So, a few days ago, we had pretty atrocious air quality here in eastern China, while I was on a trip to Wuxi. Wuxi, despite being roughly 10 times smaller than Shanghai, has substantially worse air pollution in my experience, and Thursday was no exception. Having spent the day there, on a day that was measurably bad (AQI of over 200), I came back with an uncomfortably sore throat that I am still nursing today. And yet, just hours later, when I woke up the next day, we had fantastic skies again. And, like most of the time since I've been in Shanghai, the air stayed marvelously clean through today, which was perfect, since Fifi had a school picnic today!
 |
| Beautiful day for a picnic! |
 |
| Lego cars |
 |
| Bounce House |
 |
| YMCA song |
 |
| Playing with Friends |
But, back to our main storyline. For the first few days, we made a point to travel to some of the smaller cities in the Kansai region by train, since, as mentioned in the previous post, we took advantage of the "JR Rail Pass" that provides travelers with unlimited train rides for a set period of time. By (full) day 3, our rail passes had expired, so we decided to explore Kyoto itself.
Kyoto is probably one of Japan's most famous cities. It served as the Imperial Capital of Japan since the 9th century until the "Bakumafu" revolution that led to the Meiji era of Japan. As such, is by far the most historically significant city that we would visit on our trip. As a bonus, it also happens, to be the setting of a good portion of manga/anime series
Rurouni Kenshin, in the segment aptly referred to as "The Kyoto Arc"!
Our first full day in Kyoto featured a brief trip to the Yasaka Shrine, situated in a beautiful park:
 |
| I thought to myself, this shot, while fabulous, would be that much more impressive about a month or so later, when the leaves would really turn! |
But the real treat for Day 3 was the walk up to the famous Buddhist Kiyomizu (Clear Water) Temple.
Japan Observation #6: Japan has basically two major religions - Buddhism and Shinto. Frankly, I'm not very capable of recognizing the differences from the buildings, which is the case with Buddhism vs. Taoism in China as well. The main way that I can tell the difference, as it were, is by the garb of the practitioners:
 |
| A Japanese buddhist monk... |
 |
| ... and a Shinto Priest |
In any case, Kiyomizu was also somewhat difficult to find, and we had to ask for directions many times from the Yakasa shrine, yet again.
Japan Observation #7: I'd already mentioned before about how little English is spoken in Japan. But on this particular day, I made yet another related observation. It seemed that it's actually the younger generations that are incapable of speaking English in Japan - in fact, many elderly gentlemen we spoke to had quite good English. This is in stark contrast with our experiences in China, where it is very rare to find good, elderly English speakers, but fairly common to find younger English speakers. I speculated that the reason for this is because of social history. The older generations in Japan lived through post-war Japan and the period of development, where Japan likely had to do much business with the West, not unlike China today. However, since the mid-to-late 80s, Japan has more or less achieved a self-sufficient state that we like to refer to as "Developed", where there is no longer much reliance on Western experts - so there simply hasn't been much need to speak English any more. This was confirmed by an expat who had lived in Japan for the last 20 years we met on the subway later on our trip.
Anyway, the road to Kiyomizu is arguably the real treat, as it is a long hike up the hills between rows of ancient storefronts. It's also a great place to spot
geisha, or traditional female entertainers who, despite popular belief, are typically not, at least post WWII, involved in any sort of sex trade.
 |
| Geisha! |
 |
| Sword-fighting on the road up to Kiyomizu Temple |
 |
| Kyoto has several shops that sell these robes - the uniform of the famed "Shinsen Gumi", an elite Samurai force that protected the Emperor's interests during the Bakumafu and a popular subject of many manga/anime, including the now thrice mentioned Rurouni Kenshin (Fan favorite Saito Hajime was formerly Shinsen Gumi)! |
 |
| Keeping with the theme of Samurai, who are a large part of Kyoto's history |
 |
| The gate to Kiyomizu |
The temple itself, at least in my opinion, isn't much to look at. It is quite large, but its standout feature is that it appears to be suspended in mid air, supported by what looks like wooden pillars along the slope of the mountain.
 |
| You can see Kyoto Tower from here! |
 |
| A fun game people play at Kiyomizu Temple is to try to walk from one of these rocks to the other with their eyes closed. If you manage to do it, it means you have found your soul mate. Fortunately, Cherry and I had a little hired help... |
 |
| Shaking fortune sticks |
 |
| Panorama of Kiyomizu Temple |
On the way back, we had some traditional Soba noodles, as well as some green-tea flavored shaved ice. Both were really not much to write home about, although I am writing about them anyway...
 |
| Cold soba with some kind of soy sauce dip |
 |
| Green tea flavored shaved ice. The Japanese love this flavor... I cannot say I share that sentiment... |
Japan Observation #8: For a country that is so obsessed with noodles, there isn't really much in the way of variety as far as I could tell. The three primary forms of noodles: Soba (buckwheat noodles - the most traditional of the three), Udon (thick noodles usually prepared in a soup), and Ramen (a wildly popular noodle soup that is said to have been inspired by Chinese
lamian, or pulled noodles, but are clearly cut noodles that basically taste nothing like Chinese noodle soups). There are dozens of variations on the broths used with these noodles, but for the most part the actual noodles themselves are limited to these three. Of the three, I would say I like Udon the best, although I really, really wanted to like Ramen due to my infatuation with the DS game "The World Ends with You". But in fact, I would say that instant ramen (in Japan - not the U.S. or even in China) tastes the same if not better than the ramen you get in restaurants).
 |
| Restaurant Ramen |
 |
| Instant Ramen. I can honestly say that I liked the instant stuff better. It's also cheaper -about $2 USD compared with about $7 or $8 at a restaurant. Yes, instant noodles in Japan, like just about any food in Japan, is expensive! |
Next, on "The Kyoto Arc", we visit the famed Kinkaku-Ji and Nijo Castle! Stay tuned!
