Kyoto Part 2: Kimono and Sukiyaki

After a day of sightseeing in Kyoto we went to a kimono rental shop and got dressed up in some beautiful kimono!  It was so hard to choose just the right one.  You pick the different pieces out separately - the kimono robe, the obi (belt/sash) and the over coat (haori).  There are also many layers underneath - the whole thing is quite snug, like a hug around your middle!

I think everyone picked great combinations!

 After getting dressed we went to a wonderful restaurant for sukiyaki dinner.  It was a little challenging to sit on the floor in the kimono, but we made it work ok!

 Here was the first course of our meal - slices of octopus and cucumber in a sweet yellow sauce.  I was a bit worried about eating the octopus, but it was not chewy like I expected - it was actually really good!

 Next was the main dinner - this woman cooked us sweet beef, onions, mushrooms, tofu and some other vegetables at our table in our own private room.  It was delicious!

 She cooked with the largest chopsticks I have ever seen!  I don't know how she did all this work dressed in a kimono!

 To eat the sukiyaki, you dip the cooked foods into a mixed up raw egg.  The eggs in Japan are much more delicious than at home!  The egg and the cooking sauce mix to make a really tasty flavor on the food.

After dinner we took some more pictures together - here is the back of our kimonos with the obis tied in fancy bows!

 With a kimono you wear special sandals called zori and special socks with the big toe separated out called tabi.  It was a bit of a strange feeling!  Also, the kimono are rather slim through the legs, so walking in them is very slow and careful!

This is a famous theater in Kyoto - all of the signs are of the actor's names!

 After we gave our kimono back (which was really sad!) we went to see Kodaiji temple lit up.  It was hard to take pictures of, but all of the trees and the building were lit up beautifully!  This was a very popular attraction, and it was very crowded!

After spending some time at Kodaiji we went back the ryokan and had a bath that had lemons floating in it!  Stephanie and I got a bit of a Japanese speaking and kanji lesson - we stayed up way too late, but we learned a lot!  Finally we had to get some sleep so we could finish our sightseeing the next day!

Kyoto: Part 1

Last weekend I had an amazing time in Kyoto with Stephanie, Tomoko and our great "tour guide" Haruhi.  Harhui went to university in Kyoto, so she knows all of the temples and the city very well!

We took the Hikari Shinkansen from Odowara station to Kyoto station after work on Friday.  Once we arrived we checked into our ryokan room and made a plan for the next morning, while having some tea.  After we were done the staff came and laid out our futons for us.  It was a very cozy setup, much like a sleepover from when we were kids!

 The next morning we got up very early and stopped at a little restaurant to have some breakfast.  I had salmon, miso soup, rice and an egg.  Very tasty!

 Our first stop was the temple Fushimi Inari.  Inari means wolf - you can see one of them in the picture!  This might have been my favorite temple of the weekend!

 Here is the reason why it was my favorite!  Thousands of tori gates line a 4 km path up the side of a mountain!  It was amazing!  We didn't walk the whole path, but what we saw blew my mind!

Some of them were huge!  The writing on them says who donated money for them and where they lived.

 Our next stop was Tofukuji.  This was a very popular place to see the leaves!  In Japan they call the fall leaves "koyo".  Koyo season is an extremely busy time in Kyoto and there were lines almost everywhere!

 There was a lot of joking this weekend about how my coat blended in well with the koyo!

 This is a rock garden - a lot of people seem to sit and contemplate the rock garden for a while.  I was amazed at how much work it must take to make it look perfect every day!

 Tomoko posing with what's left of the koyo.

 I really liked this garden.  Gardens are serious business in Japan!

 Here is Haruhi, our Kyoto expert.  She even carried a big umbrella like a professional tour guide.  Or maybe for the rain.

This amazing sight is from Kiyomizu temple.  A lot of this site was under construction, but the distant views were still very nice.

 I liked the reflection of the trees in the lake!

 This is in Maruyama park, which is very famous for the cherry blossoms in the spring.  It's not too shabby in the fall either!

After this we went to a kimono rental shop and got all dressed up for dinner - I'll share that in the next post!  

Tokyo Sky Tree and Asakusa

On Sunday I woke up early and headed to Tokyo to go to the Sky Tree.  I was hoping that by going early in the morning the sky would be clear and I would get a good view!  When I got there, the sky was a gorgeous blue!  I went to the courtyard of the tower where I got in a big line.

 I soon learned that the line was not to get in to the tower, but to get a ticket to return at a later time.  A time when I could then buy an actual ticket that would let me into the tower!

 Luckily I had made other plans close by in Asakusa, so I took the subway one stop to Asakusa Station. (Not to be confused with the other station named Asakusa station...!)  I visited the Senso-ji, a very famous and large temple.

 This 4 level pagoda was very impressive!

 I always love the mix of old and new, it always feels so significant to me for some reason!

 There was some incense burning outside the temple - people wave it on to themselves.  Especially if they have body aches or pains, they try to get the smoke on that area.

 This lantern was GIANT!

 A side view of the main temple building.  It was really quite large and nicely kept.

 After visiting the temple I took advantage of the the sprawling street market shops and restaurants   For fear of tetrodotoxin poisoning, I did not have lunch here - there were lots of people taking picture of the puffer-fish!

 Another view of the sky tree!

 After getting tired of fighting the crowds at Asakusa, I took my shopping spoils back to the mall underneath the sky tree, where I took a break with some hot chocolate from Starbucks. :)

 And then it was time to go buy my ticket.  Notice how the clouds have rolled in - bummer!

The elevator on the way up to the first observation deck was really pretty!

 This is a bad picture, but I thought it was neat how they showed you the current height and speed of the elevator.  It was very fast!

 At 350 meters, I could see the shrine I visited earlier in the day!

 The fall leaves are starting to turn in Tokyo - soon it will be winter!

 It's busy as far as the eye can see!

 After paying another fee, you can go up to the second observation deck at 450 m.  The windows here were rounded outwards, and it gave me a feeling of vertigo!

 The shape of this observation deck.  It spirals up the outside of the tower.

Looking down, it looks like some sort of fountain thing going on in the river below!

 Just more views - I think I see a ferris wheel! :)

 I managed to ask someone to take my picture - I really need to learn how to say this in Japanese instead of just miming it with my camera!

At the end of the observation deck you can look down to see where you started!  Pretty cool!

 This is the highest point you can reach in the Sky Tree.

 Back at 350 m there was a small portion of glass floor.  I put one foot on it, but that was it.  Tons of kids were all jumping on it at once, so I had to leave!

As I was leaving the sun was just starting to set - what a wonderful day I had!