Day 6: Kyoto

This morning Bruce had to take a train down to Kobe and back (5 hr trip) to pick up our wireless router so we can have internet access as we travel - which we found out is kind of helpful for bus, train and subway schedules!  However, the rest of us enjoyed a sleep-in and had some time to relax and plan out our day. First things first, we needed some groceries.  So Sarah and I headed down the alley and discovered this amazing local market.  Everything was packaged so beautifully, I couldn't help but snap a few pictures!

There are more kinds of mushrooms here than I have ever seen before - 
and they all looked delicious!

Super large daikon radishes

Octopus tentacles make yummy takoyaki

$20 cantaloupe anyone?

 Or if you prefer a $40 melon?

Or maybe you prefer the $30 grapes??

Once Bruce returned we packed up and headed out to our first Kyoto temple - Ginkaku-ji.  The grounds here were meticulously manicured and groomed. I was in awe of the simplicity and beauty that surrounded us.

Sneaking a shot of women in their traditional kimono

2 storied Kannon-den (main temple)

Zen sand garden with mound representing Mt. Fuji

Hiking up the mountainside

Scenic views of Kyoto

After walking around the gardens in the drizzling rain, we headed down the street to Sarah's favorite takoyaki shop. Takoyaki are balls of batter with pieces of octopus with green onion in the center and topped with shaving of dashi and mayonnaise. It may not sound amazing, but it is actually very delicious! Katie was hesitant and went for the battered cheese balls instead, but she ended up liking the takoyaki better after trying some of Trevor's!  The owners cooked the food right in front of us. They were a brother and a sister who had been making takoyaki for 15 years.  The man was also an artist and he had his delicate paper cutouts hanging around the small restaurant. The best part though was the moving octopus on the front of the building waving all of his tentacles around! After we finished eating, we asked them which temples were illuminated at night as we only got one temple in before everything closed today at 4:30pm. We found out that there were 3 temples we could go see tonight that were illuminated - so off we went!  They were so sweet and helpful.  Arigato goze mas!

The octopus was made by the owner's brother out of AC ducting 

Finished product - 6 takoyaki!

We arrived at Eikando (which translates into View of Eternity Hall) temple around 5:20 and waited in a long line for the grounds to open up at 5:30pm.  The temple grounds were purchased by a Buddhist monk in 853 from a wealthy landowner and then turned into a Buddhist temple when Kyoto was the capital of Japan.  Tonight the entire temple and garden were lit up and it was absolutely stunning!! This temple is named after a famous Buddhist priest Eikan. One day as Eikan was walking through the main hall the main statue of Buddha turned its head and spoke to him supposedly telling him to slow down and enjoy.  So now this temple is famous for its side facing statue of the Amida Buddha!  Eikando is also famous for the Tahoto Pagoda situated up on the hillside with beautiful views of Kyoto. Another beautiful spot in the garden is the Hojo Pond with a bridge spanning its width.  Here the reflection of the lit garden was breathtaking. We tried to capture its beauty the best we could on film - Enjoy!

Main hall of the temple

Dragon sculpted as a water faucet (where you wash your hands before entering the shrine)

Pagoda at Eikando - unfortunately it was closed to the public after dark due to the danger of climbing the stairs in the dark, but we got a peak of the top of it rising behind the main hall.

Reflection pond and bridge

Next we took the bus down to Kiyumizadera (Pure Water Temple). This temple was founded in the year 798 next to the Otawa waterfall - the source of the pure water!  This temple was built without the use of a single nail.  The main hall (which is pictured below) has a large veranda which juts out over the edge of the mountain. The views here are spectacular of the city below.  

Entrance to Kiyumizadera grounds

Main Hall

View from the overlook of Kyoto at night

close up of Kyoto Tower

Understructure of temple - all built without a single nail!

The end to a beautiful day - sayonara everyone

Day 5: Picking up Sarah and exploring Kobe

To continues yesterday's post, we arrived at our home in the Gion district of Kyoto at about midnight last night after visiting the Mission home in Kobe. Thank goodness for our taxi driver who helped us find this home down the dark and mysterious side streets and alleys of Japan! Addresses here are kind of random - homes are assigned to neighborhoods and then streets and then maybe a house number! We have a two story home with beautiful new tatami floors, rice paper windows and wood floors in the upstairs and kitchen areas. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite figure out the remotes to operate the heat and I didn't want to bother our host at 1:00 am, so Bruce and I wore all our clothes and snuggled under the covers to keep warm last night! Trevor an Katie were lucky enough to have their heater work and stayed toasty. 

Today is the big day we pick up Sarah. We are so excited! We took the train back to Kobe and a bus that had no English to the mission home. Luckily, we remembered the land marks near the mission home and were able to get off at the right stop. We walked over to the mission office and picked up Sarah and headed off to explore Kobe.  

First stop - Kobe Port Tower! Sarah had been wanting to visit this tower and now finally had a chance to do it. It is located down on the waterfront we had great views of the city, mountains, and bay.

We were very hungry and had no idea where to eat. We decided to stop and ask someone if they know a good place to eat. Thank goodness for Sarah's ability to speak Japanese! She chatted with a woman and her mother on the sidewalk and asked them for a good noodle shop. She and her mother were so kind as to walk through the streets of Kobe and led us to this amazing noodle shop famous for its Kobe style of soba.  The restaurant did not even have a name or even any pictures of food in the window!  The gentlemen who owns the restaurant has been here for over 20 years and was very kind. We enjoyed a wonderful meal! Pork, soba noodles, onions, and lots of toppings with shumaji on the side - a type of gyoza.  

After dinner we walked back toward the train station and found Kobe's Chinatown! They were already getting ready for their big New Year's celebration in a few weeks.

We are now officially 5 Gaijin traveling together - it has been a wonderful day!  We love having Sarah with us again and it was fun watching her talk to everyone and to see how impressed they are with her Japanese! I was amazed at how genuinely interested people were to talk to Sarah and how excited they were to find a gaijin who could speak nihongo!

Day 4: Taking the Shinkansen to Kyoto and Kobe

This morning was an early morning as we had a train to catch at Tokyo Station. Our host, Meg and her husband, picked us up in their awesome Honda minivan - Japanese style. They have been so kind and gracious - we are grateful for having such a beautiful apartment to stay in for the last few days.  Today is our first trip on the Shinkansen - Japan's high speed railway system that links major cities across Japan. We will be traveling at about 150-200 mph as we head south. Our first stop is Kyoto and then Kobe later this afternoon.  Between Tokyo and Osaka (which is halfway between Kyoto and Kobe) 13 trains travel each direction per hour with 16 cars each. Each train can carry up to 1300 passengers at a time. This is one of the busiest rail systems in the world, surpassed only by China a few years ago when they started operating their high speed train system.  

One of the most picturesque sights as we leave Tokyo behind is Mt Fuji. At over 12,000 feet in elevation it towers over the landscape. Bruce was lucky enough to capture a few images as we sped by at 150+ mph!

We love the Shinkansen!

The photo above is the inside of Kyoto's new train station. This is Japan's second-largest station building after Nagoya Station and is one of the country's largest buildings.  We've had fun exploring this 15 storied structure with beautiful rooftop views, and amazing shopping and food courts. We grabbed a quick lunch of yakitori in the Isetan department store basement.  Unfortunately, what looked like barbecued beef turned out to be chicken livers - lol. Oh well, that's what happens when all the signs are in Japanese!  I'm just proud of us for figuring out how to get on the right train this morning and making it this far without any assistance in English!  We figure out our train platforms by looking for departure times on the signboards - if it has the right departure time we head for that platform! So far this has worked.  Definitely less English signs here in Kyoto than in Tokyo and even fewer in Kobe!

After lunch we boarded the Shinkansen to Kobe to attend a testimony meeting for the leaving missionaries at the mission home. We were going to go out and walk around Kobe for awhile before heading to the mission home, however, being dressed in our suits and dresses, we took one step outside and quickly turned around and headed back inside the train station. It was so COLD!  The kind of cold that goes right through you! So much for exploring the city today, we are staying warm inside the adjacent hotel and shopping area until it's time to go to the mission home.

Here we are with our beautiful missionary!

President and Sister Welch with the returning sister missionaries and the one lone elder!

On a more serious note, tonight's testimony meeting was one of the most beautiful spiritual experiences I have ever had. The spirit was so powerful.  These sister missionaries and elder are so amazing. The people of Japan have been well served by these missionaries.  Their love for the gospel and for their Savior is so strong.  President Welch closed the meeting with a beautiful prayer and blessing on each of these missionaries, there was not a dry eye in the room.  I am so grateful that we were able to be together as a family in the mission home tonight. This was truly a gift from our Father in Heaven.

Day 3: Exploring Kamakura

Today we took about an hour train ride south to the coastal town of Yokohama. Just outside the train station was this amazing bakery called the Little Mermaid. Here we ate pastries, cold pizza, and Japanese hot dogs. Oishii!

After eating our lunch we walked for about 45 minutes to Kamakura to the Kotokuin Temple where The Great Buddha statue is located. 

The Great Buddha or Daibutsu is the second largest statue of Buddha in Japan (the largest one is in Nara which we will visit later this week). This bronze statue of Amida Buddha is about 44 feet tall (13.35 meters). It was cast in 1252 and originally located inside a large temple hall. However, the temple buildings were destroyed multiple times by typhoons and a tidal wave in the 14th and 15th centuries. So, since 1495, the Buddha has been standing in the open air. 

Katie and Trevor at the entrance gate

After strolling around the beautiful grounds we headed to Hase-dera Temple down the street.  

Just as we arrived the skies opened up and it poured! We waited under the shelter of the entrance for a few minutes until the cloudburst blew over and then a beautiful double rainbow appeared in the sky.

Inside this building is one of the largest wooden statues in Japan gilded in gold. It has 11 heads, each of which represents a different phase in the search for enlightenment. Originally carved around the year 720 AD from a huge camphor tree, the top half was set adrift in the sea as part of an offering to end a famine. The Kannon washed ashore in 736  and so this temple was built to house this holy relic.  

The temple is built on two levels and includes an underground cave. The cave, called benten kutsu cave, contains a long winding tunnel with a very low ceiling and various statues dedicated to a sea goddess. Inside were all these really really old statues carved out of the rock face of the cave, we didn't take any pictures in here, because in Japan anything with a roof over its head is considered holy and therefore, should not have its picture taken.  So, unfortunately, you will only be able to see what is out in the open!

View from the top of the temple grounds of Kamakura Bay

 In the evening the temple grounds were lit up to highlight the beautiful fall foliage

The grounds of the temple are home to hundreds of small Jizō statues, placed by parents mourning offspring lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. These statues remain in place for about a year, before being removed to make way for more statues; it is estimated that some 50,000 Jizō statues have been placed at Hase-dera since WWII.