Torii gates!

(NOTE: This was written last night but the internet was a butthead so I had to save and post now, therefore understand "today" as yesterday ;) )

Today we started off with the International Manga Museum. I (Anneli) think the words ‘international’ and ‘museum’ were used a bit loosely. In reality, it was sad to say, a bit of a let down. It was actually more like a large manga library where people seemed to come and read several manga books at a time. Not only that, but most of them were in Japanese. So yeah, not much for us to do. We did however, find the volume of Naruto Shipuuden (one of our weekly animes) that our story is on (manga runs ahead of anime) and got some spoilers. Kevin made me put the book away though so I “don’t ruin it” for myself. I guess it’s good someone is the voice of reason. Lol.

After the manga museum, we headed south towards Fushimi, the southern bit of town. Fushimi is famed for sake breweries, but as the guide book said, there isn’t really much to see other than Fushimi-Inari-Taisha. The area was as the book described unattractive, and it’s been the longest hike we’ve taken yet. It took us over an hour to get there, pit stops at vending machines and at a Lawson’s convenience store were necessary. We also walked through Kyoto Station, hoping for a short cut. Instead we got a couple of good pictures. 

Kevin has a knack for acquiring things coming out of his head in pictures...

We ate our Lawson’s goods on the trek, Kevin got some rice balls with a tuna filling wrapped in nori (all the business men were buying them for lunch, so we figured they must be good, they were!) and I got what looked like a fried rice ball and for good measure a western style sandwich. All in all, pretty good. We also picked up Koala crackers/cookies, this time with STRAWBERRY FILLING (mmmmm) and a bag of spicy chips.

We saw a lot of “real” Kyoto life on our journey and while it wasn’t amazing or spectacular, it makes you realize that all places are the same. Neighborhoods all look alike except for some minor details like building styles. The people and the shops and restaurants were all the same as back home, they just look different. Kids were coming home from school riding bikes and shouting, making us laugh. We honestly think, tourists who travel this city by subway or taxi, even by bike sometimes, must miss a lot. Walking is the way to go if you plan on seeing something other than what the other thousand tourists are seeing. And that brings me to shrines! Geez Louise, the shrines! Every street has at least one, and if it’s a long street, it’ll have one every 500m or so.

Well, we made it to Fushimi and had to pee and the golden arches of McDonald’s called my name. I have been hesitant to venture into some public restrooms (not that there were any on the way) because I really don’t want to pee in a hole in the ground. Something about it just isn’t appealing. So we ate lunch in a Japanese McDonald’s and it was…ok. The French fries were good, better than in Finland and almost as good as in the US. But the burgers… I ordered a chili chicken burger thinking “uuh, chili pepper burger”. Dumb me, it was chili like chili and beans burger! Not the most amazing culinary experience of my life. Kevin also got a chicken burger, lemon and salt. It was oily and interesting. Also not a culinary whirlwind of pleasure. But hey, we got our bellies full, our bladders emptied and a chance to sit and rest.

So off we were to find the Fushimi-Inari-Taisha shrine. If you have seen the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha”, you would recognize it immediately. The part where the main character runs through the orange torii gates as a child…yeah, that is where we went! It was GORGEOUS!

The area was littered with souvenir shops and restaurants and then when you get to the actual torii gates… It’s just breathtaking. The pictures don’t even do it justice (and I think they’re still a pretty good representation). It was a cloudy afternoon and I shouldn’t have mistaken calling the walk to Fushimi a trek or hike, because walking through the shrine IS a trek AND a hike!! It is all in all 4km long and goes up the Inari mountain. We didn’t make it the full 4km, rain looked impending and in general, we just got tired. But we made it pretty far and got some great views of Kyoto from above. It’s a shame that it wasn’t more sunny as the view would have been better…but still, it was amazing! The whole walk has several landings of small shrines grouped together. I don’t know if these are shrines that people use as families or if everyone can use them, but they all had the fox. The shrine was originally created in the 8^th century in dedication to the rice and sake gods , in later times deities of prosperity (in business) were enrolled. The foxes are what you see littered all over though. They stand as guards at the entrance of every new level of torii gates and are upon all the shrines, some large and some small. The fox is considered the messenger of Inari (the god of cereals, and no, not like Kellogs). I felt at home, the fox is just my animal. The guide book says that the Japanese traditionally view foxes as “sacred, somewhat mysterious figures capable of ‘possessing’ humans –the favored point of entry being through the fingernails”. Spooooky.

 

We walked up and up and up and when it was time to walk down again we had some fun taking a different path down and wondering if our legs would carry us, because they were WOBBLY after all the stairmaster-ing. The views were great from up high though, and we didn't even get to the very top or end of the trail because of the rain clouds in the distance!

The path down was interesting though, we saw something other than foxes, we actually saw FROGS! And then real live cats! Yaaaay! We saw one earlier on the way up, a sweet napping calico, who after my picture meowed frantically and jumped down from her perch to a man who was approaching with a plastic bag of food and calling. She obviously knew the food was for her and sure enough, he opened a can of cat food and dumped it out and she had a feast.

The cats we saw later were in the woods and acted a lot more feral. Some women were feeding them rice and one was black and made me miss my oh-so-Asian Kissa. I even had to take a picture to show Kissa her cousin when we get home. Lol.

So the path continued downwards and actually brought us into a residential area. Couldn’t even imagine how great it would be to play under those torii gates as a kid. We also found a little shrine area with frogs! Just like from Naruto (wink wink nudge nudge)

We found our way back to the main torii entrance and bought some things from the souvenir shop, that’s when it started to rain. And we didn’t bring our umbrellas. So what were we to do but go eat an early-ish dinner somewhere? We stopped in a little authentic looking place and the old man running it was also the cook. And I bet he lived on the second floor of the building. Gotta love it! Kevin got duck soba noodles, I chose teriyaki beef rice bowl. It was DELICIOUS! My miso soup even had little mushrooms floating in it! Ah, it was a real meal! Arigato gozaimas Mr Old Man! We interrupted his crossword, but he didn’t seem to mind. ;)

We weren’t crazy enough to walk back to the hotel with tired legs and in the rain, so we braved the subway. It was a bit confusing but we figured it out and made it to Kyoto Station in 15min, say it with me “Hallelujah!” . The rain had even stopped by then and we walked home in comfort, slowly but surely. We stopped at a grocery store that caught my eye earlier and it was like a crowded heaven. There are waaaay more convenience stores than grocery stores here so I bet the place catered to all of the people in this area. We picked up some tea and honey for my cough and throat (getting better, thanks) as well as a bunch of random goodies and the obligatory beer. I also picked up Pio which is some kind of fruit liquer. It even has some little fruit (apricot?) floating on the bottom. **edit: it was a plum, I think.

At home our pig out fest ensued and we curled up to rest and watch the King’s Speech. It was a really nice relaxing way to ease our aching muscles. I completely loved the movie (duh, it’s about England as well as royalty) and think the Oscar was well deserved.

Now it’s off to bed.

Arigato for reading!

Anneli and Kevin