Eigamura!!!

This might be my favorite place I've been to during my solo travels. Eigamura, or Toei Movieland is a Japanese theme park in Kyoto. However, it's not the typical theme park with roller coasters and carnival games. Instead, the area is modeled after Edo period Kyoto, so all the buildings are super traditional, and all the park attendants are dressed as samurai or ninja or geisha. Park goers can also pay to dress up in the clothes, hair, and makeup of that period, so most people are walking around either in kimono or with swords at there hip. There was also a ninja stage performance thing which was fun to watch, even if my comprehension of what was happening wasn't 100%.

The guy in black and gold is Hattori Hanzo (who knew he was a real person?) and the other one is just a random bad guy I think.

There was also another part of the park where they showed you the special effects used in these kind of movies. Then a bad samurai and good samurai acted out a short scene. They were hilarious, and I felt pretty proud about understanding all of their jokes in Japanese. Basically, this was a great day! (Another great day)!

Maiko Dances

March 18, 2012

I went to Yasaka Shrine, which is about a 15 minute walk from my hostel to watch maiko dance performances. Maiko are apprentice geisha who wear much more ornate kimono and hair ornaments than their full-fledged counterparts. In march, maiko come to Yasaka Shrine to dance in order to bless the shrine. It's pretty rare to get to see a performance, let alone for free, so I went a good hour early to stake out a good seat. I was waiting around for an unnecessary amount of time, but I practiced kanji (yes, I know I'm a nerd) and ate strawberry daifuku during the wait (nom). While the maiko only performed two dances, it was really wonderful to see. It also saved me from going through the trouble of stalking geisha in Gion. Pretty much a win win situation.

Matcha Parfait and Hanatouro

Sometime while I was in Kyoto last summer, I was introduced to the brilliance of matcha soft serve ice cream, and have been craving it ever since returning to America. Luckily, I ran into a friend from Doshisha within 20 minutes of wandering around the shopping area across from my hostel, and she agreed to guide me to the most scrumptious matcha parfait I have ever eaten. The line to go inside came down from the second floor of the shop and wrapped a good way onto the sidewalk, but it was sooooo worth the wait. I now present a picture for ogling purposes.

Yeah, it was damn good.

Then at night, I went with Mikachu to Hanatouro. It's basically light up at various temples around the Kyoto area. There were lanterns everywhere, and also ikebana displays and and random blow up things.

For example, Orochimaru:

And while I'm sure this is actually something legitimate, that's really all I could think of. I also apologize for making an anime reference that most of you won't understand at all. =P

Basically, a super great day! 日本が大好き！

京都で一人旅行

Hi friends! And all others who want to creep on my adventures in Japan.

I've now been in Kyoto for about a week, and have finally mustered the willpower to start writing a blog (thanks to a gentle urging by some kids back in America). I suppose I've been here long enough to recount some adventures, but I hope no one will be terribly disappointed if this turns into a place where I just post pictures of everything I eat here.

So I first arrived in Kyoto after spending a fairly sleepless nine hours lying on a bench at Haneda Airport and carrying about 100 lbs of luggage with me. The process of getting myself from the airport to my hostel (Sara: hostel, not brothel) in Kyoto was going fairly smoothly until the last stretch. I met my downfall in the subway station. Since the directions to the hostel indicated to leave the station at exit 10, I obediently pulled my two large suitcases in that direction. However, when I arrived, my 100 lbs of baggage and I were faced with a solid three flights of stairs looming in front of us. After waddling like a pregnant penguin with one suitcase in each hand up the first flight of stairs, my arms were decently numb, and I may have been out of breath. That's why I was really happy when one bag tipped over and tumbled all the way down to the bottom. I also found it kind of amusing the one person who offered to help was this girl who probably weighed as much as my baggage. I declined her offer in fear that she would seriously injure herself while trying to come to my aid.

The hostel I've been staying at is actually really nice although I'm not sure I would want to share a room with five people ever again. I'm currently wearing earplugs for the first time in my life since one guy snores like a trucker, and has been very successful at waking the entire rest of the room group between the hours of 5 and 6 a.m. for the past 3 days now. I'm not sure even these earplugs will be able to withstand volume, but at this point, I'm willing to try anything. I'm tired now, so bye bye.

おやすみなさ。