21 days in japan

The one souvenir I want to bring from japan is an authentic deba dōchō knive. I did some research and chose “Shigeharu” as the place to buy, because it’s less of a tourist place (don’t go to “Aritsugu”) and the owner doesn’t sublicense the forging to osaka but does it himself right here in Kyoto. I found the one I was looking for and he engraved my name in kanji under his own signature onto the blade. I highly recommend this place if you’re looking for a Japanese kitchen knive. 

21 days later I am very satisfied with all the local conformities we experienced and the people we met. I feel, I have started to understand a bit of the Japanese culture and behavior. They're so different to our societies and after looking closer i’d say it’s even the complete opposite. But the important thing is, that it works and they hold together as a collective. Their pure kindness and helpfulness is really something we can learn from...  For sure there’s a lot more to discover, so i guess it won’t be long until i come back.

We ended our last night in Japan traditionally in the Karaoke Room. The only German songs are Nena - 99 Luftballons and Dschinghis Khan - Moskau. Still it was fun.

Ninna-ji temple is a big temple complex in the north of Kyoto. It has many buildings and hosts today the Omuro Ikebana school. The biggest attraction is a very well preserved building that you can walk trough. Its perfectly arranged gardens and the different parts are connected via small bridges. You don’t have to touch the floor if you move on the property. It’s really beautiful.

Driving around Arashiyama we came across the Monkey Park Iwatayama. On the top there’s a kind of ranch with japanese macaques running around freely. There’s also a cabin that functions as a human cage. The monkeys climb it from outside and you can pass them peanuts or small pieces of apples. Just hold up your palm and a small soft monkey hand will reach the food and pick it up. Furthermore the top gave us the best view over Kyoto yet.

We returned to Kurama, this time at noon, to finally get to the top of the mountain. After making stop at the Kurama-dera we continued the path up. It’s a good hike up to the top, but similar to Fushimi Inari-Taisha theres nothing to see at the top, except some old trees with their roots covering the whole floor. We continued the path down again to Kibune (Another tiny town). It’s more expensive than Kurama and hosts high class restaurants with dining terraces floating above the river. Lunch was around 10000 Yen so we passed on that and went back via the mountain to Kurama where we paid the kurama onsen a second visit.

The Fushimi Inari-Taisha is one of the famous Kyoto sights, so we decided to take a look. We arrived at twilight and were surprised at how many people were still there. The whole walk to the “top” of the mountain is covered in these orange gates. Actually its more of a round trip and theres nothing to see at the top. Half way up there’s a view over the city, but not that special. We were coming back down in the dark when most people had gone.

The Osaka Castle is a huge Fortress with a castle at the middle of it. Its Build on an artificial island and surrounded by big stone walls. It’s accesable by two bridges north and south. Today it’s used as a museum. The night we came, there was a traditional theater happening in the garden, so we couldn’t get to close. But the Building is worth to see.

Osaka isn’t a very pretty city. Most of it got destroyed during World War II, so it’s a complete rebuilt out of concrete. At night though, the city lightens up with many neon lights and big tv screens. It’s quite striking and it seems as if the different companies and restaurants try to outbid each other with lights and neon. There are a couple of tiny side street that survived and are really traditional und beautiful. Look out for them.

The Pontochō is an impressive super thin street in the old town. It hosts many restaurants and the ones with the verandas to the riverside. I recommend going in the evening to see the lights and maybe get some dinner.

Today's sundowner was beautiful. I haven't seen such strong colors in some time. Yellows reds and purple. We drove the bikes around the streets and took some photos.

Tonight Club Metro opened to host an „Underground" Techno event. We were told it's the best techno club in Kyoto, so we took a look. Even though there isn't really a scene here, the music was really good. The club is located just next to a metro station and you actually enter by the station. It costs 2500 yen and we got 2 drinks for free (foreigners only). At high time there were about 20 people inside dancing rather shily to the music. The average age is rather 30 and up, but we had fun though.

Kiyimizu-dera are a number of Buddhist temples in the so called part of Kyoto. They're located on top of the hill and give a view over the whole city. They date back to the 8th century and have been added to the unesco world heritage list. The main attraction is a 13m in height wooden balcony on which you can walk along the mountain. A tale says, the person that jumps of the balcony will have all his dreams fulfilled. Not many tried yet...

We took the Bikes to ride to the famous Kumara Mountain. Kyotoites often go there to relax and get out of the city. After 45 minutes of riding uphill, we realized it's 8 kilometers more, so we switched over to the local train. The rural town consists of one small street going further up with a small stream flowing next to it. We hiked up to the Kurama-dera temple, but weren't allowed to hike to the peak  as it was getting dark and there's no lightening on the path. I guess well come back next week. After returning down, we relaxed at the Kumara-Onsen with an amazing view on the mountains.

Another curiosity in japan is the fact that bigger train stations offer free umbrellas at the exit. So if you're surprised by rain, just borrow one untill the next day. And people are really bringing them back. Actually I have the feeling there are more umbrellas than people in japan. They're just everywhere on rainy days and people just seem to drop them when it stops. We found ours on a street in Tokyo. 

Another bar we discovered, was a tiny rock 'n roll bar on the 3rd floor of a building in Kiyamachi Street. It had 4 tables, a small bar and a crazy looking bar tender with long gray hair. All walls were covered in rock posters and vinyls. It's a really cool place and time has stopped in the sixties.

This night we went to our hosts favorite bar. It's a secret word of mouth that has no name, no website and no doorsign. So to find it, you have to look for a certain café and go up the hidden stairs to find a dirty and apparently locked metal door. Behind you'll find a nearly dark bar with just a couple tea lights lightening the place. The music is really really good. Kind of deep electronic beats. We got to talk with a Kyoto professor working on quantum computers and some Canadians he brought with him. We spent the rest of the night with them in several bars.