Blog

Joy found a little Japanese man happy to help but did not speak English. He took us for a long slow walk to the East Gate and to several places. He left us with a friendly young man WHO DID NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. All he could offer was a little 2×3″ note from a pad that told us in English to find the Tourist Desk. We wanders until we found it and got in a long, long slow-moving line. Mid line an employee stopped to ask what we needed. I explained. She so nicely told us we could do that at a kiosk. Being halfway to the front of the line I explained that we already did that, I had no idea how it worked and I was NOT leaving. Joy had to tell me that they are not used to decisive loud ‘no’s’ like I announced. I agreed and tried to tone down my encounters.

After another 1/2 hour we got to the front of the line to be told that the card with Hello Kittie would require showing our passport. The plain one would not; but both required yen only. Darn! what happened to Japan is pretty much cashless? We each spent our 5,000 yen and then had to find an ATM machine. I try to use my debit card (never, never use a credit card since they start charging the minute you withdraw it at about a 25% rate) and get all the cash I’ll need throughout the trip, since you pay a flat fee a each withdrawal. So we got another 10,000 yen bill. The store/shops that took yen were pretty good about giving change.

Now. To find which track and how to get there. We got the info from the tourist desk. A Number 5 from Osaka to Kyoto. Seemed simple enough. We took the escalator down and got on the train to Kyoto. I mentioned it seemed too easy; and it was. We failed to get the express and stopped at every little station.

We transfered in Kyoto to a line heading to the Bamboo garden (each time very leary of be sure it was the correct train and going to correct direction).

Got off that train and were told told walk 7 minutes to the next train. Turns out we had to get out of the station, get on a city street and walk through the town.

This is the station we found. We really couldn’t get on the wrong one — there was only one. But we made sure what side (direction) was correct. It was only one stop. Turns out we could have skipped the 7 minute walk, walked in another direction for 20 minutes and arrived without the third train. Live and learn.

It was beautiful, but to me, wasn’t worth the time, effort and stress.

We saw this cemetery through chain link fence, but thanks to my brilliant photography skills, you don’t see the fence at all.

We paid a little money to visit the outside of a small temple and the oldest continuous garden in the country. It was beautiful. This hidden temple picture couldn’t be more perfect!!

When it was time to leave, we walked out of the Bamboo Garden in an entirely different place and found ourselves in a part of the city where we saw no one. We walked in the direction we thought was correct. They had a very high set of steps that went over a highway or railway. Once over, we asked a woman where the JT was. She said back over the steps. Off we went BACK OVER the steps. We met 2 young girls and asked about the train. They said back over the steps. NO WAY was I going to do that again!! A man we met pointed us down what looked like an alleyway.

I remembered I had purchased a eSIM card. It had not let me make phone calls nor get texts, but it DID give me data, so I googled navigation and by golly, the alley was correct . Along the way we saw an 8-1/2″ x 10″ hand-written piece of paper stating J Train this way. Bizarre.

We ended up skipping that last short train, (since we got turned around), so we went straight to Kyoto. We tried to eat somewhere but we didn’t want to go out of the train station. We ended up eating a delicious carry-out bakery roll with ham and cheese. We DID get the express back to Osaka, but had to stand for much of the ride.

In Japan, they have so many 100-year-olds, that 70-year-olds are lumped into the group of 40-70 and are considered middle-agers. No on ever let us go first or gave up their seats or us. .😞

We couldn’t find our hotel when we left the train station since it looked like we would have to cross a major interstate highway — until we turned a corner and there was the huge hotel just steps away.

Upon getting to our room, I decided there was nothing better than TWO glasses of wine. These 2 pics show ‘perspective’.

And then I got an hour massage in my room. HEAVEN!

We bussed to Kyoto, founded in the 7th century, and one of the early capitals of Japan. We visited the Fushimi Inari Taishea an impressive Shinto Shrine. Saw the thousands of orange tori gates that line the path up the mountain. The gates are donated and the names are listed on the gate.

Again, their superstition says for a few cents, you make a wish and go up the ball. If you can lift it, your wish will come true. If it is too heavy for you to lift, you will not be getting your wish. The ball was too heavy for me to be lifting it — so my wish may have come true, but my rotator cuff muscle did not improve.

They have all sorts of animals watching over them.

It was a beautiful little walk to the Tea Ceremony.

The tea ceremony was performed. It was a step-by-step display of making tea and presenting it to their guest. It had been done this way for hundreds of years. Joy and I couldn’t live here because of these very things — rules and traditions. The white ball was called ‘a sweet’ but it was a ball of dough filled with red bean curd with a little sugar — not what I call fun to eat. Once we drank the tea presented us, we made our own tea. The big green bowl was mine and it was perfect. (The secret is to use the whisk, but don’t go to the bottom. Just whip it across the top quickly.)

Luckily Rumi like this tea and I graciously gave her mine — so I wouldn’t have to drink the bitter stuff.

I love the mosaic floor in a mall.

This was the Golden Pavilion. I was getting tired of temples. But it was beautiful.

This was hilarious. We found another hole in the wall restaurant and Joy ordered these, what I call, soup balls. There was a huge statue of one outside the restaurant. The menu clearly shows that the ball is hot and filled with liquid and you need to poke a hole or bite a hole and cool it down. The tables are very close to each other and a couple came in and ordered these. All of a sudden I feel and see a spurt of liquid flying from the guy next door to my arm and pants. Apparently he hadn’t read his menu and just bit into one and it exploded everywhere. I thought it funny.

The other funny thing was that we THOUGHT we were going into a vegan restaurant. Once we ate and came out o the street again, we saw how we made the mistake. Mine was delish and I don’t regret it.

There was a big fish in the little amount of water!

This was another wishing well way to make money. You throw your coin and if it gets into the little cup, your wish will come true.

This is meant to look like a miniature Tori gate, so the men wouldn’t stop to pee here. Yuck.

This looks like an old religious building, but it’s just an Italian restaurant.

Learned about Geishas and Geisha-interns. There are two types of geishas: a maiko (geisha-in-training) and a geiko (official geisha). Becoming a geisha takes at least six years of training, during which they learn various skills and complete several stages that introduce them to geisha life.

It’s common to hear that geishas are ‘married to the art, not to a man.’ As such, geisha are prohibited from getting married and would have to quit the profession if they want to marry. They’re also not allowed to have boyfriends, which can make the job less desirable for many women. That said, many patrons will develop an affection for a particular geisha. This level of connection may be sufficient for some women to remain working as a geisha throughout their adult life. There is no specific retirement age for geisha, so if they don’t want to marry, they can continue being a geisha throughout their lives. 

Conversely, despite being unable to marry, it’s still acceptable for geishas to have children – and it’s relatively common. The fathers are often not in the picture though, thanks to the rule mentioned above.

We toured thie area of the Geisha tour.