christmas in Kyoto

So this blog has suffered a bit, partly because I've been knitting last minute Christmas gifts (can't knit while typing) and partly because of a bit of traveling.

Kay was in town (i.e., in Japan) with her family for the New Year's holidays, so we decided to meet in the middle in Kyoto and spend a day together. It was so awesome! Kyoto is about a 7 hr overnight bus ride from Matsuyama, so I arrived a day early and spent some time seeing some sights by myself. Because I'm just contrary, I went to a few places off the beaten track. One was otaginenbutsuji, a temple filled with thousands of statues of rakan, or Buddhist disciples. They are very cute (pictures on facebook). Another was Iwatayama monkey park, where I got to feed some wild macaques (pictures forthcoming on facebook). I was planning to go to Kinkakuji after that (the golden pavilion, actually a very famous tourist spot) but then I got on the bus in the wrong direction and ran out of time! Instead, I went to Nishiki-ichiba, a long food market, sometimes known as the kitchen of Kyoto. Apparently you can get all sorts of food there, anything in Kyoto you can imagine. Well, I suppose it was alright. I wish I had gone with some sort of food expert (maybe like my host dad) who could explain it all to me. Otherwise it was not quite as interesting as I thought. I did stop by a place called Aritsugu, a traditional maker of knives. It was really impressive, seeing all the knives on display. I bought the smallest possible thing from the store, which was a pair of small sewing scissors (you know, the kind that is all one piece, and you squeeze them together to make the blade come together? super sharp tips, to get at threads and pick out stitches). Then I discovered that they engrave your name on the blade for free! It was cool to watch. I went with my Chinese name since my English one wouldn't fit. (It later occurred to me I could have just gone with my initials, oh well.) After that it was an all-out shopping binge, mostly at the Gap (though also at an AMAZING bookstore called Random Walk). I never considered myself a GAP girl...until living in Matsuyama where it is damn near impossible to find clothes that fit me, are affordable, and not made totally of polyester or rayon! there was a big winter sale at GAP. Where else can you find 96% cotton sweaters for 1400 yen in Japan? or 98% wool pants for less than 3000 yen? As for Random Walk--just for this bookstore alone I could be jealous of the fellows placed in Kyoto and Osaka (I hear there's one in Osaka too). It's a gorgeous, gorgeous store, very graphic-artsy focused. They carry almost exclusively foreign books, in English, French, etc. And zillions of foreign magazines and newspapers. Though I think I gravitate towards the art books most of all...

The next day I spent with Kay, and we went to Sanjusangendo and Ginkakuji. Sanjusangendo is Japan's longest wooden building, and it is pretty much entirely filled with gold-leaf covered statues of Kannon Buddha. After seeing 1200 statues of Rakan, seeing 1200 statues of Kannon Buddha was quite a contrast (they all look pretty much the same, and are very serious!). No photos allowed, so I had to buy postcards instead. Ginkakuji (silver pavilion) was totally gorgeous. Or at least, the garden was beautiful. It was one of those Zen-type stone and sand gardens. There was even a conical shaped pile near one end supposed to represent Mt Fuji, and another stripy design supposed to represent waves. And the day was so sunny and gorgeous, it was beautiful.