Obon Week - Day Six - Kyoto

Thursday's trip was Kyoto! We took the Hankyu line to Kyoto, and Arishiyama. We did a lot of walking, and a lot of bus riding. It was pretty sunny, but very humid and little to no breeze. Kyoto is in a basin, with mountains surrounding all sides, so it gets super hot in the summer, and really cold in the winter.

Dad chilling with some ladies on the way to Kyoto.

Me and the rest of the train on the way to Kyoto.

Dad and I on the bridge to Arashiyama.

Mom and I on the bridge.

Mom and Dad after we crossed the big bridge into Arashiyama.

Mom and Dad in front of the tofu restaurant I ate at with Kyosuke, Yuko and Vince a few weeks back.


Mom in front posing with the statues.

Me fanning myself so I don't melt.


Mom and Dad trying not to melt.

Dad and I in front of the bamboo forest.

Mom and Dad in front of the bamboo forest.


Entering the bamboo forest. It's about 10 degrees cooler in here than outside. Amazing.


Mom and Dad.






Very cool, and also dark in the bamboo forest. This is Mom and Dad, with a flash.


I upped the ISO and took another photo. This one had a really long shutter speed, and that's why it's blurry. What a difference.








Prayers at the Nonomiya shrine.


Mom and Dad under a tori at Nonomiya shrine.

Dad and I at Nonomiya Shrine.

Dad being a great husband and fanning Mrs. Becky in Nonomiya.

Mom and Dad in front of some very ancient moss.

Me in front of very ancient moss.

Kanpai! Cheers for beers. Eating first lunch.


"American dog" and beer.

Mom wanted to take a photo of me and this geisha statue.


Mom and Dad eating ice cream. Second lunch.

Mom and Dad on bus #72 to Otagidera Mae bus stop, to see Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple.

Dad and I at the gate to enter Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple.

Mom and Dad at the gate to enter Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple.

Cheeeeeese!

Dad, Mom, and I inside Otagi Nenbutsu-ji.


There are more than 1200 statues, called rakan, inside the shrine, and each one is diferent. They represent the 500 disciples of Buddha.












Visitors try to find the statue that resembles them. I found me...


... and my Mom and Dad haha.


Then I really found Mom and Dad.

Mom snuck a photo of Dad and I on the train back to downtown Kyoto to prove that our natural facial expressions look genuinely pissed off. We now call it "b face".

I got your "b face"...


We went to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion.

Man I love that pose.

Check out that peace sign, my Mom is turning Japanese.


Me, Mom, and Dad in front of Kinkaku-ji.

Dad pinching the Golden Pavillion.

Mom and Dad in front of Kinkaku-ji.

For dinner, we went to Grill Miyata, which is a very quaint dive that's famous on the internet.

Seriously, this is where we ate a reaaaaally good dinner.

Dad, Mom, Miyata san, and I. He was a crazy old man that kept talking about secret bombings on Kyoto that "even the CIA didn't know about". He can cook a good hamburger steak though.