KANSAI 行きましょ!! 京都

Kyoto has always been known as the ancient capital of Japan, a place where tradition and elegance still lives on. All of the above are true, but Kyoto has moved on with the times. Take the Kyoto Station for example. Designed by Hiroshi Hara, the Kyoto Station is futuristic, edgy, and bold featuring irregular cubes of plate glass over a steel frame. However, I believe Kyoto Station still captures the essence of this historic city.
Over the course of this month, I visited Kyoto three times. The first time on a school (all the staff and students of JCOM) trip and the two other times with my classmates.


京都驛

Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion) is a Zen Buddhist temple built in 1397. Although it is quite small, the entire building is covered in gold foil, which gives it its name. The only imperfection that day was that it was raining. Last time I visited Kinkaku-ji with my mother, it was also raining. Oh, the coincidence.


金閣寺

Lunch

The next stop was Kiyomizu-dera, a UNESCO world heritage site. If you could only choose one temple to visit in Kyoto, I would definitely recommend the Kiyomizu-dera. The main hall has a veranda, supported by a lattice of pillars, which juts over the hillside and offers an incredible view. There is also a waterfall beneath the main hall that has three streams representing wisdom, health, and longevity. Following the lead of the locals, I took a drink from all three streams. However, I later found out that some people believe that if you drink from all three streams you're greedy and misfortunes will fall upon you. NOOOOOO : (


清水寺

JCOM 全家福

籤! 我抽到了小吉~

好喝的山泉水

On the second trip to Kyoto, we went to Arashiyama and the Moon Crossing Bridge. The Moon Crossing Bridge is supposedly a great destination for couples, but according to Takahashi Sensei, he and his girlfriend broke up after they visited the romantic Moon Crossing Bridge. Our second trip to Kyoto included eating delicious traditional Japanese desserts at a tea house and visiting Ginkaku-ji (Kinkakuji's counterpart) in the pouring rain.


渡月橋

很有氣氛的甜品屋

蕨餅 Parfait

The wheels on the bus goes round and round

My third trip to Kyoto was with only Sally and Nina and we visited the Fushimi Inari Taisha, the largest Inari shrine in Japan. This shrine is devoted to the god of agriculture and business, Inari, and the thousand torii are featured in the 2005 film Memoirs of a Geisha. Foxes are always found in Inari shrines because foxes serve as a messenger to this god. This shrine was truly spectacular. There are over 1000 torii, each donated by companies to Inari, lining the paths. Our second trip concluded with a visit to Hanamikoji, a street where geishas appear if you're lucky enough to see them. We were. We saw 4 geishas!
If you're tired of the busy Tokyo or Osaka streets, why not travel to Kyoto and experience the elegance and peacefulness of this remarkable city?


日本最大的稻荷神社

法師之纇的?

Fox

千本鳥居

Sally, Nina, and me (很 pro 的路人拍的)

mini 鳥居 burnt as offerings to the Inari god

Geisha #1 (my personal favorite)

Geisha #2