Calpis and Friendship is Magic

Yesterday I woke up around 8ish and headed south for a 1 day event.  Toji Temple has a monthly flea market on the 21st of each month.  It was pretty sprawling and had lots of pottery, clothes, decorative items, and good looking food.  I made sure to ask if I could take photos, but one guy must have misheard as he responded with a welcome, but hopped up with a "Dame Dame Dame!" when I pulled out my phone.  I didn't see anything I needed but I did try a homemade rice and eel roll they were selling packaged.  I also bought 2 pieces of Taiyaki which are fish shaped cake/pancake with a filling.  Mine were red bean and custard, pretty good.  I wound up not going in the temple as it was pretty busy because of the market, bit took pictures around it.  

Since I was as close as I was going to be, I decided to head to  Fushimi Imari shrine further southest at the foot of, and climbing Mt Inari.  Its 3.1 miles directly from the hostel, but probably closer to 3.7 with the detour.   Luckily it was an overcast day as I'd forgotten to put my sunscreen in my fanny pack.

Fushimi Inari was pretty busy even though it was still morning on a Thursday.  Its the most popular shrine in Kyoto for good reason.  Its a shrine dedicated to the Shinto deity Inari, who is the god of foxes, rice, and business success.  The shrine has a looping path to the top completed covered by red-orange Tori gates.  Behind them is a tree and bamboo forest and scattered with additional sub-shrines.  Each shrine typically has 2 fox statues in front, one with a key or scroll, and one with a jewel.  Some shrines have bells or incense at for summoning the spirit, shrines without you have to clap.

Along the way there are also many stands that sell charms for luck or success, small tori gates to leave as offering, or candles for worshippers to burn.  

At some point there was a divergent path off feom the tori gates that I took to see what was over there and to get away from the slow procession of selfiers on the gate path.  There was a sign on the path that showed an arrow and said Mt Inari Peak so I stuck with it.  It was nice to get away from the crowds, there were very few people on the trail and eventully just me.  There was a pretty ominous sign on a fence gate warning to leave it shut because wild boars invade, but then the fence was completely broken and passable next to it.  Eventually after a long while I was getting to the top and saw it went the same way as the tori gates, just a detour.  I got to the top, took my turn saying a prayer and started going down the exit path. 

Also, I had always wondered what was written on the Tori gates befors coming.  They all have writing on the side and I wondered if it was some deep super secret wisdom.  Its not, its the name of the business that dedicated them.  I took a few pictures of ones that had roman lettering.  So they probably say things like "Eddie's Drycleaning".  

On the way down there was a stop overlooking the city.  I got a vanilla and soy bean wheat swirl soft serve.  It tasted kind of nutty or almondy, so pretty good, glad I got the swirl though.  Further down I stopped for a beef flavored potato croquette.  Also pretty good.  Back at the entrance I could see it was getting even more packed, the entire experiemce was probably 2.5 hours long or so.  I started the 2 hour walk back to the hostel.

Part way, feet on fire, I saw I was coming close to another temple, Tofukuji, so I decided to stop.  Its one of the "5 great zen temples of Kyoto". Its known for its wooden bridge overlooking a garden, and various zen gardens.  I took my turn staring mindlessly at the gardens, took a lap around to photograph the buildings, and headed out.

After getting back to the hostel I headed to my top bunk to relax.  At this point Nori was giving the rundown to another guest.  He cam up and introduced me to Kato, who might be around 19 or 20?  Kato stayed and talked for a while to practice his english which is very good.  Hes into photography and city sociology which I didn't know existed.  He failed his first year of college though and is going to be getting a job with training for IT Support (this is what happens in America too, sorry IT guys :P  )

He also knows a ton about building styles and architecture in Japan.  He talked about Machiya style houses which are unique to kyoto and a few other cities.  It clicked the the guesy house is Machiya.  It has a small area space with the garden as part of the building plot, and almost a swirling pattern of rooms.  Pretty neat.  He asked me if I was hungry and I said sure, and we picked a curry and rice restaraunt that was fantastic.  During this time we'd talked about travel plans and I told him I'd be going to Tokyo, so he called his mom to see where she'd recommend going.

When we got back to the hostel there were 3 German guys about early 20s talking to Nori in English.  I headed back down to do some laundry and Nori was like, oh Alex is a great Japanese teacher, theyre trying to learn Japanese.  So I met Alum, Johnson, anddd I forgot the other guys name.  At any rate had a good time talking about Japanese and how weird it is with them and Kato and Nori.  They apparently are going a lot of places in Japan and have a very zig zag pattern of flights but dont speak a lick of Japanese.  Their English was about perfect though.

Afterwards got some rest.  I woke up now and realized I got sunburned on at least my forehead.  I don't know where else, but I'll be sure to sunscreen up today.

Also Calpis has been my vending machine drink of choice. Its got a yogurt taste to it but is thin like water.  Ive had it before but didnt have a taste for it till now.