Maiko for a Day

Thursday was a national holiday, so I didn't have work. Jen, Miho, Gordon and I went to Kyoto where Jen dressed as a maiko, and we took photos. She was beautiful! It is kinda strange to see super traditional Japanese attire on a westerner. She's such a great model too!

Goodbye, November

Sunday I went to Osaka, and went to the top of the Umeda Sky Building, 173 meters high. It was really.... whelming. Meh. Kinda crappy weather, but I ate some udon and took a photo.

Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, Japan.

Sunday night, I went to Jen's house and she made TACOS!!!! I also picked up some Kirin from the Sunkus that looks like American beer. A lager and pilsener. They tasted pretty good.


Monday I went to Kyoto with Lamika to see a photo exhibit of a friend of a friend. It was difficult to find, and pretty small, but I did get to see Extreme Japanese Hedge Pruning! Lamika and I also saw an event being set up for the Japan Pro Wrestling Federation. We would have gone too, if tickets weren't 10,000¥.

After Kyoto, Lamika came back to Kobe with me, and we met up with Jennifer in the MINT Kobe building to eat at a buffet. HOLY COW the next person that visits me is totally going there. I ate 6 plates of Japanese and Western foods, and then about 4 plates of AWESOME desserts. I was about to explode. It was sooooooo worth it! We took Lamika to Daiso, our "Dollar General". It says 100¥ shop, but some things cost more. So it's like everything is 'generally' 100¥. Take a look at the site, let me know what you must have because I can definitely bring it home since it probably won't break the bank ;)

Daiso

Also, if you haven't seen my school's homepage, that's here. My photo will cycle through on the main page if you wait.

Fall leaf gazing in Kyoto

Sunday after hiking, I ran home, took a shower, and hopped on the special rapid to Kyoto. Jen, Miho and I went to Eikan-do to see the leaves lit up at night. It was so beautiful!

Musicians playing traditional Japanese music on one of the bridges. It was breathtaking.

This is a special Sapporo beer. It looks fake to me.

Along the way to Ginkaku-ji, there were many groups of high school students.

Tall hedges outside Ginkaku-ji.

That mound is sand. And it's perfectly smooth.

The "Silver Pavillion" my ass...

Japanese garden.

Ginkaku-ji and downtown Kyoto behind it. Notice how hardly any of the leaves have changed color yet? It's already mid November! I'm used to them being off the trees by now!

Kampai-ing on a bridge on our walk to Chion-in.

Chion-in! Find Me!

I thought it was banana, but it's a moon.

I swear this Chinese family asked us to be in their photo. It was awesome. I then asked if I could take the same photo hahahaha. Best friends for life...

Typical Japanese temple photo: Someone taking a photo, and high school students in uniform.

We were tired of straight smiling photos.

Kiyomizu-dera.

Up a pretty serious hill, mind you.

I love this photo.

The famous balcony or porch at the temple.

After we left Kiyomizu-dera, Jen and I got our bags and headed to the station to go home. It was 7:30, so we stopped to eat dinner in the station. There's a Subway there. It's AMAZING. I remember my Mom telling me when she lived in France, she would eat McDonald's when she was homesick. I'm not homesick (most of the time), but holy cow if Subway isn't the biggest treat for me when I find one.