７月１１日（土）

We fit Kyoto into our sightseeing schedule today, which meant one Shinto shrine and one Buddhist temple. I got to take my mom to one of my favorite places in the world: Fushimi Inari Shrine. It's supposed to be watched over by the fox god Inari, so there are fox sculptures all over. The main shrine is at the bottom of a hill, but the paths going uphill and around all the sub-shrines are the really impressive part. The paths up and down span about 4 km, and almost all of that is covered by orange 鳥居 (torii, arches). The nature on the hillside is breathtaking as well.

the station by the shrine greets you with the name of the shrine,

you pass a railroad crossing,

and vendors line the street up to the entrance to the main shrine
selling various snacks and souvenirs like ice cream, chopsticks, mini towels, etc.

We stopped to eat たこ焼き (takoyaki, spheres of dough and octopus cooked on a specific grill) on our way to the shrine from the station. It's common to put mayonnaise and fish flakes on top, but we're not fond of mayonnaise, so we got fish flakes only. Fish flakes are put on top of hot foods like takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Japanese people always point out to foreigners that the heat of the food makes the flakes "dance" or fluctuate.

takoyaki, yum

While we're talking about food: I also ate 日本酒アイス (nihonshuu aisu, sake ice cream) today. There are often many flavors offered at stands in Japan that are hard to come by in the US. Some of these include あずき (azuki, red bean), ごま (goma, seasame seed), 桜 (sakura, cherry blossom), and ベニモ (benimo, purple potato). Benimo is actually harder to find, it is a bit of an Okinawan specialty.

Next we went to the shrine, before we entered the area, though, we had to wash our hands and mouths.

 

basin for hand and mouth rinsing prior to entering the shrine,
you are expected to cleanse before entering sacred space

instructions for proper hand and mouth washing

Shrines have a lot of ways of getting money from visitors. One is the selling of お守り (omamori, amulets for a variety of purposes). There are varieties for passing entrance exams, economic fortune, traffic safety, even safe delivery of a baby. Just about any situation you may worry about, the shrine sells an omamori addressing your concern.

There are also おみくじ (omikuji, fortunes).

omikuji boxes

To have your fortune told by an omikuji slip, you need to take one of these boxes and shake it upside-down until one of many thin wooden sticks inside makes its way through the one small hole in the top of the box. You read the number on the stick, and convey that number to a shrine maiden working the stand where you can buy omamori. The number on the stick corresponds to a particular fortune slip. Once you buy the omikuji slip, you read your fortune, fold it into a strip, and tie it onto a frame provided for omikuji in the area of the shrine. Not all omikuji fortunes are positive, they are frequently neutral or negative. The reason you tie the slip to a frame near the shrine is so that your good fortune will be recognized and protected by the god of the shrine, or that your bad fortune will be ameliorated. 

frame for omikuji slips

There are 絵馬 (ema, wish tablets) that you can buy, write your wish and name on, then leave at the shrine to be conveyed to the gods of the shrine. The ema at Fushimi Inari are unique, made to look like orange torii.

Fushimi Inari's ema

You can see why the ema are shaped this way when you see the pathways up the hill at Fushimi Inari.

entrance to the pathway up the hill at Fushimi Inari

The paths branch at a couple places but are not complex, the areas are easy to navigate. Look how beautiful this place is.

                                       fox statue                                           off the path, in the woods

 these torii stretch on for miles
companies or individuals who donate a certain sum to the shrine get a torii on this path with name engraved on the supports

 

facing out from the path 

                                  

石灯籠 (ishitourou, stone lanterns)

 

highest shrine area on the mountain

My mom and I got all the way to the top! It was quite a hike and the weather this summer in Japan is especially hot and humid. Apparently people are being hospitalized... fortunately, we haven't been! Mom said that Fushimi Inari "puts St. Paul's Cathedral to shame" with the amount of climbing we had to do! JAPAN!

 

                    bridge on the way down                                 running water by the path

There are also some funny things at the sub-shrines, fox head ema for example.

fox head ema

The ema are designed with just ears and two black lines to indicate eyes on a white fox head shape. Somehow, people became obsessed with drawing various faces on these ema and the trend caught on. I don't know how long this has been a tradition but two years ago these were the norm, and apparently nothing has changed! They are very cute and funny, you can see a variety of impressively detailed and goofy faces.

My mother and I saw our fill of Fushimi Inari and went to a different part of Kyoto to meet Etsushi. He agreed to take us to 清水寺 (kiyomizu-dera, Kiyomizu Temple). It is a great place to see 紅葉 (kouyou, autumn colors) when the leaves all change in the fall. Unfortunately I didn't get autumn pictures, but here are some summer views.

the Kiyomizu-dera "stage"

view from Kiyomizu's stage

mom and me on the stage

Just for fun...

saw a geisha on our way

there are visitors to Kyoto who dress as in this style (commonly called maiko) as a tourist experience who are not geisha

but Etsushi suspects this woman was actually a geisha, because she seemed accustomed to people taking her photo and posed calmly, and maintained composure

Etsushi playing with my camera, goofball!

Culture note: 神社 (jinjya, shrines) are Shinto, and 寺 (tera, temples) are Buddhist. Westerners are often confused by the fact that religions in Japan harmoniously coexist. Shinto and Buddhism are not religions in the sense Westerns tend to think. They are not intolerant of other ways of understanding the world in the way Western religions tend to be. There are many Japanese Christians, and even they often attend shrines and temples. The practices of Shinto and Buddhism are built into Japanese society. For example, weddings are conducted in Shinto practice, generally, and funerals in Buddhist practice. The observance of one belief does not detract from observance of the other. The best way I can describe the situation is that Shinto and Buddhism are parts of Japanese culture and ceremonial occasions.

Holiday: I wanted to mention in an earlier post but lost track of time, Tanabata Festival went by before I realized it. The legend surrounding the festival is that the deities and lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi (also seen as stars) are separated from each other by the milky way, and only allowed to meet one day a year: July 7. The celebration is usually observed by the placing of trees and branches in public streets, in malls, at shrines, and just about everywhere, where you can write your name and wish on a slip of paper, and tie it to the tree/branch. I wish I understood more about the significance of the festival, but despite having written a few Tanabata wishes in the past and speaking with many acquaintances about it, I am still unclear on the details. Many stores sell small Orihime and Hikoboshi trinkets in late June and early July.

Tanabata display in Hirakata-shi Station

(All names used in this blog are pseudonyms.)

７月１０日（金）

Man, I just could not drag myself out of bed in the morning! I guess those days happen time to time. Eventually I got to my mother's hotel and we got going, but I was sluggish until...

picture: breakfast at Mister Donut

... doughnuts for breakfast. I had mentioned Mister Donut to my mom and she had sounded enthusiastic about doughnuts and coffee. It was, admittedly, a good time. 

Notice the forks? Things like this really highlight Japanese/American cultural differences to me. By my observation, in general Japanese people are more dainty and reserved about their consumption of sweets. It would just never occur to an American to eat a doughnut with a fork.

Also, those doughnuts on the right? Those are mochi ring doughnuts. If anyone doesn't know: mochi is rice dough, and it is delicious in everything.

Following coffee and doughnuts for breakfast I gracefully got us lost on the way to 大阪城 (oosaka jyou, Osaka Castle), but not too badly. When I asked some young men for directions they answered my Japanese question with the following English: "bridge, left, straight, walking" and large gestures (pointing and miming). I don't really know what to make of these types of situations, but they pointed me in the right direction because we found it.
(I keep not following my own travel tip: #10)

approaching Osaka Castle

this dude was just chillin' with a hawk by Osaka Castle, no big

view from balcony of Osaka Castle,
note the moat

gold crane depicted on Osaka Castle balcony

departing from Osaka Castle

My mom and I are both museum rats, so we hurried over to 大阪歴史博物館 (oosaka rekishi hakubutsukan, Osaka Museum of History) for some fun. In the museum we could have purchased discount tickets for both the castle and museum. (>_<) Hindsight is 20/20. Preparation vs. spontaneity is a hard balance to strike traveling, and somehow you always feel you could have reaped benefit from more of the other.

Osaka Castle viewed from the museum

Having successfully museum-ratted, we rode the trains to Osakako Station and visited 海遊館 (kaiyuukan, -known as- Osaka Aquarium). It's an amazing place to visit, I would highly recommend it. The place is sprawling; you can stroll through and appreciate the variety of animals for hours. There is also a large 観覧車 (kanransha, ferris wheel) located nearby that you can get discount tickets for with admission to the aquarium.

Kaiyuukan viewed from the ferris wheel

 

 

Amazing water arched entryway, filled with a variety of creatures including small sharks and rays

sleepy otters

sleepy sea lion

mola mola fish, he's huge

spider crabs
(I had these labelled as king crabs before, I was wrong)

jelly fish

the finale: dolphins, children, and glow bracelets <3

Culture note: Stamp stations are a child-oriented system that many museums, aquariums and the like use in Japan. In each section of a museum there will be a stamp station, and stamp booklets. It appears to be a good way to keep children engaged despite quiet, time-consuming activities. The booklets generally have a page for each section of the museum, and at each section participants can collect one new stamp for their booklets. Every stamp has a different design, so participants must visit all sections of the museum to collect them all. I have never noticed stamp stations in US museums, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Do any of you know if museums in other countries also use stamp stations?

Osaka Museum of History stamp station

 Kaiyuukan stamp station

I don't care if they're for children, stamp books are fun

One thing I love about Japan: maccha everything. Even Seattle's Best.

maccha javakula, yum

After all our museum and aquarium fun my mom and I met Masao, Sayano, and another of Masao's employees, Toshio, for dinner at a トマトラーメン (tomato raamen, tomato ramen) shop back in Hirakata City. It's a bit of a specialty shop, but since my mom is vegetarian, it seemed safer than a normal ramen shop that uses pig stock. Tomato ramen is delicious and heavy on the garlic. Sayano said it tastes Italian. She has a point, because the broth does taste a bit like spaghetti sauce.

Travel tips:

11. Preparation vs. spontaneity is a constant concern. If you prepare every single bit of your journey, you leave no 余裕 (yoyuu, allocation) for unexpected or unplanned experiences. You can miss a lot of the enjoyment of travel if you don't let yourself wander a little off the beaten path, and leave yourself open to walk into a place you have never heard of just to see what it's about. On the other hand, researching destinations well ahead of time and knowing the routes, opening and closing times, ticket prices, special offers and the like will save you headache and often money.

(All names used in this blog are pseudonyms.)