Japan-Osaka, Kyoto, Nara

Chinese New Year offers a lot of great things such as food and fun and for teachers, a month off to do whatever they please. One of my co-workers, named Evelyn, and I decided to go to Japan for seven days. Here is what we did and what happened.

Day One: Evelyn rented an electric car and we drove to Shanghai which takes about an hour. Before we could reach the airport our car was almost out of juice so we stopped to swap electric cars. We get to the airport and I notice that we have about an hour and 15 minutes and I am worried. Evelyn noticed that her camera is missing and she finds out it was left in the first car, the one that is not at the airport, so she calls the company and they get her camera but there is no way we have time to get it, so she has to pick it up later.
Here is the thing about Chinese airport security, it takes forever. In America, security takes time because you have to take off your shoes and belt (unless you have TSA pre-check then you are golden) but in China you don't have to do that. Instead you go through THREE metal detectors, a security check, and customs. I have no idea why you need to fill out customs when leaving the country (typically this is done when you enter the country) but whatever.
We are in line for customs and our plane is boarding. I look at Evelyn and tell her to meet me at the gate. She tells me later that she did not hear me say this. I get through customs, go through the final security check, and run to my gate and into a van. The van takes me and a few others to the plane. I get nervous because my friend was not in the van and I don't see her on the plane. I am hoping she will appear but she never did. I should mention that my phone was not working at the time.
I land in Osaka and buy a SIM card so my phone finally works. I have nine missed calls from Evelyn. She apparently waited for me outside of security and when she went to the gate to ask if they had seen a blonde person, they said no. She decided she would wait for me but I never showed so she missed the flight. She got another flight for a few hours later. I waited in the Osaka airport and redownloaded a VPN, answered emails, and planned my Korea trip.

We are finally reunited and head to our hostel, New World Inn. Our hostel is three stories and very narrow, this is pretty common in large cities because land is expensive and many people live there. We are on the third floor and have a litte outdoor patio for just ourselves, which I think no one else had in our hostel. Our pillows were filled with rice and we got free soda drinks every night courtesy of our hostel.
For supper that night we have fried chicken and an egg omelet with rice inside. It is then we head to a Tax Free store called Don Quijote whose mascot is a penguin. The store has a functional ferris wheel and a laughing buddha guy of sorts. I buy a peach Coca-Cola which was odd but good. We also buy cold medicine for myself and Evelyn buys contacts as she forgot hers at home. The strange thing for me was that you can buy colored contacts at any drug store for your prescription. Where I live contacts are only at the eye doctor's. In Japan they are an accesory item. Don Quijote is famous for slot machines as well and these things were everywhere in Japan, which is odd for a Nebraskan like me where gambling is illegal.

Day Two: Kimono Kyoto
One of our funnest days was when we went to Kyoto and rented kimonos (try saying that ten times fast). It is a very popular tourist attraction in Japan. I think there were kimono rentals almost every block in every city. It was cool to wear traditional outfits and walk around the city. Kimonos are hard to walk in because they are tight and the shoes are high platform sandals. Evelyn found that they are tight on her stomach she can't eat as much but for me it caused back pain the longer I wore it BUT  we looked awesome. 

We first went to a temple that is built on the side of a mountain. There are smaller temples littered along the mountain that we saw as well. The one Evelyn was most excited for was the Love Temple. It is a popular spot for those dating or married to visit. They have these rocks that are about 20 feet apart and the legend is that if two lovers sit on each of the rocks, blind fold themselves, and are able to walk to the other person and meet in the middle, they are soulmates.
In all Japanese temples they have wells outside the place of prayer. The wells have a long stick attached to a container that you place under the running water and fill. You wash your left hand first, then your right hand, then you pour water into your right hand and drink the water. This is to cleanse your hands and mouth for proper prayer. It was winter when we went so it was very cold but necessary if you want to be respectful. Some of the wells can provide gifts for a person. There was a well that had three spouts one for knowledge, one for health, and the last for wealth. You had to choose one but if you tried to do all three, the gods would not give you any of these gifts. While we were at this well it snowed on us, so Evelyn and I think that means we were extra blessed.
We went into the temple area and found that we were walking in mostly hallways and there are rooms on the side. If you want to enter the rooms you take off your shoes and wear sandals that they temple provide. You can then ring a bell, throw money into a container, and say a prayer. You can light incense too.
Another item that Japanese temples have is a place to get your fortune told. You pay 100 yen (One USD) to play the game. There is a drum looking device that is filled with sticks and you shake it until one stick falls out. You give the stick to the fortune teller who reads the inscription on the side of the stick and hands you your paper fortune. There are three ways your fortune can pan out which are very good, medium good, and fairly good. Everytime I played this game I got medium good and every time it told me to be careful of my health and if I wanted to find love I would have to pray a ton.
At any Japanese temples you can buy cloth charms which are for happy marriage, good test grades, health, wealth, driving safely, or whatever the temple specializes in. I should have bought one while I was there but we bought one for a friend who was applying for jobs.

For lunch we ate sushi, walked around the tourist area for shopping (got my keychain), then we bought hot cocoa and matcha. It was super delicious! The hot cocoa there is hot milk then you get a cube of chocolate. You put the chocolate in the hot milk and stir to get your cocoa. I never had it like that before but would do it again. Matcha is a big thing in Asian culture too and the Japanese kind is frothy and comforting.

While we were in the tourist area we found a Ghibli Studio store! We got pictures with Totoro and played with the toys inside. Our next stop was the Fox Temple which is famous for the Thousand Gates. Every god/goddess in Japan  has a messenger that works for them which is usually an animal. The fox messenger in this area has its own temple. The Buddhist monks who lived in that temple years ago built a walk way that has over 2000 orange gates with dates written on them. It is very popular on instagram. Orange is a holy color for Buddhists, which you may recall as they wear orange robes and their temples, statues, and doorways are all orange as well. If you are going to Japan and want to visit these places you should know you need to enter all doorways or gates FROM THE RIGHT. If you see two doors to one temple, take the right. It is respectful to go that way and, as in China, there is usually a block that you have to walk over.
We returned our kimonos and took a bus to our final stop for the day.

We ended our day eating at a famous ramen restaurant, we seriously waited like 45 minutes to get in and that was the non-busy hour. When we left, the line was even longer. In this restaurant you go to a machine that looks like an ATM. You click what meal you want, what garnishes you want to add, and then you pay and get a ticket. You wait in line to sit in these rooms that are small like six feet by 20 feet. There are no tables but booths with side blinders (think bank teller windows). The person who is watching the line gives everyone a paper menu where you tick off what you ordered based on your ticket. The person sits you down in the room. Evelyn and I collapsed our side blinder so we could see each other and then a window opens up on the wall and we give them our paper menu. There are napkins, chopsticks, cups, and a water fountain in each booth along with a call button. If you want to order more you click the call button and that is really all you need the waiter for and the window will stay closed until the call button is pushed.

Day Three: Nara-The Land of Deer and Cute Tour Guides
Evelyn and I got on a subway and headed to Nara where there is a large pagoda and a few museums. We started off in a temple where this four foot 10 inch man walked up to us and asked where we were from. He had an official name tag on and a binder and my first thought was, "Oh man, we are going to get scammed on something" but he explains he is a volunteer tour guide and tells us about the temple and the area. We ended up spending the entire day with Toshi! Toshi started off as an engineer but wanted to spend more time with people and learn English, that is when he heard about a program that was asking for volunteers to be tour guides and he signed up. He has been doing tours for three years and is basically fluent in English.
First, we learned that the temples have a gong that your ring and are big in Japanese culture. They have cookies which are shaped and named after the gong and even a cartoon based on the gong! The show is about a robot cat that had his ears chewed off by a mouse and loves eating the gong cookies. Anime sure has strange plots. The show is called Doraemon and the gong is called dora and the cookies are dorayaki.
Next we looked at the pagoda which has been rebuilt several times. On the pagoda and many religious buildings in Japan, Korea, and China you will find dragons and water marks such as waves or rain drops. The reason being that the buildings were prone to burn down and dragons are actually water based in Asian cultures and these symbols were thought to protect these buildings. Why was the pagoda rebuilt so many times? It actually burned down, at least three times.
There is a mountain that overlooks the town and it looks like it has a bald spot. The bald spot is for a fire burning festival the town has every year. It is believed that the mountain is a doorway to the spirit world and evil spirits will try to get through and fire keeps spirits away (and they wonder why their buildings keep burning down smh).
The mountain beside that is said to be where a god landed and had given the people a white deer. Since then, all deer are considered holy and are not allowed to be harmed. Due to this, the deer have become basically tame and you can feed and even pet the deer! The deer can become aggressive if they think you have cookies in your pockets or purse.

We went inside a huge temple that had a bronze Buddha that had to be two or three stories tall. We learned that Buddhas have soliders that usually surrond the statue or a buddhatva. A buddhatva is a being that is super close to being full Buddha and are often seen wearing charms, the idea being the charms will help them become a full Buddha. They are Buddha's helpers and their job is to pray a ton.
While we were in the temple we bought a deer prayer tablet. Each temple has a wood plate that you write your prayer on. Monks and priestesses will take the wood plates and burn them while praying so that the prayers can be answered. I bought one wood board with a beautiful painting of deer on it and took it home, I was told that was okay. I also bought a cermaic deer that had a fortune for me in its mouth.

Toshi taught Evelyn and I about Japanese gardening. I had no idea but each garden is supposed to be an interpretation of a larger land. Hills represent mountains, ponds represent lakes or oceans, and small bonsai trees represent forests. Each of these can be broken down even further. Some gardeners make their islands look like turtles or cranes  and can represent mother earth, creation of the universe, or the spirits of the water and land. It truly was mind blowing for me.

I remarked how I would like to try some sake and Toshi took us to a sake tasting room! It was so cool. We got to try limited edition sake (each season in Japan has a different sake) and we got souvenior glasses.
We ended the day by going to a sauna and spa. We got massages and drank a lot of water.

Day Four: Whiskey in Yamazaki
We started the day on a long train ride to Arashiyama where we were stopped by a friendly man offering a rickshaw ride. It was raining and Evelyn and I thought, "Why not!" The rickshaw man stopped to tell us about some things we can see and took some really nice pictures of us. He dropped us  off at a bamboo forest and we got to look around a small fox temple and a garden, this time we had to interpret the garden ourselves.
Instead of taking a rickshaw back, we walked into town and found this amazing cotton candy place which I think is called Zarame. One cotton candy was enough for two people and it is really pretty. We got the matcha and red bean flavored cotton candy. They had all sorts of little stores that we visited too.

Next we went inside a temple-museum called Tenryu-ji which has a large dragon painting that is pretty famous and many gardens. We had to walk around in slippers while we were inside.

After this we hurried to get on a train and got to Yamazaki. About a month before I reserved a spot for Evelyn and I to go to Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery. We wanted to see the plant but those spots were taken almost immediatly. We had a whiskey tasting and bought a keychain, cheese, bacon, chocolate-whiskey bon bons, and of course whiskey. The plant began in 1929 when the founder, Shinjiro Torii, wanted to have western drinks but was tired of importing them in. Now they are considered one of the best in the world.

Day Five: Um, I Got Lost in Umeda
Evelyn has been to Japan now for her fifth time, and to the Osaka area for the fourth time so she had the place pretty figured out and we always went together...except for Sunday. I think this may have been karma for the airport.
Since I am a practicing Catholic I go to church every Sunday and I went by myself and Evelyn and I agreed we would meet up later in the day. I went to Umeda for mass and thought, "I will retrace my steps and get back to the train station!" Except that train station did not go to my stop so I had to find another one which was in a mall. I walk around the mall and I am super confused. There are two subway stations and they are both labeled with blue on the signs and one points outside and the other points to further in the mall. I eventually went both ways causing my step count to go very high and for me to be tired. I found a station, got inside, and can't find my stop on the map. Evelyn messages me, "Where are you?" I send her my location and she is confused on why I can't seem to find my way out of the paper bag I am in. I ask for help and the nice train man tells me I need the other blue line which is down the mall even further.
I am now on the train and Evelyn tells me she is at this certain stop. I get off at the stop and tell her I am going to eat and she is confused. "Why aren't you on the platform?"
"You said get off at this stop?"
"I meant to get off the train and switch to a different train...I am on the platform waiting for you."
I pay to get back on the platform and onto the right train and eventually we get to a beauty temple.

The beauty temple is a strange and wonderous place. First, the water in this temple is said to be pure and cause your skin to look great. We bought a hot lemon tea there made with the special water. The temple sells the wood blocks but this time they look like faces. On the wood block you draw, color, and fill in what you want your own face to look like and hang it up. People used markers, colored pencils, and even their own make-up for the wood blocks.
While we were there we saw a couple getting their wedding pictures done. It was pretty neat!

Day Six: Magical Universal
I have never been to Disney Land, in fact the closest thing to it that I have been to would be World's of Fun in Kansas City but I can now say I have been to Universal Studios in Japan! The first place we went to, naturally, was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I was super pumped to be there. We drank butter beer, ate a fantastic meal at the Three Broomsticks, and waited in lines for really fun rides! The first ride was one of my favorites that day which was the one where you get to be inside Hogwarts and be with Harry Potter, try to catch a snitch, face dementors (which were actually super terrifying), and get close to a dragon. I screamed my head off. The other ride in the area was at Hagrid's house and it actually started to snow on us while we were on the ride.

We stopped by the Jaws/American area and I posed with my home country. We got a picture with the shark too. It was neat.

Of course the next place was Jurassic Park which was lucky for us as the next day that park was being shut down for renovations. We went on a water roller coaster ride which was SO FUN as the dinosaurs got to be very close to us but it was gut wrenching when the T-Rex was literally in our faces and then we went on the Flying Pterodactyl. The Flying Pterodactyl was the longest line we were in (or maybe we were just freezing at that point and wanted to go home) but it was great. We went upside down, side to side, and the ride goes over a lot of the Jurassic area. Since it was evening we could see the stars and the lights from the other areas. It was beautiful and scary.

We ate at an American 1950s burger place for supper, got a few pictures of the logo, and then went back to our hostel.

Day Seven: White Castle...Not Just A Burger Place
Evelyn suggested for our last day to go to Hemeji Castle otherwise known as White Castle also known as Heron Castle. Hemeji Castle began as a fortress when Japan was in its feudal era and placed on top of a hill. It had many military strategic points such as windows cut out in different shapes to denote which were for gun wielding soldiers and which were for arrow wielding soldiers, holes for dropping rocks onto enemy soldiers, and lookout points which usually had 360 degree window towers. As holy places had water marks on its roof, so did Hemeji Castle but it also had crests of the lords who lived there. One of the more puzzling crests is a moth which anthropologists are unsure what it represents or which lord it belongs to. The outside of the castle is white due to the plaster which makes the building fire proof. Herons are known for their white color so the castle goes by the two nicknames White Castle or Heron Castle. The castle only recently reopened as it was under careful and painstaking restorations that took over seven years to complete. 

There is an intersting history behind the castle. First, the amount of rocks required for the castle were not available in the town which was a problem. The citizens were asked to donate rocks but the builders still could not get enough. One old woman gave up her stone cooker to the cause which caused the city to come together to get enough stones for the castle. The builders at one point were so desperate for stone that they went to burial mounds and took the stone coffins for their cause.
Evelyn and I joked that the castle is probably haunted for this reason and it turns out, it is haunted! For a different reason though.

The long rectangle stone is a coffin!

There was an evil man who wanted control of the castle and planned on killing the lord. The man fell in love with one of the workers there, Okiku, and demanded that she marry him. The woman refused as she was loyal to her boss and lord and had found out about his evil plot. The castle had ten plates that were considered highly valuable and the man stole one of the plates and hid it. The man framed Okiku for it and told her that if she married him, that he would help her find the plate. Again she refused, she was put to death, and her body was thrown into a well. It is said that you can hear the woman counting to nine and crying as she tries to find the tenth plate to restore her honor. 
The castle is famous for Senhime Honda (yeah like that Honda) who was the wife of the first lord of Hemeji Castle. She was married at the age of seven to Toyotomi Hideyori. When she was 19 her first husband committed suicide after losing a battle. The castle fell and a few years later she married Tadatoki Honda who was her cousin. They had two children together but the son died at age three, her husband and mother-in law died soon after this. She became a Buddhist nun and spent the rest of her life in prayer. She was noted to pray almost daily when she was in Hemeji Castle and her statue sits in one of the rooms.

We ate lunch at a restaurant that specializes in eggs and rice. You get a bowl of rice, a raw chicken egg, and whatever other toppings you want and mix it into the rice. I got cavier and cheese.

To end the day we went to large garden area which had several different gardens which were flowers, bamboo, water, and stone.

Day Eight: I went back to Jiaxing on this day and Evelyn went to Taiwan to see her family. I thankfully did not get lost on this day. However, I did go on the speed rail train by accident. People are supposed to pay extra to go on the speed train but I ended up going 3/4 of the way to the airport on this for just the standard subway fare. When they checked tickets I found out the hard truth but I didn't get in trouble and didn't have to pay. Woohoo! (I did have to get off and go on the regular train.)

My next stop was Hebe's house for actual Chinese New Year.