ryokan.

I have finished for the semester! I leave tomorrow for Okinawa, but wanted to quickly post about Bec and my trip to Takayama. Takayama is in Gifu Prefecture, but way up in the mountains. We chose to take the scenic route via train.

Rebecca wanted to stay in a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), so we checked in and changed into our yukatas. I didn’t realise how much the walls made everything glow, so didn’t change my settings accordingly, sorry everything looks a bit… yellow.

Breakfast and dinner was included in our stay, all of which was set up in our room for us. We were extremely excited when dish after dish began being placed on our table. What was a real surprise was the accompanying video camera. The owner of the ryokan came in and began speaking to me in rapid Japanese. From what I could gather, she was asking permission to do some filming for promotional material. Having agreed, I sat very self-consciously attempting to make appropriate small talk in Japanese. I did not do very well.

Nonetheless, eventually they seemed to get what they wanted and left us to enjoy our feast. It was absolutely magnificent, but I will write more of that another time.

After dinner, Bec and I sauntered off to the ryokan’s onsen. Returning to our room, like magic our dishes had disappeared to be replaced by futons. Unable to resist, we sunk into them and slept soundly. 

kyōto : part two.

I loved Kyoto. I think it is very true when people say it shows a different facet of the spirit of Japanese culture. That being said, the one thing that really marred our time there was the weather. As I have mentioned a number of times not, the heat and humidity can become quite overwhelming, in addition to which, each day we were there we had storms in the afternoon. Nonetheless, we did the best we could do get out and about! On Saturday we ventured out to Fushimi Inari, an amazing shrine within which are hundreds of shrines lining paths.

Following this, we made a valiant, yet unfortunately futile attempt to make it back to our hotel before the storm hit. Our failure was not helped by our taking a wrong turn and ending up straggling through the backstreets of Kyoto. In the evening we explored a little of Kyoto by night, catching glimpses of preparations for Gion Matsuri. We played make-believe as rockstars at karaoke and headed back.

The next day, the weather looked perhaps even more threatening, but Rebecca was determined to make it to the Arashiyama bamboo groves. It rained on us a number of times, but our spirits could not be quenched. 

Directions to the groves were seemingly non-existent, so it took us a good hour or so to simply find it. Upon our discovery, Bec was excited enough to strike a celebratory pose. The bamboo groves were worth the extensive search, they were beautiful.

Seeking relief from the heat, we headed to a cafe. I'm sure these cafes have a special name (I forget), but pretty much everything they serve is related to matcha (green tea). I played it safe with tea, and this matcha sweet that kind of tastes like green tea turkish delight, but Bec decided to go for the parfait, which upon examination ended up being everything on the menu arranged into a large cup. Don't be fooled by her excited expression, early into eating she remembered that she does not, in fact, like green tea flavoured foods. 

In the afternoon, we headed back to the district in which our hotel was, only to find the streets had been closed for cars and overtaken by people, some dressed traditionally, some not so traditionally. 

Our last stop for Kyoto was dropping into a department store to ogle at the $100 rockmelons. This is one phenomenon of Japan I still do not understand.

kyōto : part one.

A couple of weekends ago was very exciting for me. At long last Rebecca was here! Not wanting to waste a minute, we met and caught the train together straight to Kyōto.

Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel and had some laughs. Bec had even brought me some of my favourite things from home (thanks go to Mummy and Daddy for these too).

We wandered out for dinner. Rebecca practiced her soba eating skills and, to my relief, decided Japanese food was to her liking.

After dinner, we were both exhausted so headed straight back to the hotel for a long sleep, ready for a big weekend ahead... 

hikone.

A week ago I was lucky enough to catch up with my darling friend Amy who has been travelling in Japan. It was tricky for us to find a time that was good for both of us, so we had to settle for a weekday. Since she was in Kyoto and I was in Gifu, we ended up picking a random place name somewhere in between, and ended up in Hikone. It was one of the hottest days thus far, and we were absolutely sweltering, but nonetheless decided to look around the mysterious town we had landed in. We mistakenly thought the main attraction was the shrine, so had a wander around there.

Although it was beautiful, Hikone’s main attraction is in fact its castle. Nonetheless, by this stage the allure of air-conditioning was too strong, so we made our way to lunch. The streets of Hikone were beautiful, with trees lining streets with traditional-style Japanese houses and shops.

After lunch, we believed ourselves to be feeling refreshed, but facing the humidity of the outdoors, fast ducked into another café for respite. Amy talked me into trying kakigori for the first time (Japanese shaved ice). It was a perfect treat for the climate.

We were also excited to find that from our comfortable surroundings we could glimpse Hikone castle, and agreed that was quite close enough and there was no need for us to climb the hill to see it any closer.

I really was surprised by how nice Hikone was, I wonder if you could jump off at any station in Japan and have such an experience, or if Amy and I were just lucky. Eventually, we leisurely made our way back to the station to say sad goodbyes.

Another bittersweet catch-up with a friend from home. Its always a little the same. I almost forget just how amazing my friends are, and then when I see them I am reminded, yet our time together is so short, and then I have to once again deal with being separated from them. Nonetheless, I was so grateful for a delightful afternoon with a beautiful friend.