Today was a great day because we were able to sleep in! We woke up at 9:30am and took our time getting ready. Our tour guide had given us a free day, and we were thankful to have some time to explore Kyoto on our own.
When we finally left our hotel room (around 12pm), we decided to walk towards the major tourist and shopping areas in Kyoto, which included a number of the Japanese galleria-type walking areas we've seen consistently in Japan. Our tour guide had pointed out a few shopping centers that were pretty unique the day before, so we were really looking forward to exploring them. Because it was a beautiful day (sunny and 50 degrees F), we opted to walk – even though the mall was about 3 miles away.
In addition to the temples we visited previously in Kyoto, there are two large temples in Kyoto's center: Nishi Honganji and Higashi Honganji, which are known as the headquarters of the two factions of the Jodo-Shin Sect (the "True Pure Land Sect"), one of Japan's largest Buddhist sects.
We read (later) that these two temples are are a good place to experience contemporary Japanese Buddhism. We first stopped at Higashi Honganji, notable because part of the temple complex is undergoing extensive renovation under a metal roof. Our stop was not planned, but we saw the enormous wooden temple from the road, and because James was curious, we turne around, took our shoes off, and went inside. From here, we continued on our way to the mall, stopping once at another 100 Yen store. (Erin is convinced that James is able to locate these stores from miles away).
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| Slippers within slippers - these were necessary to use the restroom within the Temple. |
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| James shows off a stylish pair of SpongeBob washcloths in the 100 Yen store. |
We finally arrived at the large covered mall and made our way through one of the long arcades of stores. There were two shopping malls parallel to one another, so, of course, we wandered through both. James eventually found the store he had been most excited about: Loft. Loft had about 7 floors, each a bit unique (stationary, travel equipment, health and beauty, etc...). We spent some time exploring the store, before leaving empty-handed. On a side note, we have been extremely well-controlled when it comes to making purchases throughout our travels – part of this is dictated by our budget and another part of it is because we simply don't have room in our backpacks for anything additional.
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| A view down one of the gallerias or covered shopping arcades prevelant throughout Japanese cities. |
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| A vast array of silly socks available at one retailer. |
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| Of course! Michigan College! If we knew any grads, we would've gotten you the sweatshirt. |
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| A Japanese-style keyboard in Loft. |
After our shopping stint was finished, we made a pit-stop at a nearby bakery where James tried an interesting pastry. He thinks it was a melon flavored roll. From there, Erin suggested we head to the Noji-jo Castle. The castle was another mile or two away, but again, we were really enjoying having a nice day to walk around. We arrived at the castle and walked around to the entrance, only to discover it was closing soon and they weren't allowing any additional visitors inside. We were a bit disappointed, but realized we had been a bit leisurely during the day, and it was our own fault.
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| James savors the first bite of (he swears) his melon pastry. |
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| This is the remote control. To the toilet. In the bakery. It is more complicated than anything we have ever used. |
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| Kyoto City Hall, on our way to the Palace grounds. |
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| Tabitha poses in front of Kyoto Palace. |
The sun was starting to set, so we decided to begin walking back to the hotel. We came across Nishi Honganji, the other temple complex described above, and tried to go inside; however, due to the late hour, most of it was closed off. We eventually returned to our hotel around 6pm. James was exhausted and decided to relax, while Erin went and wandered around a bit more. Our hotel in Kiyoto was right near the SkyTower and the train station, so there was a lot to see and do right outside our door.
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| Our glimpse inside the Nishi Honganji complex. |
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| James demonstrates perfect compliance with the Kyoto traffic sign - hat and all. |
We met up with the rest of our tour group around 7pm and all decided to do dinner on our own. So, we went to the grocery store and purchased some healthy dinners (Erin had a salad and James had some sushi). After dinner, we watched a movie together and went to bed - we knew we had a long day the next day, as we planned head to Hakone.
