4.20.09 Gion

The old Kabuki Theater

Bianca and I took a quick trip to the Gion district in Kyoto - this is where the geishas used to be (like in Memoirs of a Geisha) - we saw a couple but they walk so quickly that it was hard to take a picture. The architecture in this area was completely bizarre, some random Chicago-looking new things, and mixed in a couple blocks over were some Heian period houses... Also the old Kabuki theater. There was also a small red light district but we didn't take any pictures :) 

4.18.09 Beach Day!!

Yes, we had a Japanese beach day!!! We took a 30 minute train ride to Lake Biwa (about the size of Lake Tahoe) and hung out at the beach, it was warm and reminded us of home :) 

4.16.09 Conveyor belt sushi Friday!!

What a nice way to end the week.

Beginning with....

Juice box sake? Always a good idea!

Japanese Television

There is nothing more confusing than Japanese television. A lot of the shows change every 15 minutes, so you'll be watching a cartoon and then all of a sudden its a soap opera or a cooking show. Also, often they cover the screen with so many Japanese characters that you can barely see the image. Weeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! 

4.14.09 Shugakuin

We visited Shugakuin, another famous imperial villa. It was raining, and the place is enormous so we hiked around the landscape and were pretty much speechless from some of the views. This place is 19 acres and they have some farmland and rice paddies still on the property.

("iroiro") of Japan...

"iroiro" which we learned in language class the other day, means variety. In one DAY, within several subway stops we saw the following things:

1. A brutalist concrete building, which reminded me of a 2nd year architecture project

2. Entsuji - a tiny tiny temple in the middle of nowhere, where you can meditate on a zen garden

3. Kyoto Fine Arts Museum - a not very well known Tadao Ando project which houses HUGE recreations of famous paintings, done in ceramic tiles... So bizzare! This was one of my favorite things in Kyoto so far.

4.12.09 MONKEY HILL!!

EEEEK! Today we hiked to the top of this mountain (the scenery was incredible) and saw monkeys! The pictures do the talking, however I will add that it was nice to see a less developed part of Japan, more green space = a nice change.