Looking for love in all the wrong places (Japan - Kyoto)

Thanks to Brianna for today’s title.

Mr Onda was waiting for us at 7:20am for the drive to school.  During that journey I commented that many of the older lady drivers seemed to be wearing gloves, Brett wondered whether they have stolen the cars they were driving.  We decided not go inside because that meant removing our shoes again, then we calculated that we had 25 minutes to wait and went in anyway.

I used the time to start writing the previous blog posts that our busy schedule had not allowed.  Mr Kato, the AP, came in and had a discussion with Kayo.  There is quite some concern that we have the weekend unplanned, except for Brett who is going out with the young teachers.  We assured Kayo this was fine.  She said it would probably be OK because we were doing something with Mr Onda on Sunday.  That was news to us … I wonder how that will play out over the day?

Onto the bus for the 2 hour trip to Kyoto -  Kayo re-organised the seats, a little too obviously, to ensure that Brett was sitting with one of the young female teachers.

I’m just putting this out there, but there should be a doctoral study done into the number of hours a teacher can spend on a bus with the same group of students before said teacher goes mad and kills the student continuously singing in a falsetto voice.  I’m looking at you, Jeremy and you shouldn’t feel safe.

The names of shops and venues in Japan can always bring a wry smile to my face, not to mention the decorations at the shop front.  On the way to Kyoto one shop had a model elephant out the front – I have no idea what it may have represented.  Shortly before this Jayne saw the Havanna Hotel advertising a “sensual pleasure space” whatever that might be.  There is also a coffee shop chain called, “Joyfull”, a book store called the ‘”Exciting Bookshop” and my favourite, “Happy Bicycle to You”.

Um ... yeah 

First stop today was the Higashi Honganji Temple in Kyoto.  It is the number 1 temple in Japan and the largest of its kind in the world.  After a quick tour of the temple we were shown the temple next to it.  We hadn’t noticed it on the way in because it was totally enclosed in a ‘shed’ to allow refurbishment.  The entire temple was covered by this shed that in any other country would be classed as a building in its own right.

The shed

The work inside the shed

Back to the bus and the smell of McDonald’s.  While we were visiting the temple one of the Otani teachers had gone to Macca’s and bought lunch for us so that we could eat on our way to the Golden Temple because we were running tragically late.

The Golden Temple is as spectacular as I remembered it.  The crowd was much larger than last time so the ‘crowd police’ couldn’t really get in and move people on, so there was plenty of time for photos.  The girls were introduced to traditional Japanese toilets, aka a hole in the ground with some safety straps.  Although the overriding memory is the smell.  They ventured in and came out more quickly … unfinished business, so to speak.  The collective decision was to wait for some western-style toilets.  Sadly, this part of the trip saw us revert to being the sweepers of the group with a continual head-count to 18.  Carefully positioned souvenir shops and other minor attractions ensured we were kept focused, although we rarely got 18 on the way around.  There were a number of gardeners in amongst the trees clipping away to make the topiary style look natural.  Fortunately, it was a one-way walk.  Unfortunately, once you left the temple area, numerous souvenir shops needed to ne negotiated before we found our bus.  14, 15.  Three missing.  They were only a few seconds behind us having gone to the wrong bus.

Did you really think you'd get away without a bird shot?

We arrived, finally, at the Kiyomizudera Temple.  It is on the mountain behind Kyoto and has magnificent views back over the city.  We were surprised by the arrival of Yuki, the young man who was Kayo’s assistant teacher for 6 months last year.  Everyone was very happy to see him and spend time with him.  We walked up the shopping street to the temple gate for a group photo.  From there we walked up to the temple where they had a fountain that had three streams of water entering it.   One is for love, another for health and the third for study.   Ciaran went for study but ended up with love and was immediately assailed by two women asking for a photo with him.   This was proof, he said, that the water worked.  I wasn’t convinced because the two women were old enough to be his grandmothers.  Looking for love in all the wrong places.

The fountain negotiated, we headed back down the mountain through the all of the souvenir shops.  If it has any significance in Japan you can buy it here: ninja stars, samuri swords, kimonos, pottery, Hello Kitty merchandise, silk purses (no sow’s ear), fridge magnets, snow domes, key rings, horse head masks … you get the idea.  We purchased some trinkets for the folks back home and dawdled down to the bus, where we spied some young gentlemen all dressed up in matching tuxedos (with trousers short enough to reveal coordinated coloured socks) and heading – who knows?  The one in the dressing gown also carried a glass of red wine.  A large glass of red wine.

I have no idea ...

...but they were enjoying themselves

At 4:01pm we said goodbye to Yuki and boarded the bus. 

We have been Japan a week today and I’m starting to feel the effects of being on the go all day, every day.  This morning we left at 7:20am and I have just walked in the door now, 7:30pm.  It is a long day.  We have covered a lot of kms, seen a lot of wonderful things, met some beautiful people and we have 5 more days to go.  Although we might return with a few less students if I have to spend 6 hours on a bus with them again.