Ryumai - Dragon Dance‏

On Saturday I took part in a dragon dance. We were invited to come along as there were some special activities in Kyoto´s Movie Land Theme Park (kind of theme park where they film movies, has replica streets from different historic moments) and a dragon dance was one of them. Really had no idea what this was going to entail, turned out we were to actually perform...

First we had to dress up like this.... and put on these shoes....

The "rehearsal" involved seeing of we could actually lift the dragons... they are quite heavy and a bit tricky to manage to move around in a dragon-like fashion.

And after a little while it was time for the show.





The actual show was with two dragons, two teams, which we interchanged the holding of the dragon - otherwise you would get too tired! A woman was also involved, she had some fireworks and seemed to set them off at various points....

I suppose the performance was depicting a story, but I´m still a little confused about that.... nevertheless, it was a fun experience and not just a little crazy.

At the end we had a short time to take a look at movie land - that day there were so many people dressed up - cosplay - like their favourite manga characters. Some of the costumes were really well done and they were really in character.

Wig

Big sword

After all that when we got back on the bus to go home, they gave us 1000 yen "dinner money". (about 8 pounds). Brilliant! Paid to be a dragon!!





Arashiyama

Today I took a trip out to a part of Kyoto called Arashiyama. It is famous for its bamboo forest. I visited the garden of the Tenryu-ji temple. At this time of year the leaves are changing to beautiful browns, yellows and reds - so it is a good time for garden viewing to see this. It is not as spectacular a sight as the cherry blossom (I´ve read) but Autumn here is really quite spectacular.



The Japanese take it quite seriously:

They all seem that have really great cameras, and love taking photos. It seems like a stereotype, but in fact it is true - they love photos! My favourite is when they are a couple and each pose in front of a tree or something. Or when they have a tripod and get a shot together, brilliant.

http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo11/
This is a guide to the change in colour of the leaves around the country... they even have a forecast which I think you can see on TV to show you when the leaves will be at their best colour.

Walking then through the bamboo grove:

It was lovely walking through this, but too busy with other tourists.

Like in most places here, there are just too many people trying to do the same thing at the same time. In situations like these it really feels like such a crowded place.

Man with pet rabbit.



The drain covers have a touch of class.

Parking in this part of town

Holiday and Tokyo

Last week I went away on holiday as Dani visited me. We spent most of the time in Tokyo... after a few days in Kyoto seeing some sights we took a night bus to Tokyo - this not only saves on time but the expense of a nights accommodation...I would have loved to go by Shinkansen, bullet train, but it is a really expensive way to travel... maybe one day...

We had a little luxury though, booking slightly more expensive seats - cocoon seats...

I´d say even with the extra leg room, still wasn´t quite enough by European standards! But we slept a bit and arrived dazed in Tokyo at 6.30am....

Allegedly a 24 hour city, it took us a while to find a coffee shop which was open so early but eventually we did and our day started.

Plenty of sightseeing and MUCH walking.

View from the Metropolitan Government Building

Tokyo Tower

By sticking to one set of subway trains, slightly less confusing (and a bit cheaper too) we still had one time when we changed platform 3 times to get the right train (3 platforms for the same train line, they were out to confuse us)

Swinging arm roadworks sign

Imperial Palace Gardens

More interesting lamp-posts!

We even managed to find a Scottish bar, in case I had any home-sickness... we did go in, it was quite amusing - at least there were no bagpipe or country dancing music... still they DID sell cider, which is the first time I have seen it here (still at 600 Yen a half-pint, I won´t be back)

I enjoyed Tokyo, it was quite like I had expected - very big, and a little crazy. I think it is my kind of city but really it is so big, I am sure it would get tiring in the long run. I like where I am based in Kyoto but I think Tokyo is more my kind of place. What was interesting as well - even in the city you could find quiet, people seem to respect that and it is not the rush rush like you find in other grand cities of the world.

Finally after returning by night bus to Kyoto we spent the last night in Osaka... a little too late to make it when the castle was open but provided us with a good evening walk.





Stone Appreciation Walk

This week we had a class outing, a stone appreciation walk.
The artists Dunhill & O´Brien who work collaboratively, are coming to Kyoto to work with stones and create a "Stone Appreciation Study Room" at the Seika university.

We had a class outing to look at, take photos and contemplate some famous stones here in Kyoto.

This is a stone at a shrine which is used to attach your wish (you have to pay to do this, more expensive if you want the wish to last longer...) and then you go through the hole in the middle - from the front o break up relationships and from the back to mend them. Most people seemed to do it both ways.

Then we went to a temple Kiyomizu-dera, which has the love stones:

They look like this:

And this:

There was a great climb to the temple, but the views were worth it:

There was also a fountain of special water you could queue up to drink... I can´t remember what benefit it would give you...

Bus

Kindergarten bus

Masks

More masks... so they are not just for Halloween... and only 500 Yen!

Although the horse one is really scary...

Kinosai festival

Last week was festival week at school. Here they have a week off from classes to party... sounds better that "reading week"...
Lots of students get involved making the stalls and stages and so on. Then the fun starts - there are bands playing, theatre, music and so on. Students set up stalls to sell food, coffee and things they have made or flea market stalls. Lots of people dressed up "cosplay", this is where they dress up like manga character - some of the costumes are really quite good.
No alcohol on campus though, so everything finishes by about 8pm!

cosplay

crazy band guitar biting antics

makeshift cafes/stages

dancing? group

gaijin dancing in makeshift club

Nara

On Wednesday I took a trip to Nara, which was the capital of Japan, before Kyoto and then Tokyo.
The main motivation for going was an exhibition which was offering free entry to international students. The exhibition was of Shoso-in Treasures. This is basically an exhibition of ancient museum pieces - these are stored in a treasure house which contains more than 9000 items of historical significance. Every year in Autumn, around 60 items are picked to be shown in this exhibition. When the items are shown, they cannot then be shown again for 10 or more years. The exhibition I saw was the 63rd, so I suppose they have enough to go round for a few year or so....

Although it was really interesting, it was quite difficult to see the pieces very well, the exhibition was so crowded (although being taller than most people here, afforded me a slightly better view). It seems as if in Japan there are certain things you must see and this is one of them, pushed round in conveyor belt style, not really seeing anything, but saying you have been there. Not the best way to actually see an exhibition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Ds%C5%8Din
More about the Shosoin.

Nara itself is pretty but a really touristic place... mostly for Japanese tourists..

But one of things Nara is famous for is the deer.... they wander about the place freely and are not afraid of humans...

You can buy deer biscuits to feed them, if you want a crowd of deer following you.... I didn´t even have any biscuits and I stopped for one moment and one came up to me and licked me on the leg. Yuck.

The other thing Nara is famous for is the Todai-ji Temple which has Daibutsuden Hall - the world´s largest wooden building.

It is pretty big and it has a large Buddha inside.

If you want to help with restoration, you can buy a tile on which your name is written and it will be used to restore the roof.

And with this you are supposed to touch the statue and then rub the part of your body where you have some ailment, which will then in turn presumably be cured.

This place was also quite busy.

People walking to the temple.

Nara is a crowded place...

Nara mascots

Market and shopping curiosities

When going to a market and looking at shops recently I saw these:

And a shop which had a pig barbecue:

Slow week

This last week has just been about getting on with things and not really much exceptional to report. I suppose after the initial buzz of being in a new place and situation dies down, everyday realities need to take place. Small things like using the washing machine (first working out the symbols, how to work it, what button to press) and microwave for example. Microwaves in Japan have a setting for warming up sake apparently.

It is a time for thinking about what I am doing and planning a little about what I would like to do. This week at the university has school festivals, which means no classes.... I am not entirely sure what the festival comprises of, but it will be interesting to find out.

One good activity recently undertaken was a visit to an onsen. These are spa type things, outside. They have inside ones too, but have a different name. Hot relaxing water, although some a little hot for my liking, you can feel a little boiled after... the logical thing is the regulations for using these bath houses. Generally they are segregated. To enter you must strip completely and go in with your soap etc. and wash before you can get into the pools. It makes complete sense - you are clean before, so not soaking in the dirt! And no bathing suit, well I suppose it is cleaner too that way. Not for the body conscious I suppose. It would be better if there was one nearer the house, as trekking back slightly lessens the relaxing effect.