Turning Japanese (Day 8)

…ohayoo. So tired this morning. We were supposed to get going by 9:00 and left home around 10:30, thus beginning a trend that would last until I left Kyoto. Chris had to work this morning (they are English teachers), so he left at about 8:00 AM and Jen and I lazed about, slowly munching on breakfast.

Jen and Chris's place is small…her family is coming out in April – 3 more people – and I really don't know where they will all fit. That being said, I know they'll make it work since they are all relatively skinny and hopefully won't have a giant sack-load of goods like me.


This is the eating/sleeping/living/computer room. Jen is sitting on the folded up futon on the left-hand side, so imagine what it is like when the futon is out. I'm standing in the doorway. But not to worry, there is a bit more to this place…


This is the entrance/kitchen/pantry/hot water tank room. The bathroom is off to the immediate left. The end.


Oh ps…here is the view from their balcony. I forgot to mention the balcony. Every home needs a balcony to air out the futons during the day as they get wet from the condensation in the floor during the night. Every good Japanese housewife knows that.


So tired…so early. My face was so dry and peeling(!) when I was in Japan. Turns out it was this $40 MAC lotion I bought before I left that was drying me out. What a rip.

Once we finally got out the door, I found Kyoto to be a city of wonder. So many little canals and so much history.






This is the front of a kabuki theatre immediately before entering Gion.


Boo! It's blurry! This is the entrance to the temple/park from Gion corner:





All of a sudden, I see these…Japanese security guards, for lack of a better word, shoo-ing people out of way and ba-da-ba-baaaa! Here comes the bride.




The bride is the one in the giant cone hat and the groom is beside her in the black. Apparently that hat weighs a ton.





Our continued jaunt through the park brought other sites of wonder…


This tree is famous for being extravagantly beautiful during cherry blossom season…um…needless to say, it is not cherry blossom season.


Kawaii!




As you may know by now, this is another hand-washing station…but with THE coolest water spout to date.


Cemetery as far as the eye could see…

As we left the temple grounds, we headed towards downtown Gion and saw some of the most amazing sights of my Japanese adventure…









Wowza! What a cultural smack in the face.

Jen and I decided to find Studio Shiki – the studio I was going to become a geisha at – and then do a bit of shopping and lunch before heading back for my appointment at 1:30.






My first meal sitting seiza (on my knees)! I had some oishi Chinese noodles done Japanese style with fish sausage and pork.








Kyoto from the temple grounds.



After a sampling of omiyagi (sp?), which his a traditional Japanese sweet made with red beans (cinnamon/chocolate/banana-flavoured red beans in uncooked dough, to be exact), we made our way to Studio Shiki for my maiko transformation. The helpful girl at the front counter (who reminded me an awful lot of my friend Shannon), gave me this thin cotton robe and instructed me to remove all piercings. Yikes!



Upon making my way upstairs, I got my hair pulled up into a little roll, slathered with white paint, eyes painted pink and lips painted red.

I got to pick out my own kimono! Which, by the looks of it, turned me into a zombified dinosaur.

Then came the millions of layers that were added…not by buttons, hooks or clips, but my simply tying everything on.




The girl that reminded me of Shannon, strapping on my helmet.

I then proceeded to get some hideous studio shots taken and was given 15 minutes outside with my own camera!













After running around in that insanely heavy, well-padded-but-tight get-up that took about half an hour to put on, they ripped it all off me in about 45 seconds and I was off to scrub my face…and neck and back.

After we left…I needed to see my face again to feel normal.


Ahhh! Sugoi.

So we continued on and…boys, I gotta say – if you thought Takeshita Street was funny, check this little guy out:



Apparently he is something like a raccoon squirrel that brings good luck…? Jean, correct me if I'm wrong. His belly says Takada. He's some mythical creature anyways…and he's outside of shops and restaurants everywhere.

We then felt like shopping and slowly half-gunned our way to the downtown shopping arcades, taking in the sites as we go.







<br>She had a funny wig on.

We shopped for a while and I almost bought this giant fake Vivienne Westwood orb necklace. Jen made fun of me for liking it. That's just kind of how we roll. We stopped to wait for Chris to meet us for dinner, so I had a hotdog pastry thing at a coffee shop called 'God Mountain'. With the group now together, we decided to dine at Capricosa, an Italian eatery they frequent. We ordered what to us were English dishes, but they somehow came out like this on our bill:



The waiter was a very pleasant gent who, every time he came to our table, uttered the word "shimasu." Since we had no idea what it meant and servers always say it, we decided to make it our own word to use in any and every situation. Because we are shimasu like that. (He was ACTUALLY saying 'shitsureshimasu', which means pardon me, but really…that's not as funny as the levels we were taking it to.)


Mmm. Eggplant spaghetti.



After our scrumptrilescent meal, we headed outside and wha…! Wonder of wonders, there was an arcade immediately across the alley/street/sidewalk/whatever they call it here. Best! I was determined to show them the world of purikura, so I convinced them to fork over some money and we proceeded to pump out the hottest purikura to date!



No big deal.
We headed back to Yamashina and decided to call it a night after a bit of relaxation. My first full day in Kyoto was a success.

Tomorrow – Indian food, a double-gun to the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), clenched balls of Japanese teenagers, and my first dive into the world of Japanese karaoke.
Ja ne!