried the green tea and Oreo McFlurry. It was so good, and I definitely can’t get there in America! After finishing our meal, we went to the JR office in Kyoto Station to redeem our rail passes. It took about 15 minutes of long waiting to get it, but once we got them, we left for Momoyama.
It was a really good thing that I had my Blackberry with me because we heavily utilized the map feature on it to find out way to Momoyama Castle. It was raining, but the walk wasn’t too bad once we made the correct turns on the correct streets. The castle was really large in scale, and it was really beautiful. We didn’t have too much time to photograph it, but it was enough since it was raining. We made it back to the weekly mansion in order to pick-up our luggage for our week long trip, then headed to the station. The ride on the Shinkansen was so cool. It was really fast and really smooth. The closest thing I can compare it to is a ride on an airplane. We had to transfer once, so the total travel time to Hiroshima was about an hour and half.
We arrived in Hiroshima just in time for dinner. We checked into the hotel and surprisingly got single occupancy rooms. It was such a relief since most of us have been getting sick of always being stuck with the same people. The bed was large, and the room was average size. I was starving, so for dinner, I went to a noodle shop with Norio, Blake, and Derrick. I got udon, and it was the best udon I’ve ever had. We later realized that Hiroshima is known for its okonomiyaki, but it was ok. Okonomiyaki was pretty expensive, at least in our area of town, so the cheaper choice of noodles was one I was satisfied with.
The rest of the night, I hung out with Derrick and we watched a Japanese movie on tv while uploading photos and blogs. It was a relaxing night, and I was able to get a very good night’s sleep for our big day of exploring Hiroshima and moving to Miyajima tomorrow.

24 April 2009

Today was the last day of Japanese language class. I felt bad since we were all so tired from staying up to work on our final projects, but Watanabe sensei seemed to understand. As a class, we gave him some olive oil and vinegar from California, plus chocolate covered cranberries, dried apricots, and cards with pictures of San Luis Obispo. He was really grateful for our thoughtfulness. Since a couple of us were interested in continuing our Japanese, we bought the next book level from him for 2,500 yen. I’m hoping I will be motivated to continue my studies in Japanese language.
To celebrate our last day of class in Kyoto, everyone in our language class went out to lunch together. We went to the same restaurant that Zach, Trudy, Shae, and I had just gone to recently. I ordered one of the lunch specials which came with cabbage salad, potato katsu, lemon chicken, gohan, tsukemono, and miso soup. It was really really good, but it also made me unbelievably full. Studio presentations went very well, and Don was very surprised that we were able to complete so much work in such a short amount of time. At least he seems to appreciate all of the hard work we do, even though he isn’t always reasonable about time allocations.
I was so tired after class that I went back to take a nap. I napped until about 7pm, then forced myself to wake-up since it was getting late. Jeff, Shae, and I had planned earlier that we were going to do karaoke tonight as a celebration of our last night in Kyoto. I got a quick bite to eat at McDonalds, and we went to a karaoke place only two blocks from our accommodations. Blake ended up coming as well since Norio hadn’t returned from shopping yet. Karaoke was so much fun, and I can’t wait to do it again! It was a nice way to unwind and release all of the built-up stress from our earlier project. After returning from karaoke, it was already past midnight. Since we move out tomorrow morning from our weekly mansion, I had to quickly pack and do a small load of laundry. It is a lot of work to repack and clean, but I am very excited to see Hiroshima tomorrow!

23 April 2009

Our day trip today, which was planned for Kobe and Ibaraki/Osaka, began at 9am. We met Don at Kyoto Station in order to take the JR Line to Kobe. It took about 45 minutes to get there. Once in Kobe, we began our trip at the Hyogo Prefecture Art Museum. This was done by Tadao Ando. We also paid the admission fee to go into the museum and experience the space as it was meant to be experienced. It was strange, but we were allowed to take photographs of anything in the permanent exhibit. There were some really cool sketches and models from Ando’s office, so most of us hung out in that area of the museum mainly. After visiting the museum, we walked through Nagisa Park to get to our next destination. We stopped briefly to look at an Ando-designed restroom, and the walk was very peaceful and scenic along the water.
The highlight of today’s trip was visiting Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light and attendant Sunday school building in Ibaraki. It is probably one of the most famous churches in the architecture world, and I never would’ve guessed in a million years that I would have to opportunity to visit it. It was truly a moving experience, yet it was still different from how I thought it would be. I don’t think pictures can ever actually depict the true feeling and atmosphere of that space. After heavily photographing the Church of the Light, we headed back to Kyoto since our final project is due tomorrow, and most of us have a lot of work to do. Trudy and I ended up working on our final project until 6:30am. We got about 2 hours of sleep, but it definitely wasn’t enough. I am satisfied overall with the way it turned out though, so hopefully Don will like it as well when we present tomorrow in class.

22 April 2009

I was really tired when I woke up this morning. Our late night out in Osaka last night really wore everyone out. It was hard to concentrate in Japanese language class, but some people were really out of it. I think sensei could tell that everyone was tired, so we did a lot of review with less new stuff. After language class, Shae, Trudy, and I got lunch at Lipton. It was very American, and I ordered an egg salad sandwich. It was different than egg salad sandwiches in the U.S., but I actually liked it more. It wasn’t as pasty, and there was a lot of egg. Yummy!
For studio today, we talked with Don one-on-one to finalize most of the design and output for our final project. Since it is due on Friday, he didn’t really have much to say to anyone since it would be too late to make any majors changes anyways. After class, I went with Shae back to the Kyoto Handicraft Center. She wanted to buy two Japanese swords and have them mailed back to the U.S. I helped her pick out two, and then we took the subway back to Kyoto Station. In Kyoto Station, we went to Lipton again for dessert. I ordered a five berry tart, and she ordered a caramel mocha chocolate cake. Afterwards, we wandered around the Avanti shopping mall across from our weekly mansion, then retired to our own rooms. I had to write another paper that is due to Don tomorrow and the rest of my time was spent on continuing to work on Trudy and my final project.

21 April 2009

I woke up around 6am this morning so Jeff and I could get a jump start on the flea market held at Toji Temple. It technically started at 5am, but the website said most of the booths wouldn’t be ready until 9am. Since it is regarded as the largest flea market in Kyoto, we figured we could get there early and possibly have enough time to pass through it twice. It was only a short 10 minute walk away from our weekly mansion, but the weather was on the verge of rain. It was gloomy, but the humidity keeps the air fairly warm. We arrived at the flea market, and it seemed to go on for a long ways. We leisurely wandered through the maze of booths, but it was much different than flea markets I have been to in the U.S. Most of the booths actually had new stuff, but the items were very characteristic to Kyoto. There were very few booths actually selling used items, and the prices were in the middle range. I bought a few small items for friends, but I didn’t find any spectacular buys. Jeff found a lot of Japanese fabrics to buy for his mother since she sews. I really had a good time browsing, and it was interesting to see how many other tourists were there as well.
After the flea market, we were scheduled to meet up with Don at 1pm. We had an appointment to visit Endo Shuhei’s office in Osaka at 6pm, so Don wanted us to leave earlier in order for us to see a few of his projects before meeting him in person. We took the train and got off at Osaka Castle. On the Osaka Castle grounds, there were three very small Shuhei projects: two public restrooms and one café. Shuhei is well-known for his simplicity and experimentation in architecture, but the scale was a bit small to get an overall feel for his work. It was raining very hard for most of the time we were walking too, so all of us were soaking wet by the end. We took another subway line to get to Shuhei’s office. We arrived 15 minutes early, but he was with a client, and we ended up having to wait for about an hour for him to finish up. By then, most of us were very tired and extremely hungry. Once entering his office, we quickly realized he did not speak English. Don translated the entire time he was talking, but everyone could tell a lot of information was lost in translation. After his presentation, we weren’t even allowed to see his office. It was kind of lame, but I’m assuming it was just really small.
By the end of his presentation, everyone was completely exhausted. One of Shuhei’s coworkers walked us to a very good Chinese restaurant. I ordered a Chinese ramen, and it was really good. It was also very oily and greasy, so that’s probably why it tasted so good. Haha. After dinner, it was already after 9pm. We still had an hour long train ride to look forward to in order to get back home to Kyoto. I completely passed out on the ride back, and I wrote a paper for my architectural theory class before going to sleep.

20 April 2009

Today was the second to last Japanese language class for me. It is hard to believe I have been in Kyoto for almost four weeks already. I will definitely be sad to leave. Class was pretty intense since Watanabi Sensei is trying to go through even more material since we have such little time left, but it is good. By now, most people are having a very difficult time keeping up since they never fully understood the basics we learned in the beginning. I’d say I’m doing alright and hopefully a bit above average. I am still nowhere close to being conversational, so learning the language will be frustrating until I can build a foundation to work with. After language class, Shae, Trudy, and I went to Starbucks in order to use our computers. Don planned to meet us after language class in the same building to do individual group project critiques. Trudy and mine was at 12:30. We just had to finish compiling our images and digital model to show Don. It was interesting while at Starbucks though. We had our computers plugged into the wall outlet, and we had each ordered food and/or drinks. The employees, however, would not let us use the outlets for power for some reason once they noticed that we were plugged into the wall. That is pretty disappointing since it’s Starbucks of all places! We were able to finish anyways, and Don was pretty satisfied with our progress once again.
After meeting with Don, Trudy and I went our separate ways. She was looking for a graduation gift for her brother, and I just wanted to wander around. I ended up going to a small department store called Muji; it is basically considered the “no name” brand. I thought it was an interesting concept, so I decided to check it out. The store was seven levels, and it carried everything from stationary to shoes to clothes to furniture to books. They had the largest architecture book selection I have ever seen, and there were three levels of books alone in Muji! After Muji, I wandered down Shijo-dori towards the subway station at Shijo-dori and Karasuma-dori. Along the way, I stopped at the Lipton Tea Shop and bought Norio a slice of custard topped with fresh fruit for his birthday which was today. I figured he didn’t really need anything, so sweets are always the next best thing. I returned to my apartment right after that since it had to be refrigerated. The rest of my time was mainly spent in the apartment complex. I jumped from my room, to Derrick and Seth’s room, to Norio and Blake’s room. Norio loved the slice of fruit custard too, so that was a relief. For dinner, Derrick, Jeff, and I went to Jeff’s favorite Chinese restaurant again. I ordered a bowl of ramen and a side of gyoza for a total of 700 yen. I ate so much food, but I was also very hungry so it made for a great meal.
I hung out the rest of the night with Derrick and Seth just doing homework. Tomorrow is the flea market at Toji Temple which is held on the 21st of every month, and it is the largest flea market in Kyoto! I don’t really know what to expect, but Jeff and I are planning to leave at 7am to get there. Woo!

19 April 2009

I woke up at 8am this morning and already had a full day of traveling planned out. Trudy, Derrick, and I left our apartments at 9am to head to Inari. Inari is located south-east of Kyoto Station, three stops away on the JR Nara Line. The train cost 140 yen. We arrived at Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, also known as the tori gate shrine. To get to the main shrine at the top, we had to do an intense uphill hike and pass through about 30,000 tori gates. It was really nice since we went in the morning, and it wasn’t too hot yet. The immense number of tori gates was inconceivable, and the hike ended up being better than we had imagined. On our way out of Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, there was a huge ceremonial service going on since they were supposedly moving many of the holy relics to other sites. There was a huge crowd, and we were able to watch for a while as well. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, so it was really cool to see something new.
Next, we took the train to Tofukuji to visit Tofukuji Temple. We had to pay 400 yen to get admission into the temple and then another 400 yen to see the garden. The temple had two really nice zen rock gardens, and the garden itself had some nice zen gardens and plants. I’m not sure if it was worth the 800 yen total admission cost, but it is an experience I can cross off of my list, and it was a beautiful day to visit a natural site.
Lastly, we took the train from Tofukuji to Shijo Station, which cost another 140 yen. From Shijo-dori, we walked to Ryozen Temple and Kodai-ji Temple. Ryozen Temple was a memorial for the unknown soldiers of World War II, and it had a huge statue of Kannon on top of the small building. It only cost 200 yen to enter, so we gladly paid the cheap fare and additionally received a stick of incense to place in front of the statue as an offering of remembrance. It was really cool, and it is still hard to describe the sheer scale of the statue. The reason I found this building in the first place was because I could see the statue from Kyoto Tower, and it stood above the trees against the hill. I’m glad I was able to find it and finally visit it today. After Ryozen Temple, we found Kodai-ji Temple almost immediately next to it. Kodai-ji Temple cost 600 yen to get in, and we were a bit skeptical as to whether or not it was worth the steep cost. As I always figure, however, I reasoned that we should pay the cost to get in since most of us will never visit that site again. It turns out that we were glad that we did. It was a very large garden with many assorted structures along the way.
It was extremely hot outside today, so we were really tired and sweaty by the end of it all. We took the subway back to our apartment, and I immediately took some allergy medication since my allergies have been really bad from all of the pollen in the air. I wish there were more people handing out the free small tissue packs with the advertisements on them. I could really use them right about now. So the allergy medication made me really tired, so I took a nap before dinner. Trudy, Shae, and I finally got dinner around 8:15pm. We had a lot of homework to do, so we decided to go to Nakau. The small bowl of tanuki went on sale recently and is now only 100 yen. It is so great! I ordered that, along with a small salad, for a grand total of 200 yen. I figure it balances out anyways since I had to pay so many admission fees to get into temples today.
So, the rest of my night was spent doing Japanese language homework and working on my studio architecture project. I had to swing by the convenient store on my way back from dinner to get a 100 yen large Coca-Cola since I was so tired from my long day of walking, along with the side effects of the allergy medication. This is my last week in Kyoto, so hopefully I can make the most of it and get all of my work done.

18 April 2009

So, Trudy and I woke up today to meet Don for another field trip. We thought we were supposed to meet him at the Kyoto Bus Station, but upon rechecking our email, we realized that he actually said to meet him at the temple site. It was 9am when we realized this, and we were supposed to meet at 9:30am. The bus ride would take at least 45 minutes, so we decided to go back to sleep instead. It was really nice to sleep in, and I caught up on some much needed sleep. We finally got up around 11am and decided we would visit the two temples and one garden directly north of Kyoto Station. Today was another bright and sunny day, so it was perfect for photographing.
First, we started at Nishi Honganji Temple. This one was the farthest west of the three. Upon arriving at the temple, I found out it was the mother temple of Jodo-Shinshu Buddhism so it was really cool to finally visit a temple that looked familiar to me. It was immense in size, and for some reason, it was more meaningful than any other temple I’ve visited. Since it is so close to where we are staying, I will probably go back there once more before we leave. Next, we visited Higashi-Honganji Temple, which is the one directly north of Kyoto Station. This one was undergoing some major renovations, and the main Amida Hall was completely covered in scaffolding and whatnot. We couldn’t even view the building as a whole. This complex was extremely large however, and luckily we were still able to go into most of the structures. This, too, was a Buddhist temple, but it was a different sect than Jodo-Shinshu. Lastly, we visited the Shosei-en Garden, also referred to as Kikokutei. The garden looked much larger on the map than it actually was, and it cost us 500 yen to get in. Personally, I think it was overpriced for how little you were able to see, but they also gave you your choice of one information booklet to keep. I had the choice of the overall garden pamphlet or a pamphlet on the flowers found in the garden. Since my background is purely architectural, I chose the garden one. It has some really great images in it, but I still think it was overpriced.
It was really hot outside, and we didn’t want to carry around the booklets, so Trudy and I decided to come back to the apartment to take a break. At 6pm, we decided to just wander around the mall below and above Kyoto Station. It is huge and has endless amounts of stores, so we figured it would keep us occupied for the rest of the night, and we could get food there for dinner. Jeff happened to stop by our room before we left, so he joined us as well. I felt like ramen, so we decided to eat on the 10th floor of Kyoto Station, which the ramen floor. I ordered ramen with won ton for 850 yen. It was a huge bowl, and I was still able to eat it all. By the time I got home, I was completely tired. I just hung around the room with Norio, Jeff, and Trudy and also was able to Skype with my parents. That was about it, and I went to bed fairly early since I will get up around 8am tomorrow morning to visit more temples.

17 April 2009

Today was the most tired I have been since being in Japan. I’m guessing that all of the walking and traveling I am doing, plus all of the school work, is finally catching up to me. After language class, I got lunch with Shae, Trudy, and Zach. I ordered shrimp tempura-don for 750 yen, and it was very delicious. That was the first time I have had non-convenient store tempura since being in Japan, so I’m glad it didn’t disappoint. Studio was the same as every other day, and we planned out our activities for the remaining week we have in Kyoto. After class, most people decided to go to the Kyoto Handicraft Center, and since I was the one who originally found it, I gave directions. Once again, I was on my own, and I had a hard time deciding what I was going to do. I ended up settling on taking the subway to Karasuma Oike to visit another craft gallery. Don had suggested this craft gallery, but upon getting there, I realized it was going to cost me 300 yen. I wasn’t that interested in seeing the art, so I decided to start walking down Karasuma Oike back toward my apartment. Along the way, I stopped at a couple bookstores and anything else that looked interesting. After walking all the way to Kyoto Station, I decided that I would explore the mini mall beneath Kyoto Tower and actually pay to take advantage of the great views from the top of Kyoto Tower. It cost 770 yen to take the elevator to the top, but overall, it was worth it (although I still think it’s way overpriced). It was a clear day, so I could see very far in all directions with the telescope binoculars. I stayed up there for quite some time, especially since I wanted to get my money’s worth! Haha. When I came back down, it was time to head back to my apartment since I had dinner plans.
Earlier in studio, Don had given us directions to the restaurant that serves horse sashimi. Tonight, Jeff and I wanted to try it. Don said he was interested in coming too, so I sent him an email telling him to meet us at 7pm there. Jeff and I took the subway back to Karasuma Oike and met Don for dinner. Six of our other classmates were already there trying the raw horse too. Since the place was a bit pricey, Jeff and I decided to share two items, and we would get cheaper food afterwards. We decided upon horse sashimi (of course) and takoyaki double cheese pizza. They both turned out to be amazingly tasty, and I think that horse sashimi is one of the best things I have had this trip! I will definitely go back there before I leave Kyoto. It was 500 yen for the plate of four pieces, but it was very lean and flavorful. The total cost for our two dishes was a little over 1,000 yen, so we each just paid Don 500 yen.
After dinner, we explored a small renovated internalized outdoor mall across the street. It was pretty quiet, since it was getting late, but it was a nice peaceful atmosphere. Don left to go home afterwards, and Jeff and I decided we would walk back to Kyoto Station rather than pay 210 yen for the subway. Right before getting to Kyoto Station, we stopped at Jeff’s favorite Chinese restaurant since he was craving gyoza. I felt like ramen, so I ordered the regular ramen for 680 yen. Both dishes were again very good. By the time I got home, I was ready for bed. Tomorrow, Don is taking the group to places Trudy and I have already been to, so we will have to decide where we want to go during that time.

16 April 2009

Today was a very intense travel day. We started by meeting at the Kyoto Station bus terminal at 10am. It was nice to sleep in for a change. We took the express bus for at least 30 minutes to get to the western side of Kyoto. As always, we were touring more temples and Zen gardens. We split into two groups so that we wouldn’t overwhelm any one temple or garden. My group consisted of 9 of us, and we began by visiting Daisen Temple. It was a beautiful Zen garden surrounded by a series of wooden structures. We enjoyed this area for a very long time and sat on the engawa (veranda) with our feet swinging below us. It was a cloudy day, but the humidity kept the air fairly warm. Our next stop was the Obaiin temple. This was also a very nice temple with a beautiful Zen garden. Next, we visited the Korin Temple, and it was once again another Zen garden. Each garden and temple had a different feel and presented itself differently upon the users. It was really cool. After Korin, we visited Daitokuji Temple. This garden was very nice, and most of the monks spoke very good English. It was a single small structure that we walked around, but we had a storyboard to follow as we walked. It was really neat to hear the story behind the placement of the rocks in the garden. Ryokuonji Temple was next, and it is also known as the Gold Pavilion. This was probably one of the most iconic and amazing buildings I have seen during my recent travels. It was so beautiful, and since the building is completely leafed in gold, it shone very brightly as the sunlight bounced off of it. It was a form of beauty that I will never forget.
It was about 2pm when we finished walking through these temples, so it was lunchtime. About half of us ended up going to a convenience store to just purchase some cheap bento boxes. Mine had 6 small onigiris, fried potato, one dumpling, spaghetti, and shrimp tempura. It only cost 450 yen, so it was an amazing deal! After lunch, we lastly visited Ryoanji Temple and garden. The rock garden is easily one of the most famous ones in Japan, but it was sadly in the midst of renovation. Part of the rock garden was covered up, and there was scaffolding and construction materials everywhere around the building. To be perfectly honest, it was a huge disappointment. It was a horrible way to end our long day of travelling, and everyone was equally upset. I guess that just gives me another reason to return to Japan in the near future. Haha!
On the walk back to the bus, we came upon a cherry blossom garden. Many of the petals have begun to fall, and the garden looked like it had been snowed on since there were so many petals on the grass and path. What a mystical feeling the park had! After wandering around for a descent amount of time, we wandered back to the bus stop and caught the local bus back to Kyoto Station. Once we were back at the station, I got some Chinese food for dinner with Norio, Blake, Seth, Derrick, and Jeff. I got six gyoza, fried rice, fried chicken, and soup for 720 yen. It was really good and extremely filling. I wanted to make sure I was really full since the rest of my night was spent doing homework and readings for tomorrow’s class. Everyone is becoming increasingly busy, so I hope that we can still enjoy our last weekend in Kyoto since we already leave next week!

15 April 2009

It wasn’t raining this morning when I woke-up, so it was a nice way to start off my morning. Japanese language class this morning was the same as always. I realized that we only have four class sessions left, so that makes me very sad. I hope I will still be motivated enough to continue studying Japanese on my own so I can at least learn to get by. After class, I got lunch with Shae and Trudy at a cheap noodle and rice bowl place on Snajo-dori. For 440 yen, I got miso soup, salad, and a beef rice bowl with raw egg. It was very good, and it was actually too much food for any of us to finish. I think this was the first time since I’ve been in Japan that I haven’t been able to completely finish a meal. It’s pretty crazy to think how much food that was! After lunch, we did the long walk to the Kyoto Community Center for our studio class. Since we got there early, I was even able to finish one page of my Japanese language homework before studio started. During class, we presented our project design, and it seemed to be well-received. Hopefully Trudy and I won’t have to do too much more work on it to finish it for the deadline next week.
Everyone seemed to be really tired today from our intense travelling yesterday, so no one wanted to go do anything after class. I felt energetic enough to check out a few places, so I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon and early evening doing stuff by myself. It is always so refreshing to travel alone, so today was a very good day. First, I decided to check out the Kyoto Handicraft Center. It was about a 15 minute walk from the Kyoto Community Center, and luckily it was still a descent day outside. Nadine McCarty had told me about the Kyoto Community Center, and I’m really glad she told me about it. It was a seven story building with multiple shops within. There was everything from kimonos to swords to paintings to dolls to jewelry to souvenirs in the building, and it was full of tourists. Even all of the employees spoke very good English. I was definitely impressed. I didn’t find anything that I couldn’t live without, but it was a nice place, and I wandered around there for about an hour. Afterwards, I wanted to check out the headquarters store of Raak, a popular textile shop in Kyoto. Don had sent us directions via email, so I was able to use my phone to follow the directions. I had to walk across town to get there, but it was better than spending 420 yen on the subway. It was nice outside, so I enjoyed the long walk. I also found a grocery store along my walk, so I bought six bananas for 198 yen and a bag of tangerines for 350 yen.
Raak was very cool, and I loved everything in the store. I had already been in about six different branches of the store during my visit here thus far, but this one had everything. I was specifically looking for a 1 meter squared handkerchief in a pattern that I liked, since they can be folded into three different styles of purses. After talking with one of the sales women for quite some time and looking at practically all of the fabrics, I found on that I liked and bought it for 2650 yen. At all of the other branches of Raak, the employees will not fold the purse for you (I know this because Shae bought one and had to fold it herself). Here, however, the two ladies collaborated to perfectly fold my purse for me. I was so excited! I even got a pamphlet on how to fold the three styles of purses. I can’t wait to start using it!
After my long adventure at Raak, I decided it was time to head back home. Since the Cocon Karasuma Building was on my way home, I decided to walk for another 10 minutes to go photograph the building, rather than jump on the subway and miss it. The interior of the mini mall was done by Kengo Kuma, so I figured I would photograph it and be able to shop around a bit. The interior was not very impressive, and I have resultantly been fairly disappointed with a lot of his work thus far. The mini mall was cool though, and window shopping was fun. Finally, I caught the subway and went home. I made pasta for dinner and put pink fish sauce with nori on it. It was really good and was way cheaper than going out. The rest of the night was spent hanging out with Trudy and Jeff, and I also did some homework. Overall, today was a great day with lots of exercise and excitement.

14 April 2009

I woke up to the sound of rain today, so I was unenthused about the thought of our day trip to Shugakuin Villa in the wet weather. Nonetheless, my group of four had an appointment to tour the Imperial Villa at 1:30pm, so we were meeting Don at 10am to tour the area around the Villa beforehand. First, we visited Manshuin Monzeki. It was a very peaceful teahouse and shrine with a beautiful Zen garden. We ended up running into another group from our class, since they had the 9am appointment at Shugakuin Imperial Villa. Next, we visited Shisen-do, and this was a short walk away from Manshuin Monzeki. This was a hybrid between Buddhist and Zen architecture and landscape. Similar to what we saw at Manshuin Monzeki, there was a beautiful and peaceful Zen garden. The rain made outdoor photographing very difficult, but the indoor space was equally enjoyable. It was very calming to sit on the veranda of the building, beneath the roof overhang, and listen to the rain falling in the garden. In order to make sure we arrived at Shugakuin Imperial Villa early, we left Shisen-do at noon. We picked up lunch at a to-go bento box place, and it was an amazing deal. My bento box had cabbage salad, potato salad, tsukemono, rice, and tempura for only 480 yen!
We arrived at Shugakuin Imperial Villa 15 minutes early as planned and once again received the really stylish audio headsets to hear the tour in English. It was raining fairly decently, and walking down the narrow paths with a bunch of other people with umbrellas made things very complicated. There were three villas within the overall Shugakuin Imperial Villa, and they were each very nice. They were separated from each other however, so the walk in between the Villas was less pleasant since it was normal farmland and whatnot. By the end of the tour, my feet and jeans were completely soaking wet.
The last stop on our day trip was a visit to the Kyoto University of Art and Design. It was a long walk to the university, but we saved the cost of catching the bus; most of the sites we now visit are not easily accessible from the subway or train since they tend to be more rural sites. It was a long rainy walk, but we were going to see a building done by Kengo Kuma. The building was the art and design building in the heart of the campus, and the exterior was quite monumental in scale. It was built on a very steep site, and we had to walk up a straight flight of stairs to reach each level. It additionally had a green roof which I really liked. The interior, on the other hand, was less than appealing. The interior of each floor was painted a different shade of pastel, and it looked and felt absolutely flat and stark. It was such a disappointment when contrasted with the façade. To get back to Kyoto Station to get back to our weekly mansion, we opted to take the bus since it would cut the cost of transportation by at least 75% compared to the subway. The bus was extremely crowded, and we rode it for 45 minutes. It only cost us 270 yen though, so it was definitely worth it.
Today was also Trudy’s birthday, so we five of us went out to dinner at a Korean grill. Basically, we each ordered a meat dish, it came out raw on a plate, and we each got to cook it ourselves on a gas grill at our table. Jeff and I are both adventurous with food, so we decided we would each order a dish and share in order to try more things. We decided upon one safe dish and one new dish: beef brisket and beef windpipe. They both turned out to be very delicious! The windpipe had a very hard and rubbery texture, but the sauce that it was sautéed in really made the difference in taste. Next time, I am already planning on trying beef intestines, since I already know from my trip to Taiwan that I like pork intestines. I still haven’t had the opportunity to each raw horse either, so I will have to do that before I leave Kyoto as well.
The rest of my night was spent working on my architecture studio project with Trudy and doing laundry. It is really convenient to have the washing machine in our own rooms, and my laundry dried within an hour and a half in the shower with the clothes drying setting on. We have another project presentation due tomorrow, so we were able to get that done by 1am. I just hope it will stop raining so we don’t have to walk to language class and then studio in the rain tomorrow.

13 April 2009

Today started yet another week in Kyoto and leaves only two more weeks of staying in this area. It sounds like such a short amount of time when I think of it like that, but I have been seeing a lot of sites, so it’ll be exciting to start all over again in a new location. I had Japanese language class this morning, as usual, and we met with Don immediately afterwards for Arch 480. Since the Kyoto Community Center isn’t open on Monday, we were very fortunate to be able to use our language sensei’s extra classroom to study in with Don. We presented our conceptual designs for our next studio project, and that was it. Tomorrow we have appointments to visit and tour Shugakuin Imperial Palace in groups of four, similar to when we visited Katsura Detached Palace. That should be really exciting. In the morning, we will visit the Gold and Silver Pavilions with Don, then my group’s tour time is at 1:30pm.
So after class with Don today, most people were going to visit Tadao Ando’s Garden of Fine Arts in Kyoto, but I had already seen at the end of last week. Instead, Trudy and I went to see Sanjusangendo Temple located north-east of our apartment. The great hall houses 1,001 life-sized wooden statues of Kannon plated in gold flake, and the hall itself was the longest wooden structure at 394 feet long. Walking into the hall initially and viewing the statues for the first time was so incredible; it cannot even be quantified into words. I was literally speechless. It was just unbelievable. It made the 600 yen entrance fee totally worth the cost! The rest of the temple grounds were very meager, and there wasn’t really anything else to see within the temple grounds except the statues. If I ever visit Kyoto in the future, I want to go visit Sanjusangendo again!
After Sanjusangendo Temple, I don’t think anything could’ve rivaled its magnificence. We visited Toyokuni Shrine, Chishakuin Temple, and Myohoin Temple. These were all much smaller then Sanjusangendo, and almost no people were at these ones. I think everyone was at Sanjusangendo! It was hot outside again, so we decided to walk back to our apartment since there was no direct route from our location at the temples to our apartment. It took about 45 minutes to walk back, but it was a nice walk. It was actually very eye-opening since we saw areas that weren’t as new and populated as the area we had lived in before. It wasn’t unsafe or dirty, but it was just different. Trudy didn’t like it at all, but I found it very interesting since it was a different aspect of the city that neither of us had seen up until that moment.

12 April 2009

I woke up at 8am this morning, and it sure was hard to get out of bed. I think everyone is pretty tired out, but it is always because we are too excited to see new things than lose out by sleeping in. Since we have preliminary project designs due tomorrow for studio, Trudy and I decided to visit the project site before meeting the class at 11am at Nijo Castle. We were a bit turned around directionally when we came out of the subway, so we ended up getting lost. We asked for directions at a Family Mart convenience store, and we restarted our journey. Luckily, we found the site and were able to photograph it quickly before taking the subway to Nijo Castle. We ended up getting there about 15 minutes late, but we caught up with the group in no time. Some people decided to sleep in, so it was a medium sized group of us. Visiting the inner grounds of Nijo Castle, the only portion which I hadn’t seen yet, was pretty anticlimactic. The inner structures were much less feudal in design, and they were completely different than the outer structures. It was pretty disappointing and unexciting, though I still enjoyed the space thoroughly. At least now I am familiar with Nijo Castle, and I won’t have to visit it in the future.
After Nijo Castle, a group of seven of us decided to part from the group and visit the bamboo forest and Monkey Park in Kyoto instead. We took the JR train line to get there, and it was very close. On the way, we picked up lunch at Mos Burger since it was convenient. I tried a shrimp cutlet burger for 350 yen. It was a bit fishier than I had expected, but it was nonetheless very good. Once we arrived at our destination, we had to walk a ways to get to the bamboo forest. It was very crowded, but the bamboo was very tall, straight, and beautiful. It was hot today, so the shaded forest was very relaxing. We had to ask for directions to the Monkey Park since it was a bit farther from the bamboo forest. It was at the top of a hill, and it cost 250 yen to get in. It was a very steep hike to get to the top, but it was definitely worth it once we got there. The monkeys were roaming free, and we just had to watch out for them since they could potentially get aggressive if provoked. All of us took lots and lots of photos, and the view over Kyoto was astounding. We spent a descent chunk of time there since the monkeys were so amusing and fun to watch. They weren’t the cutest creatures I have seen thus far on my trip, but it was definitely one of the most memorable.
On the way back to the train station from Monkey Park, we stopped to sit alongside the huge river at the base of the mountain. There were at least a hundred row boats in the water, since you could rent them for a fee. It turned out to be a very amusing form of entertainment as we were able to watch two drunk guys do crazy things in their boat and ultimately end up falling into the river and capsizing their boat. They were ok, so it was hilarious to watch. The boat attendants had to go out to rescue the oars and pull the boat back to shore, while the two guys swam to the dock. My friends took pictures of the ordeal, and I was able to catch the last part of it on video. It was a great comedy to top off our great visit to the north-eastern side of Kyoto.
Back at the hotel, I once again ate my leftover okonomiyaki. I will be able to finish it up by tomorrow night, but I am still amazed by how large it was originally. It lasted me for three dinners! I was pretty exhausted from a long day by the time I returned to the apartment, but I had lots to do. I started off with my Japanese language homework, then proceeded to work on my studio project with Trudy. Don is having all of our class projects be in partners, so by default, we work with our roommate. We finished it pretty quickly but still weren’t able to go to bed until 3am. One of these days I’ll let myself sleep in, but I’m just not quite sure when that day will be. There is still so much to see and do, and I don’t want to miss out on anything!

11 April 2009

We weren’t meeting with Don until 10:30am this morning, so I decided to check out a temple about 20 minutes away from our apartment this morning. Most people wanted to sleep in, so I went by myself. It was really nice to do something by myself for a change, since all of us have constantly been hanging out. It is almost impossible to not get tired for some people’s company since we are inevitably together for the majority of each day. The morning air was already warm, and the walk was peaceful. The area around our apartment is mainly residential, and it later transitions into a more industrial district. It is still amazingly clean and safe, just like the rest of Japan. The temple I visited was called Toji Temple. It is one of Kyoto’s national treasures, so it was 800 yen to get in. It was the most expensive place I have visited thus far, but it was worth it. There was a garden surrounding a pagoda and two prayer halls. I was able to go inside all of them, and there were numerous interesting and intricate gold statues in them. It was really neat, and I was able to photograph at my own pace. Don always makes us feel rushed when we visit certain sites, so it was very refreshing to do everything my own way. It was a feeling of independence that I haven’t felt in a while. I returned back to the apartment just in time to meet with the class at 10:30am.
With Don, we took a bus to the beginning of the Philosopher’s Path in Eastern Kyoto. Along the path, we visited about five different temples and walked along the cherry blossom lined river. It was a beautiful and warm day, and it was probably the most peaceful area of Kyoto I have visited so far. For lunch, I ate some fried rice for 570 yen. We finished the Philosopher’s Path around 5pm, and most people were hungry for dinner. Since it was still light outside however, I wanted to visit another site to photograph it in the daylight. I was interested in visiting another one of Tadao Ando’s projects, located directly outside the Kitayama Station in Kyoto, so I asked Don for directions and headed to it with Derick and Seth. The subway cost 280 yen, one-way, and admission to the Garden of Fine Arts cost only 100 yen. The cost to enter the garden, though cheap, definitely wasn’t worth seeing the artwork they showcased in it. It was definitely worth it to see the architecture however. The artwork was merely tiled recreations of famous pieces of artwork… definitely nothing special. I cannot even begin to explain how amazing the building was however. Luckily, we got there early enough so we were able to photograph it in the daytime, and we stayed in the garden until dark so we could photograph it again during the night when it was illuminated. It was just a wonderful day, and I ended up taking almost 500 pictures!
I had leftover okonomiyaki in my apartment fridge, and Seth wasn’t hungry, so we came back to the apartment complex to just hang out and eat-in for a change. The rest of the night was spent on homework and photo organization. For everyone, it is really difficult to keep online albums updated since we are so tired after long days of traveling. Tomorrow I am planning to visit Nijo Castle again, to hopefully see the actual castle this time, and a group of us are also planning to visit the bamboo forest with the monkey park. Hopefully I can sleep in a bit more tomorrow as well since I will have project-related work to do tomorrow night.

10 April 2009

I was once again tired when I woke up this morning. My arms and shoulders were also sore from dragging my luggage so far during the move yesterday in the hot weather. This morning was the first time we headed to Japanese language class from our new accommodations. We had to take the train, and we left half an hour early to ensure that we would have extra time to find our way. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t a large enough buffer, and we ended up getting lost a couple different times. Luckily, we were only ten minutes late, and we weren’t the last people to arrive. Every new location I am put in is always equally confusing, and it is really difficult to find your way. Hopefully with time, I will get better at figuring out how to get around in our new area.
After language class, it was pointless to spend money to take the train back to our apartments. Instead, Shae, Trudy, and I decided to do some shopping around the Teramachi Shopping Arcade. I found a really cute coin purse for only 350 yen. It was a great deal compared to many of the other coin purse places I have seen. I may very likely go back there to get gifts for my friends as well. We shall see. We proceeded to walk all the way from the downtown Kyoto area all the way to our studio class. It was good 45 minute walk, and the weather was hot again. Studio was boring, and I was anxious to get done so I could meet up with Nadine and Kimberly for dinner.
We got out of class a half hour early, and I decided it was more economical to walk all the way back to the downtown area rather than pay the fee to take the subway. I ended up being able to walk with Shae since she was headed downtown as well. I helped her find a store she was looking for, then went to the Central Kyoto Inn. Nadine and Kimberly were waiting in the lobby for me, so I didn’t have to worry about trying to talk to the people at the front desk. Whew! They wanted okonomiyaki, so we set off to find a restaurant with okonomiyaki. It took us a very long time to actually find a place that didn’t have a wait, but we eventually found one. It was a very nice restaurant located below some retail shops. We decided we would just order different dishes and share them all since that is usually what you do with okonomiyaki. I am not picky about what I eat, so I let Nadine and Kimberly choose what sounded good to them. We ended up getting a fried bean sprout dish, yakisoba, and two okonomiyakis. When the food came out, it was way more than we expected. The okonomiyaki was at least one foot in diameter, and we had two of them! As expected, we had leftovers, but luckily, this was the first place I have eaten at that had takeout containers. I was so relieved since I did not want the good food to go to waste. Nadine insisted that I take the leftovers home since they leave Kyoto for another city tomorrow. I didn’t want to, since she paid for the meal, but she made a good point since they really wouldn’t have had time to eat it. I’m very fortunate to have dinner for the next couple of days!
The rest of my night consisted of uploading photos and updating my blog. I have been so busy and tired that I have fallen somewhat behind on my correspondence with everyone back home. Hopefully by the end of tonight, I will be all caught up. Tomorrow Don is taking us on the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto. It is a scenic walk through the East hills of Kyoto, and it stops at multiple temples and shrines along the way. I’m hoping to visit something else during the early morning or evening as well. We shall see how tired I am tomorrow though. I continue to enjoy all aspects of Kyoto, and I still can’t decide what I have time to see and what I don’t.

9 April 2009

This morning was the big move from the Higashiyama Sanjo Hotel to our new weekly mansion short-term apartments. We were much more prepared to drag our luggage around, so it wasn’t as tiring and strenuous as the first time we arrived in Japan. I didn’t have very high expectations for the apartments since Don said they were supposedly smaller than our current hotel rooms. When we arrived however, the apartments were even better than the hotel, minus the massage chairs. The rooms are very descent in size, and I would argue that they are actually larger than the hotel rooms we had previously. There is a small kitchen, toilet room, powder room, washing machine, shower room, and a living room/bedroom space. There is only one bed, so I am sleeping on a futon on the ground. The floor is surprisingly springy, and I think I will have no problem sleeping like this for the next two weeks. This apartment is also very high tech, and it is really hard to figure out how to work everything since it is all very technologically advanced. We even have to push a button on the wall to get hot water, otherwise only cold water comes out of the faucets and shower. Those crazy Japanese designers!
After getting settled into our apartments, we headed to Uji with Don for our day trip. The weather was very warm, and the city of Uji was beautiful. We visited the two Uji Shrines and also saw the Byodoin Temple. The two Uji Shrines looked very similar to many of the Shinto Shrines we had seen before, but Byodoin Temple was something completely new. We were able to get a tour of the interior of the temple, and there was also a museum of Byodoin on the premise. Honestly, the museum was probably the most interesting building we have seen thus far. The architecture and use of interior lighting was absolutely astounding, and of course, they did not allow photographs inside. Some people were still able to take a few good ones, so I think we are all going to steal them. If they would’ve had a book about the museum’s architecture, I totally would’ve bought it, but they didn’t. The architecture was that cool! Afterwards, we all got ice cream since it was so hot outside. I got a half vanilla, half green tea ice cream cone, and it was very good and refreshing.
Once arriving back to Kyoto Station, the main train station I will now be using, Derick and I got some mini Belgium waffles as a snack. Mine was green on top since it was green tea flavor, and it was very delicious! I will definitely be getting that again since it only cost 147 yen. For dinner, Derick, Seth, and I got Chinese noodles in the basement of Kyoto Station. I had a combo for 760 yen that came with ramen, fried rice, sweet and sour shrimp balls, cabbage salad, and kimchi. I was so full after the big meal, but it was definitely a great deal for the amount of food that I got. The rest of my night was spent doing Japanese language homework, writing a paper for my architectural theory class, and laying out my travel journal for architecture special studies class. I additionally was able to use Norio’s phone to talk to Nadine McCarty and arrange dinner with her and Kimberly tomorrow night at 6:30pm. I am really excited to see a familiar face for a change.

8 April 2009

This morning was a sluggish one for everyone since most people got minimal to no sleep. People were really struggling in Japanese class, so I continue to be very fortunate to have been exposed to it from a very young age. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily better off than other people, but it definitely helps. After Japanese class, Trudy and I tried a new noodle shop that looked very similar to Nakau. The prices were almost exactly the same, and you got your order ticket through a vending machine. I had a bowl of udon with fried inari skin for 250 yen, and it was very tasty.
Studio seemed longer than usual today since everyone had to present their final projects. The output was very impressive, especially considering the fact that we are in Japan. Afterwards, Derick and I decided to pay a visit to Nijo Castle. Many of my classmates planned to visit it tonight, but I wanted to shoot photos of the building in daylight and in night. At night, the cherry blossoms were lit from below in the garden, and that was the main attraction everyone wanted to see. Derick and I took the subway line to Nijo Castle, and the station was literally right across the street from the castle. It only cost 200 yen to get in since we selected the student ticket price on the ticket machine. I’m not sure if we were supposed to do that or not, but we got in anyway with no questions asked.
Once inside, we were thoroughly disappointed to find out that the main castle of Nijo Castle is closed off to visitors at 4pm. What a disappointment! The garden was still very beautiful, and I’m glad I went at night to see the spectacular lights, but I am definitely planning another trip back to Nijo to see the castle during the day. For dinner, Derick and I came upon a different location of Nakau and ate there for a large cheap meal. I had a beef rice bowl and added tsukemono to the side for a total of 540 yen. I am trying to add some sort of green dish to each of my meals to be more balanced with my diet, but we’ll see how that works out. I have noticed that many restaurants just don’t have salads or anything green that isn’t ridiculously overpriced.
We took the subway back to my hotel but decided to wander around the Gion District again to see the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, they weren’t illuminated anymore, but Derick was still able to get some good photos. Afterwards, we wandered around the Cherry Blossom Festival again and saw a total of FOUR geishas! I actually talked to one, but she did not talk back. Derick and I, along with many tourists, were trying to photograph them, but it is very difficult in such heavy pedestrian traffic. We got a couple of photos, but they weren’t anything spectacular. In general, it was a cool way to end our last night in our Sanjo Hotel.
Once arriving back at the hotel around 10:30pm, I went with Jeff to the arcade since we hadn’t been there yet. I decided it was ok to stay out a bit later since we somewhat get to sleep in tomorrow. Tomorrow is our moving day, so we don’t have to checkout until 10:30am. Norio will take us to the new apartments, then we have a field trip to Uji planned with Don. It sounds like we will be able to see more cool temples. Before then, I’m just making the most of the massage chairs in the lounge since it is the last time I will probably have this luxury during the rest of my stay in Japan.

7 April 2009

I got up at 8am this morning to hopefully get going by 9am. Trudy, Scot, Zach, and I planned to go photograph the Times Building in Kyoto, which was designed by Tadao Ando. We walk by the building every day, but it is usually at night when it isn’t ideal to photograph it. The sky was a clear beautiful blue today, and it is definitely getting warmer. I didn’t even have to wear a jacket this morning. It was such a change from what I have gotten used to. I guess I don’t have to buy another warm jacket anymore. After that, we came back to the hotel to work on our final projects for studio which are due tomorrow.
Our appointment to tour Katsura Detached Palace in Kyoto was scheduled for 2:30pm, so we decided to leave at 1pm to be safe. The directions on the subway were very straight forward, but walking from the subway station to the actual palace was definitely going to be a challenge. I studied the route very carefully on google maps and also discussed it with my classmate Jeff. It is surprising how poor many people are with directions and finding their way in new environments. I’m not great at it, but I am definitely confident that I can get around decently. I just wanted to make sure I knew the directions very well so I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else.
Luckily, we found it without encountering any problems. The Katsura Detached Palace was really great, and the garden we toured was very beautiful. The Katsura garden is specifically known for its beautiful landscape and the views it frames with its the greenery and structures. Since the entire tour was in Japanese, we had to look like silly American tourists with the audio headsets to translate. It was pretty hilarious.
After visiting Katsura, we headed straight back to the hotel. I stopped to by my favorite dango on a stick for 120 yen on my way back, since I will be moving away from here in a couple days. Our final project is due tomorrow, plus we have a lot of Japanese homework to complete. We had a very busy night ahead of us. For dinner, we tried sushi in Japan for the very first time. Trudy and I went with Norio and Blake to a sushi bar. It was the kind where the sushi passes by you on plates on a conveyer belt, and you are charged by the number of plates that you eat. This place was only 105 yen per plate of two nigiri, and Norio chose it, so I figured it was a deal. The sushi was very good, and it cost me less than 900 yen for eight plates. I thought it seemed like a pretty good deal for sushi, even though it wasn’t a 200 yen bowl of udon from Nakau! Haha. Trudy and I finished all of our project and homework by 2am, so we were at least able to get about five hours of sleep. I guess we are not exempt from the architecture lifestyle, even while traveling in Japan!

6 April 2009

Today began a new week, and it once again began with Japanese language class. The lessons continue to be very intense, but I’m hoping that the language will slowly begin to stick in my mind. I know most of the verbs and vocabulary that we learn from listening to my grandma talk, so I just need to practice and understand the sentence structure and tenses a bit more. After language class, I ate at Nakau again and got a small beef rice bowl for 290 yen. It was very filling, especially for how cheap it was. I have still been unable to find anything of comparable value for the amount of food that I receive there, so I’m hoping I can find another one once we move to our apartments on Thursday. After lunch, I had my Arch 420 class from 12:30-2:30pm. Since my class was taking up too much space in the hotel lounge, Don split the class into two sessions based on which language class we are in.
After both of the Arch 420 sessions were complete, Don planned to take the class to the Cherry Blossom Festival and additionally check out the Gion District. Since Trudy and I had already visited both of these sites, we opted not to go and instead planned a trip to Heian-jingu Temple. It was located fairly close to our hotel, and we were able to walk there in about 20 minutes. It is known for its beautiful garden and huge gateway. I presume the gateway must be at least 40 or 50 feet tall, and it is painted bright orange just like the temple itself. The garden cost 600 yen to get into, which seemed a bit steep, but all of the online reviews raved about how beautiful the garden was, so Trudy and I decided to just pay the admission fee. I’m glad we did because the scenery of the garden was amazingly beautiful.
For dinner, we wanted to try a new place we had never been to. Since we didn’t find anything reasonably priced around Heian-jingu Temple, we walked back towards the area our hotel is located in. About a block down the street from our hotel, we tried a place that some of our classmates had recommended. The restaurant had a large variety of Japanese and “American” foods. I ordered some chow mien noodles, and we split an order of gyoza. This meal cost me 579 yen. It was very good, and there are many things on the menu that I would like to go back and try.
The rest of the night Trudy and I worked on our architecture studio project. The final is due on Wednesday, but tomorrow we will be traveling to the Katsura Detached Palace for a tour, so we wanted to get a jump start on the work. I think we might also try to photograph Tadao Ando’s Times Building in Kyoto tomorrow morning before heading to our 2:30pm tour appointment at Katsura because it looks much better in the morning sun. We shall see if I’m able to wake up in the morning since I have been so tired lately.

5 April 2009

I slept in until 11am this morning, and it felt so good! Yesterday involved a lot more walking than I have done in a really long time, so a good night’s rest was expected. I didn’t have anything definite planned for today, so my roommate and I started the afternoon by going grocery shopping. I was really only planning to buy bread for the week and a roll for breakfast, but we got lost and ended up finding a different grocery store. It was really reasonable, and I ended up buying 1000 yen worth of groceries. This was the first time I have gotten fruit since arriving in Japan as well, so that was exciting. I got five bananas for 100 yen and six tangerines for 198 yen. Good deal huh?!? I also bought a small carton of low fat milk for 158 yen and a small two pack of tofu for 88 yen. Finally, I purchased four different types of sembei for 100 yen each. Now my roommate and I have plenty of snacks in our room so we don’t have to eat out for every meal. I ended up buying a small loaf of bread at the convenience store on my way back as well for 231 yen.
After our massive grocery excursion, we met up with Norio to visit a temple located close to our hotel. It was called the Kiyomizu Temple, and it also had the Temple of the Waterfall on its premise. Kiyomizu Temple is one of the most well-known Buddhist temples in Kyoto, and it was packed with people. Since it was the weekend, it was really hard to even walk around since there were so many people out on the streets. We had to pay 300 yen to get into the temple grounds, and once inside, we realized that the famous temple was actually open for viewing. It cost an additional 100 yen, but according to Norio, it is only opened every 24 or 33 years for visitors to view, depending on the religious calendar, so it was a first time for all of us. We were so lucky to be visiting during such a special time.
We saw the Temple of the Waterfall next, and we had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to catch the water in the waterfall. It was a mere stone platform up a set of stairs, and three waterfalls fell from above into a pond below. Visitors used the cups on sticks to catch water from the waterfall and proceeded to drink it for longevity and health. While watching from the long line, I thought it seemed very unsanitary to be drinking from the same cups. Once I got to the top of the temple however, the cups were being cleaned with an ultraviolet light system. It almost made me laugh since the high tech gadget looked very out of place in the temple, but I’m glad the Japanese continued to be as clean as possible. Trudy and I followed the traditional routine, and it was a neat experience.
Next, we revisited the Cherry Blossom Festival in Maruyama Park. It was much busier than when Trudy and I had visited it last time, and it was nice to see the festival during the day for a change. It was Norio’s first time seeing it, so he took lots of pictures. We all ate takoyaki, and it was just as good as the first time I had tried it. On the way back to our hotel, we walked through the Gion Geisha District again. We unfortunately didn’t see a geisha this time, but the cherry blossoms were so beautiful! This area was just as crowded as the rest of the city, but we were still able to get some great photos.
The rest of my evening was spent in the hotel hanging out with Trudy. We tidied up our room a bit, and I uploaded photos while she scrapbooked. I think we are both still exhausted from our extensive traveling and hiking yesterday, but it was well worth it nonetheless. For dinner, we just went down to the convenient store next door, and I bought a daikon seaweed salad for 199 yen and one nigiri for 105 yen. Since we can’t read the kanji labels on the nigiri, it is a surprise every time we pick one. Neither of us ended up knowing what was inside of our’s, even after we bit into them. I think mine was some sort of seaweed tsukemono, but I’m not 100% sure; it was very tasty, and I would get it again, especially since it was the cheapest one there!
The remainder of the night was spent doing Japanese homework. It took a bit longer since we began the katakana section of the book. None of us know katakana, so it is making everything much harder to complete. I wish we had more time to spend memorizing hiragana and katakana, but it always seems more beneficial in the long run to spend our free time exploring the city and the culture. I have been in Japan for eleven days now, and I don’t think I will ever run out of things to see and do before I move to the next city. As for now, I will go to bed early since tomorrow starts yet another week of new opportunities, adventures, and class.

4 April 2009

Today was Saturday, so the two day trips Don had planned were completely optional. Trudy and I have a similar mentality luckily, so we both wanted to participate in both of them to maximize our experiences during this study abroad. We met Don this morning in the lounge at 9am to make a trip to Northern Kyoto to see some more Shinto Temples. Only four of us showed up to attend, so we had a nice and small group of five. We took the Keihan Line to the Eiden Line and arrived in Northern Kyoto by 9:45am. It was raining outside, so I knew we were in for a very long day. First we visited the oldest wooden house in Kyoto, but unfortunately it wasn’t open for viewing. Next, Don led us to a gateway to another Shinto Shrine. We had no idea about the strenuous task that lie ahead of us. It cost 200 yen to get in, and we got an extensive map of all of the shrines that were located on the mountainside. I figured we might as well see them all since we had travelled all the way to get there. The hike was very beautiful, and we saw many Shinto shrines along the way. The downside was that the hike was over two miles long, and it rose in elevation 2,640 feet. I took my inhaler six times during the long hike, and the rain made the hike all the more tedious. I will most likely be very sore tomorrow, but I survived, and I’m still very glad that I went. At the top of the hike, there were beautiful trees with roots protruding out of the soil, and I think all of us, except Don, were completely dead. After descending the mountain, we opted to walk to the train station to save ourselves the expensive bus fare. During the walk, we stopped at a street vendor and bought sakura mochi and strawberry mochi. They were both so good!
After returning from Northern Kyoto, we headed straight to the Hanku Department store to meet people interested in the second day trip to Osaka. Trudy and I were the only two students who engaged both trips today, so we were exhausted. Don, Trudy, and I got Mos Burger before boarding the train to Osaka, and I ordered a fish burger. It was really tasty, and I would definitely buy it again. Most people complain about the overflowing amount of mayonnaise on everything, but it didn’t bother me at all.
Once in Osaka, we started by visiting the Suntory Museum by Tadao Ando. Tadao Ando is one of my favorite architects in Japan, so it was really neat to see yet another one of his projects. It continued to rain the entire time we were there, so photography in the rain was very difficult. After the museum, we ate ramen and fried rice in the Osaka Mall. That was the largest mall I have ever seen in my life, and the criss-crossing escalators were insane! We ended the trip by walking through a three-story arcade and walking around the shopping mall. I was really bummed that we didn’t have time to stop and actually shop a bit since there were so many stores. We also didn’t have time to visit the Imeda Sky Garden, so I was the most disappointed about that. I will hopefully be able to make a trip back to Osaka sometime soon to visit that building in particular, and hopefully that day will be sunny. The consistent rainy weather today was very inconvenient for traveling, but it still wasn’t going to stop me from engaging an opportunity to explore more of Japan.
I have no idea what I will do tomorrow. I will definitely sleep in, and I will most likely be sore from walking and hiking so much today. I am still impressed with myself and my capabilities, but I definitely won’t push it any more. Some people are hiking through a bamboo garden tomorrow, but I decided against joining them since it is another uphill hike in the mountains. Instead, I will do some grocery shopping and work on homework. I might possibly visit the Cherry Blossom Festival again and/or visit some temples with Norio. We shall see. I did laundry for the first time today in our hotel, so at least I got that out of the way. The dryer here doesn’t work very well, so I will buy hangers at the 100 yen shop tomorrow to hang dry everything. In the meantime, it is all over my room. So, I guess that is it for now. I am completely exhausted, so I will sleep very well tonight.

3 April 2009

Since yesterday was such a busy day, I started off today being very tired. I was amongst the norm however, so everyone was somewhat mentally slow during our morning Japanese session. Today’s Japanese class was once again very intense, and it was our most difficult class thus far. We learned three different lessons today, whereas we had previously only learned one a day. After class, I ate at Nakau again, and I have lost track of how many times I have actually eaten there. I wasn’t too hungry since I ate so much last night, so I got the 200 yen bowl of tanuki. It was as tasty as always. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to put the finishing touches on our project presentation, then headed to studio at 1:45pm. Studio was pretty laid back, and we spent the three hours listening to everyone present their preliminary project development. I was very satisfied that our project was well-received, and we got lots of great feedback. The final is due next Wednesday, so we shouldn’t have too much more work to do before then to finish it up.
After studio, Don was going to explore the area of temples located directly across from the Kyoto Community Center where our studio is located. Four of us opted to go with him, and another adventure began. We began by looking at a few temples on street level, then proceeded to hike up the hillside to find a rural Shinto Shrine. We eventually found it, but we hiked up a very steep slope. I was very fortunate that I didn’t experience any severe asthma problems. We ended up hiking along a hillside trail for about an hour before we were able to find our way back. There were marker signs along the way, so it was very beneficial that Don was with us so he could read the directional signs. If he wasn’t with us, we might’ve still been out there lost since it was starting to get dark. Within the confinements of this temple area, we also were able to see the Kyoto aqueduct. I had no idea this form is water transportation was still being used, and we were even able to walk along the top of it where the water what. It was such an amazing experience!
By the time it was dark, we were all very hungry for dinner. We invited Don to join us for dinner, and he gladly accepted. I think we have all realized that he is somewhat lonely, so we try to involve him as much as we can. He took us to a yakitori place called Daikichi, and we ended up ordering many new items to share amongst all of us. I ended up trying chicken heart yakitori, chicken liver yakitori, chicken stomach yakitori, chicken neck yakitori, chicken cartilage yakitori, chicken garlic thigh yakitori, yaki onigiri, chicken meatball yakitori, quail egg yakitori, fried tofu yakitori, and baked potato yakitori. They were all delicious, and we ended up just splitting the bill to be 1,200 yen each. It was somewhat pricey, but I guess that’s the price of eating in a group with Don. It was nonetheless a very memorable experience, and I have now tried many new things. That was pretty much the extent and highlight of my night. The rest of my time has been spent online uploading pictures and updating this blog. Tomorrow, I am getting up early again to visit more temples in Northern Kyoto with Don, and in the evening, we will head back to Osaka to see some more modern architecture.

2 April 2009

The class met Don at 8am in the hotel lounge this morning to head to Nara for a day of temple and shrine visits. We travelled there by means of the express train, and it took about an hour. I slept the entire way on the train again, since I have been exhausted from my very busy schedule. Once in Nara, we hoped to take the local bus to begin our trip at Horyuji Temple. We had just missed the bus however, so we instead started at Kofujie Temple. This was a very early Buddhist Temple, and it was comprised of a pagoda, octagonal hall, and main prayer hall. This was also my first encounter with the deer at Nara, and I was surprised to find them everywhere. It is amazing that they always know the people who have food on them, and many of my classmates were heavily followed since they had snacks in their backpacks.
After Kofujie Temple, we walked back to the bus stop to catch the next bus. We hopped on and geared up for a long bus ride, since Horyuji Temple was 15km from the stop we boarded at. The bus was extremely crowded, and I gave up my seat multiple times to older people riding the bus. I surprisingly did not get motion sick either, which I was very thankful for since we took the bus for such a long time. Upon arriving at the Horyuji stop, the bus fare was 760 yen. Don didn’t realize the bus ride would be that expensive for each of us, so he said he’d buy lunch for everyone with the program money since we each had to pay for our bus fare. We had a short walk to get to Horyuji Temple, and it was amazing once we arrived at the site. It is regarded as one of the oldest wooden structures in the world, and it is the most celebrated temple in Japan. The temple site was enormous, and we visited two different gardens within the site.
It was a little past noon after we left Horyuji Temple, so we were all hungry from so much travelling. We split into two groups and went to two Japanese restaurants. I ordered pork cutlet, and it also came with rice, miso, cabbage salad, and daikon. It was by far the best pork cutlet I have ever had, and it cost 1,000 yen. I think almost everyone at our table ordered pork cutlet, and it was even better since Don will reimburse us all for the cost to compensate for the bus fare we had to pay. After lunch, a couple of us got Japanese ice cream to complement the saltiness of our lunch. I tried tangerine flavor, and it was spectacular and very authentically fruity. It cost 250 yen. To avoid paying the extremely high bus fare to get to our next destination, we opted to walk to the JR Line station. We took the JR Line for about ten minutes and got off the train in Central Nara. To once again avoid the high bus fare, we voted to walk for 30 minutes to get to Todaiji Temple. This was the last destination on our trip in Nara, and it is the largest wooden building in the world. The scale is inconceivable, and the Buddhist statues within the main temple were about 50 feet tall. I still cannot even explain how immense and monumental the scale of the figures and structures were. Wow!
So in the Todaiji Temple main hall, there was a wooden column with a small hole at the base. Supposedly, if you go through it, it is good luck. A group of us watched a guy get pulled through it by his friend, and then it was my turn to try since I was by far the smallest. The hole was shaped somewhat like a rhombus, and upon entering the hole, it became much smaller than it seemed. I could not keep my body angled correctly to move myself through the hole, so my horizontal body became stuck. I had my arms sticking out one end, and my feet were sticking out the other. Everyone was photographing and video taping me struggle to get out. Finally, my friend Scot came over and pulled me through. It was absolutely hilarious, and it is a moment I won’t forget anytime soon.
That night, once back at the hotel, Trudy, Derick, and I went out to find a Mos Burger. It was past 10pm, so we ended up not being able to find it. Since we were still hungry, we ended up resorting to eating McDonald’s. I got a Filet-o-Fish meal, and it tasted so good! It was the first taste from the U.S. I have distinctly had since arriving in Japan. The greasiness of the burger and fries somewhat upset my stomach, but it was all okay in the end. I finished the night with doing two pages of Japanese homework for tomorrow morning and completing a presentation for my architecture studio class also due tomorrow. This was a busy and very exhausting day!