Hello again, Kyoto!

Thank you for checking out this post! I hope you enjoy reading about my experience in Kyoto!

It's been about 4 years since I went on the Japan trip with my family that inspired me to work towards moving and living in Japan! During spring break, I went to Kyoto and Osaka with my friend Tyler from Florida who is traveling around Japan. Kyoto was in peak cherry blossom season while we were there. My trip consisted of eating many delicious foods and going to many beautiful temples, shrines, and castles. We stayed at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, and ate kaiseki, a beautiful multicourse meal. We utilized the bus and subway systems but still got about 20,000 steps in each day!! My legs were jelly by the end of the trip.

We went to many temples and shrines including the more famous ones like Fushimi Inari Taisha (1,000 red torii gates), Kinkakuji (golden temple), Sanjusangen-do (1,001 unique human sized statues), and Kiyomizu-dera (the beautiful temple on the side of a mountain held up by wooden posts and zero nails). We also stopped by many smaller temples and shrines hidden in smaller neighborhoods and residential areas. One of the temples we visited, Jakko-ji, is famous for a master instructor of Go, a Japanese board game, who taught Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu.

Another temple we visited called Yasaka Koshindo is dubbed as the most colorful temple in Kyoto, and we just happened to stumble on it while on our way to the Yasaka shrine near Kiyomizu-dera. You might be aware of ema, the wooden pentagonal plaques that worshippers write their prayers and wishes on. But, at this temple, worshippers use colorful cloth balls to write their prayers and wishes on called kukurizaru (くくり猿).

When you go to temples, shrines, or sometimes castles, you can get a unique stamp to show you went there called goshuin. The goshuin is placed in a goshuincho which is a specific spineless book used to collect your goshuin. They usually cost around 300-800 yen. Someone at the place of worship writes the calligraphy in front of you which is mesmerising to watch. This is a picture of my goshuincho opened to two goshuin I received. I took this picture at the ryokan Tyler and I stayed at in the outskirts of Kyoto in a town called Kameoka. We stayed in a traditional Japanese style room and slept on futons on the floor. The ryokan also has a public bathhouse which is also quite the experience! If you come to Japan, I highly recommend staying at a ryokan! You feel transported to another time and are treated like royalty!

I ate so many delicious things like okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake), tempura, sushi and sashimi, grilled bamboo shoot, Indian curry and gulab jamun (an Indian confectionary), sakura mochi, grilled red bean mochi, bacon wrapped rice ball, and a cheese and eggplant panini!

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I had so much fun on this trip and I hope you enjoyed reading about it and seeing all the pictures! As always, thank you so much for supporting me and I'll see you in the next post!