One of the craziest trips I made in japan was the one to Kyoto...well it started pretty normal, lets tell that part first!
My girlfriend lives in japan, thats one of the reasons ive been there several times, another reason would be that Japan is such a suprising and cool country!
I will blog about different places i visited in Japan every now and then, hopefully you enjoy it!
She lives close to Osaka so we took a bus, but from Osaka itself you could take a direct train and it will take you less then an hour to get there. If you take a fast train i think it will take you less then 30 minutes but a ticket will be more expensive.
In general transportation is not cheap in Japan, if you want to travel by bus for that reason ( cheaper then the train) its a good thing to know that its comfortable to travel with and like most things in Japan: Always on time!
Kyoto means captital city. For more then 1000 years it was the imperial capital of japan, it has about 1.5 mil inhabitants but feels much smaller, especially compared to citties like Tokyo and Osaka.
Rent a bicycle when you are there, its a very easy way to transport yourself within the city and saves you lots of expensive taxi rides, complicated bus connections or walking.
Only use the bicycle parking areas, japanese people are strict and follow the rules!
Im from the Netherlands myself, people that use bikes never follow the rules and pedestrians dont wait for a red light....I'm Always arguing with my girlfriend, telling her I'm dutch and we dont wait for pedestrian lights ;-)
It was a short visit, we only stayed two nights so we wanted to focus on some culture first and go out for a drink the second night, unfortunately we had to leave early again the next day.
There are lots of things to see and do in Kyoto, for instance there are more then 2000 temples and shrines, i will talk about just a few of them:
Fushimi Inari Shrine:
Fushimi Inari Shrine is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which form a network of trails behind its main buildings. Trails lead into the wooded forest of Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.
Nishiki market:
Talk about Japan, talk about food! I think i have never been dissapointed in a Japanese restaurant, food doesnt just taste great, it looks beautiful also.
Nishiki market will give you an impression of all the specialties Kyoto offers, a nice place to walk around and you should try some restaurants in this area also!
Some of the shops freely give out samples or sell sample dishes and skewers meant to be eaten then and there.
We loved the mini octopus...very tasty!
Knives:
Japan is famous for their kitchen knives, especially in this part of the country. I found a small shop reading some stories about this on internet, the name is: Hayakawa Hamonoten. I really had to search to find it and with some help of the locals i managed to find the shop. We bought a knife and the owner was so kind to engrave our names on it in japanese, its still my favourite knife in the kitchen!
His english wasnt that great, its good my girlfriend speaks Japanese but the shop is very cute and you have the feeling you go back in time!
Gardens:
If you like gardens, Kyoto is the place to be, with so many temples comes so many gardens. A lot of them have gravel and rock formations in "Zen"patterns, its so typical for Japan, all the time and effort they put in to these gardens is just amazing!
So far the "normal"part, Kyoto is a great place to visit in Japan, so much to see and do and easy to get from A to B on your bicycle!
The second night we decided to go for a drink, one of my friends told me there is some nice jazz bars around so we asked the hotel staff for a suggestion, it looked like they didnt really know but one of them came up with "blue note".
Well that sounds like jazz to me i said to my gf and off we went!
In japan bars and restaurant can be litterally hidden in buildings, in basements, on top floors ...they are everywhere and its a miracle to me how they can keep their doors open with so much competition!
We had to search a bit again but found it!
When we came in i was happy with the atmosphere, a cosy place with old records all over the place and a lot of rubbish on the walls (i dont know why i like that...)
People were nodding their heads friendly but no live music and not so many people....
We ordered us some drinks and all in a sudden a girl came to us asking us if we play any kind of instrument and if so.....: "would you like to jam with us?"
It was Thursday night and she arranged a jam session like every week she said, oh and dont worry it will be busy later!
I smiled at her and said, im sorry but if you would like to keep the customers inside i better not join in!
My girlfriend said excactly the same so we smiled at eachother and enjoyed the show... a wide variety of people came to the stage and it was a lot of fun, we were impressed!
A few drinks later, during one of their breaks, my gf went to the bathroom and that gave me a chance to walk to the musicians to tell them my gf can actually sing pretty good!
She is originally from the Philippines and i dont know why but i think all of them can sing haha and when the band started again they asked her to join! She became shy ...and mad at me: "i have never been singing with a band or in front of an audience".
When the band was done, this girl sat down with us and asked my girlfriend if she regret saying no. Yes she said, i do...it looked like lots of fun. She didnt know that this girl would take us to another bar to give her a second chance!!
The Blue note closed its doors and the girl brougth us to another bar. We had to walk true a maze of corridors and appartment buildings and arrived at a small bar with a little stage full of instruments and one guy on a guitar.
"lets make music"she said and befor my girlfriend knew it she was up on the stage singing...i was the only other customer in the bar so i guess she saw her chance and wasnt shy.
within minutes people started to enter the bar and i saw her face going red and worried!
Our friend told her to relax while other people were picking up instruments also and 5 minutes later a complete band was formed with my girl as a lead singer and our friend on the piano
I almost pee my pants from laughing and made friends very easily cos most of them seemed even more drunk then i was.
We stayed until 7 in the morning...drunk...very drunk but what a fun we had!
When you are in Japan dont make the mistake to think Japanese people are shy and polite, most of them are during day time but at night...they can be so much fun to hang out with! Language can be a problem but most of them like to do their best to communicate with you after a couple of drinks.
Our bus ride back was a nigthmare and we had to sleep an extra day to feel better again but it was totally worth it!
Thx for reading this Japan blog with a weird ending, follow me for more about Japan and many other countries!
