A lot of rolling, a lot of driving, a lot of strolling...Trying to go just about everywhere. -The Avett Brothers “A Lot of Moving”

After an intense several days in Tokyo, Ally, Christine and I took a fantastic 10 day trip through the Kansai area. Days 1 and 2 were spent in Nagoya. We made up our own walking tour of the city and clocked about 15 miles, stopping at the Nagoya Castle, Space Park, and a series of temples and shrines. We spent the night at a fun little hostel run by a very friendly Australian named Sam. The next morning, we headed down to the Port area and visited the Maritime museum and Observatory. To cap off our stay, we found an amusement park with a ferris wheel down by the water.

 Christine and I trying on masks at the Noh Theater.

 

Nagoya Castle.

 The beginning of cherry blossom season at Nagoya Castle.

 Oasis 21 at Space Park.

 Space Park.

 Giant ferris W\wheel.

 Doraemon!

After our ferris wheel ride we hopped on a very crowded shinkansen and left Nagoya for Kyoto. Kyoto Lutheran Church has a tatami room they rent to travelers and we were happy to take advantage of their super cheap nightly rates. We used the church as our home base for the rest of the trip, taking day trips to several nearby cities and returning at night.

Days 3 and 4 were dedicated to Osaka. An incredibly generous woman in the tourist information center in Osaka station gave us a 2-day pass that covered the entrance fees for about 30 different sites around Osaka, for the equivalent of about $27. The pass was only available to non-native tourists (which we technically are not, since we have working visas,) but since we were clearly not Japanese and had just come from Tokyo she gave them to us, on the condition that we wouldn't tell our friends about it. :-) Oops.

 Narnia-themed pirate ship we took a tour of the port on.

 Storm rolling into Osaka.

 Snow/rain storm...

 ...and 5 minutes later things are fine!

 Osaka Castle.

 Christine, Ally and I trying on Kimono in the Museum of Housing and Living.

 The view of Osaka from ferris wheel #2.

 Night view of Osaka from the Umeda Sky Building.

 Night view of Osaka from the Umeda Sky Building.

Umeda Sky Building.  Kind of looks like something out of Star Trek.

We spent days 5 and 6 in Kobe. Highlights included the Kobe Port Tower, a boat tour of the port area, Kobe bridge, Kobe beef (of course), at trip to Mt. Rokko via cable car and ropeway, an onsen, a spectacular night view of the city and a huge meal in Chinatown. 

Christine, Ally and I on a boat, in front of the Kobe Port Tower.

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge in Kobe.

 Kobe beef!

 Cable car up Mt. Rokko in Kobe.

 Ropeway the rest of the way up Mt. Rokko, Kobe.

 Another ropeway car.

 Night view of Kobe from Mt. Rokko.

 Chinatown, Kobe.

Christine left on day 6 to head to Kumamoto since she had already been to most of the places we were planning to go on the rest of the trip, but Ally and I continued on. Days 7 and 8 were spent exploring Kyoto more. We had originally planned to visit Fishimi Inari during this time, but because the weather wasn't great and we didn't want to walk up the side of a mountain in the mud and rain, we opted for Ginkakuji (“Silver Temple” which isn't actually silver), Kinkakuji (“Golden temple” which IS gold), Nijo Castle, and the Kyoto International Manga museum (not my choice, but interesting nonetheless) and the Gion district instead. If the weather is nice and its the right time of year, you can still see Geisha in the Gion district, but we were there a few weeks too early.

Ginkakuji in Kyoto

 Kinkakuji in Kyoto

 Nijo Castle in Kyoto

 Kyoto International Manga Museum.

Day 9 was dedicated to Nara. From what I've been told, Todaiji temple is the largest free-standing wooden structure in the world. It also houses one of the largest Buddhas in the world. I don't have any pictures of it, but there is a pillar in the temple with a hole carved through the base of it. The hole is called “The Buddha’s Nose” and is the size of one of the Buddha statue's nostrils and if you can crawl through it, you're supposed to have good luck.  I fit through it when I was here in High School with Booker T. but (wisely) decided not to try again.  :-)

Todaiji temple.

 Buddha in Todaiji temple.

After visiting Todaiji we went to Nara park, just outside the temple. The park is full of deer and many people sell rice cakes so visitors can feed them. The deer seem pretty tame until the rice cakes come out, at which point they become crazed, hungry beasts. The Japanese phrase you will hear the most in the park is “kowai shika” or “scary deer.” Other sounds frequently heard are squeals of laughter (from people watching the deer feeding) interspersed with cries of terror (from the people feeding/being chased by the deer.) Here are videos of Ally's and my first attempt at feeding the deer:

The second time we were a little more strategic and bought rice cakes from a woman who gave us helpful advice: “Go that way and don't stop moving.”

 That's the spirit, Ally!

It turns out that there isn't a whole lot to do in Nara once you've seen the giant Buddha and fed the scary deer, and we were finished much earlier than we expected to be, so in typical Japanese fashion, we killed a few hours doing karaoke and then headed back to Kyoto where we had dinner at a little curry shop down the street from the church we were staying in. Green curry was listed as one of the daily specials so Ally and I both ordered it. The woman who owned the shop warned us that it was spicy, but nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. I very much enjoy spicy food, but am kind of a wimp, and Ally and the shop owner had a good laugh about me crying all the way through my meal. :-)

(Not so) Green Curry.

On the last day of our trip the weather was much nicer than it had been the previous few days and Ally and I went out to Fushimi Inari. The 4km walking path is lined with red torii...thousands and thousands of torii all the way up and back down the mountain. Parts of the path were paved, but most of it was steps. A 4km stair master, if you will. Click here for more information on Fushimi Inrari. It's an interesting place!

After checking out of our room in Kyoto, Ally and I boarded another overnight bus bound for Kumamoto. We were the first of many pick-up points on the way down and at the second stop of the night, someone boarded the bus who ended up sitting right in front of me. Despite the fact that it was about 7:30pm, she immediately reclined her seat ALL THE WAY BACK and went to sleep. Those buses aren't designed to accommodate anyone taller than your average Japanese person when the seats are fully upright, so needless to say, it was a cramped 12 hour ride. But we made it to Kumamoto at the far too early hour of 6am and were met by the wonderful Cindy, who took us to our apartments and spent the next couple days helping us get set up.

Much like the trip Ally and I took to Hokkaido, I was continuously amazed by how generous and helpful the Japanese are. From the woman in the Osaka tourist information booth who gave us insanely cheap site-seeing passes when she wasn't supposed to, to the countless number of people who stopped to ask if we needed directions while we stared at maps and scratching our heads, to the people who (after offering assistance) actually led us to the places we were trying to find, even when it was completely out of their way, Japanese generosity abounds.

My trip through Kansai could not have come at a better time. It was a much needed break from the stress of moving combined with the heartbreak of earthquake/tsunami news, and a very nice way to wind down before getting situated in Kumamoto.

I haven’t had a chance to work things out with my flickr account yet, so in the next few days I'll post another blog with pictures of the new apartment! Hopefully, by then I'll have some fun teaching stories as well!  Stay tuned!

Updated map of where I've been and where I've lived/live.

Lessons learned:

• Maps in Japan don't follow the “North is up” orientation that Americans are used to. In fact, two maps that are side by side may be oriented in completely different directions, occasionally creating some confusion as to where you are. (I actually learned this one fairly soon after getting to Japan, but have a tenancy to forget until I find myself in need of a map.)
• “Unreserved seats” on the shinkansen mean exactly that. You may wind up sitting on the floor of the entry way between the actual car and the conductor's booth.
  

• Running shoes and walking shoes are not the same thing and wearing running shoes on a trip where you end up walking somewhere between 80 and 90 miles will tear up your feet. I'm still recovering from the blisters and have a couple kind of gross pictures, if anyone would care to see. :-)