last of japan

So this is going to be a very brief recap of the past two weeks or so, although as one single blog post it'll probably still be one of the longest ones I've written. I still wanted to write one final one, though, before returning to Finland, because I know I won't have time or energy to go through all the photos from the last weeks after I return - I'll just be recovering from the flight and eating a fuckton of smoothies. I MISS MY BLENDER. But I still wanna show you all the exciting stuff I've been up to after the final exams, so here we go! I was actually thinking of choosing just a single photo for each day of the week, but I don't think I'll be able to do that... Too much cool stuff was seen. Gotta share.

Right after handing in my last essays, I made a date with Miho to go and see Ginkakuji. The name refers to a silver temple, although whereas the golden temple Kinkakuji is actually golden, this one is made of wood. But it was beautiful, nevertheless - especially the sand gardens around it. In Buddhist temples they quite often have these sand sculptures and patterns all around the building, so compared to Shinto shrines, they look pretty ascetic. But that's the whole purpose of it - it's supposed to be an ideal scenery for meditation since there are no distractions around.

So sad we only got to hang out this once before I leave though!

Sand.

Also, rock. Obviously fun-loving people, those Buddhist monks.

The next day we went on a day trip to Uji, which is a town right next to Kyoto (or just a village in Kyoto? I don't know). Uji's very famous for tea, and since I definitely wanted to buy some matcha powder to bring back home with me, why not go and buy it in one of the most significant tea production areas in Japan.

Uji's also very picturesque, so it's a nice destination if you're content with just walking around and taking a bunch of photos. But if you're looking for more action and things to do, you'll probably be bored to death. But for me it was worth seeing, if just for all the matcha stuff and a change to climb Mt. Buttoku. Need I say more?

This is where I bought my matcha - apparently a very old and established shop.

There's no visit to Uji without having some matcha parfait.

Byodoin Temple - probably the biggest tourist attraction around Uji.

And then we visited some other shrines and temples.

Pretty neighborhoods with tanuki (Japanese equivalent for garden gnomes) in basically every garden.

Conquered Mt. Buttoku!

I've also been wanting to go and see Omi Jingu, which is the shrine where they hold the annual karuta tournaments. Also famous from the anime Chihayafuru, which I might've also mentioned earlier. It's only a 10-minute train ride from Kyoto station towards Lake Biwa, located in a small town called Otsu. We accidentally took the wrong train and ended up on the opposite side of the town, so we had a proper walk through Otsu - which, I must say, looked like a pretty shitty place! In a way that's almost fascinating. The architecture was really weird, and clearly influenced by both Japanese and Russian traditions. In addition to that, there were streets with German names and stuff. And it was so quiet, almost like a ghost town.

But Omi Jingu was just as pretty as it had been depicted in the anime. That's where Tenji Tenno is enshrined - he's the guy who wrote the first one of the hyakunin isshu - the tanka poems that are written on karuta cards. There was a tiny museum with a clock related exhibition downstairs, and upstairs all kinds of random stuff, including some of the original rolls for hyakunin isshu! That was probably one of the coolest things for me, personally, since I've been studying the poems for quite a while now.

Otsu.

Of course I also had to go and pray for good karuta skills...

The following day, it was time to take a dip in the onsen in Arashiyama for the last time! Now just so there's no misunderstanding, this was definitely not my last time in an onsen, only this specific one... I counted three times going to Arashiyama onsen, three times to Kurama onsen, once to Arima onsen in Kobe, hopefully still Spa World in Osaka, and countless of times to a nearby sento (public bath). What can I say, I love bathing! And the Japanese sure know how to make it enjoyable.

Also, about the picture below... I'm drinking coffee milk, which is a cold drink that tastes pretty much like really sweet café au lait, and I was told that's something that the Japanese traditionally drink after a bath. And that's probably why there are always vending machines full of the stuff in every onsen or sento I've been to. And this is how you're supposed to drink it, with your hand on your hip, looking as genki as possible. I don't know where that pose originates from, but I would guess a commercial or something.

On Sunday, a week ago, I embarked on my last proper mountain climb, or hike, whatever you wanna call it. I'm gonna go with climb, since that's what it definitely feels like. They do not kid around with the trails here, they just lead pretty much straight to the mountain top, so it's steep uphill most of the time!

This time we conquered Mt. Hiei, which is the second tallest mountain in Kyoto. According to Wikipedia, it's 848.1 meters tall, which is actually less than I imagined it would be... Oh well. It was snowing up there and freezing cold, but so pretty! On top of the mountain, there are a few different temples that together make up a temple complex called Enryaku-ji. This is the home for the Marathon Monks, who wander around the slopes of Hiei in attempt to achieve enlightenment. I didn't see any monks, but the temples sure were impressive. Also because there were no tourists! So that's your prize for sweating for two hours to get to the top - to see grand temples without having to fight your way through the crowds.

Kyoto's down there somewhere...

Alright, so the day after that, it was finally time for our great adventure in Kobe. It's only a one-hour train ride away from Kyoto, but this was the first time I was visiting the town - and I really liked it! It's not nearly as touristy as Kyoto, but had more of a big city feeling to it. Kind of reminded me of Tokyo or Osaka. The downtown area seemed to be excellent for shopping, with huge malls right next to Shinnomiya station. A short walk away from the busiest area, there was a quaint old town kind of area, with narrow streets and this funny European style museum house we also visited. Oh, and a Chinatown, where they were having a fashion show kind of thing going on, with models dressing up in traditional Chinese costumes - I think they were actually introducing some historical characters or something.

Wait... this Louis Vuitton model looks familiar!

Hello, Kobe!

And this random bunny. What are you doing there, dude?

One of our teachers at school was from Kobe, and she was always telling us how Kobe has the best cakes in Japan. So of course I kindly asked my host, Miki, to take me to a bakery café of her recommendation, and it was damn delicious! I had pecan tarte, which I've never actually tried before, I don't know why... So good. Then we took a train a bit farther away from the central area, to Harborland, to see the famous night view that's displayed on every Kobe postcard. That was actually the only thing I knew there was to see in Kobe, so I'm really glad we had Miki to show us around and take us to the best spots - I think it's thanks to her, actually, that I liked Kobe so much, since I didn't have to spend hours and hours getting lost and wondering where I could get a decent meal and stuff.

Just had to include a picture of this - one of the best tonkatsu I've had here, with all those different sauces - one of them you actually got to prepare yourself!

Thanks so much, Miki!

For the last two days it was just me and Maija, and the next day we spent soaking in an onsen called Taiko no Yu in the famous onsen town Arima. It took about an hour to get there by train from our hostel, but it was so worth the travel time. And the train ride was pretty scenic as well! I don't have too many pictures from Arima, though - the main purpose of the trip was to go to the onsen, and for obvious reasons you're not allowed to take photos in there, so you'll just have to rely on my description here. There's this one though, that I took when we were walking from the station to the onsen resort - I think this is where they used to bathe way, way back... This is basically downtown Arima.

So about Taiko no Yu... Simply. Amazing. Arima is famous for that they have two kinds of onsen water; "golden" water, which is actually brown from the iron deposits, and "silver" water, which just looks like normal, clear water, and is actually slightly radioactive! But it's all supposedly very good for various muscle and joint ailments, and they claim that drinking the silver water is good for your stomach. So of course, after all the bathing stuff, we went ahead and got ourselfs these fizzy drinks they were selling at the souvenir shop in the lobby. I don't know about the health benefits, but the taste was pretty nice!

Back to bathing matters, though. So at the reception we got ourselves a pajama kind of thing to wear around the place, since after entering the building, you were pretty much free to roam around, enter the bathing area and come back to the lobby for refreshments (or sleep - they even had a sleeping room!), or go to the food court downstairs for an actual meal. You paid for everything with the bar code on your wristband, and then they billed you at the exit.

The bathing area was huge. They had a couple of these gold and silver baths inside, and a couple more outside. There were all sorts of different saunas, some of them so weird - for example, this one where you laid flat on your back, with only your feet dipped into a gutter kind of pool with hot water. Or this one outside, that was just a stone bench with water streaming down the smooth surface of the stone, so that when you sat on it, your back and ass were all warm with hot water trickling down on it, while all the other parts of your body were freezing since it wasn't a very warm day.

The sauna that I liked the most was, not surprisingly, the Finnish type of a sauna. At first we thought it was just one of those "Finnish" saunas where it's just hot but you don't actually get to throw water on the rocks to get a good steam/heat wave going on. There was just this peculiar cone sticking down from the roof, right on top of the sauna stove, and I was certain it would dispense water at some point, but then we got tired of waiting... But then we went again, and sat on the other side, and I saw that there was something written on the cone. It said ロウリュー, which in romaji is rouryuu, which, I soon realized must be löyly written in Japanese. And for all of you non-Finnish readers, that describes the action of throwing water on the hot rocks, and the consequent steam and heat that follow. Then I went ahead and read the description on the wall, and yes, that's exactly what it was! So this time we waited for the löyly to come. Oh, and next to the sauna, there was also a cold water bath, so that was just a genuine Finnish experience!

I'm sorry for rambling off like that, but that was probably one of the most amazing, if not actually the most amazing place that I've been to in Japan.

On the last day, we took the cable car up to the top of Mt. Rokko, and were planning to look around all the museums and stuff they had up there - but the buses that were running between the different sights around the mountain top ran so poorly and were packed with people, that we pretty soon just gave up and went back down to town to get ourselves some Kobe beef. Before that, though, had another way too delicious piece of cake in this nice restaurant café with a great view.

Is this the Naniwa port where the flower bloomed?

The sensei sure wasn't lying about the cake. Sweet Jesus.

They even brought the trophy to the table when I started taking pictures. Lol.

Phew! That's one hell of a long post. Sorry. I spent an entire day writing that. Well, half the day choosing and editing the photos, but anyway. Also, these are not really the best photos that I have from these adventures, and I'll be sure to post more on Flickr when I get the chance to properly look them through and adjust them to my liking, so that I can present them in a way that I'm actually happy with. But that'll have to wait for a couple of weeks, I think.

I was also thinking of maybe writing one last post after I get back home, just to have a sense of closure - I started this while I was still in Finland, after all, so it would only be fitting to end it there, too. So, until then!

tokyo. such wow.

Before my arrival to Tokyo, I thought this post might've just been a picture post; just like I thought my trip to Tokyo might've just been a photography trip, kind of. I was going alone, and when I get to decide the entire schedule for a trip to an awesome place, it's basically just taking photos. What I didn't take into account was that when you're alone in a place like that, you're bound to do a lot of thinking! And I want to share some of the thoughts I had, so it's not just pictures this time, either... So a bit more scrolling for those who just came for the photos!

But, as you might guess, I did take a shitload of photos, too. Out of the hundreds I took I managed to choose 100 to be presented to you, and since I can't possibly fit them into this post, I've uploaded everything on Flickr, too, so click HERE to see the rest of them, and also if you just wanna skip the reading part!

I arrived on Wednesday evening, with just enough time to go and see the Sky Tree, which was right next to the hostel - or so I thought, as I saw it from the dorm window. But, as it turns out, it's not only high but big in all dimensions, so it seemed to be a lot closer than it actually was. So I walked and walked, and kept thinking it must be right around the corner. Well, I got there eventually, but the weather was so bad that there was really no point in paying over 2000 yen to go up and see nothing from the clouds and rain. So I returned to the hostel, and on the way back Tokyo rained on me. Bah.

Solamachi's the shopping mall right next to the Sky Tree.

Luckily that was only the first night, and the next days were much better weatherwise - sunny almost the entire time! On the first full day, I wanted to explore all the areas I'd heard so much about - Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinjuku. These are places that always come to mind when you think of Tokyo, and because of the countless of images and movie scenes that have taken place in these areas, I pretty much knew what to expect. But, the thing is, when you go to a place like that for the first time, you can never prepare yourself sufficiently in order not be taken aback. And why should you, it's one of the most wonderful experiences, to be honestly stunned about a view in front of you, so much so that you forget about yourself completely.

Tokyo's also a good place if you want to experience what it feels like to be completely alone despite of having masses of people around you. And it's also a common experience, I could read it on people's faces bright and clear. Everybody seemed so tired and lonely. Riding the subway was the worst. It was filled with people every time, but quite literally nobody ever talked to each other. They either stared into oblivion, or were half asleep.

The most miserable place on Earth.

Why the long face? Just look at the scene, dudes!

It was a striking difference to Kyoto, where I also had to take the subway back home - that time, though, people were with friends and there was actual chatter. Although in Kyoto, I'm still unable to follow conversations because of the dialect! That's also one difference I noticed - people in Tokyo speak the kind of Japanese that I've learned, so I actually understood when they talked to me, and even when they talked to each other! In the more touristy areas, the sales people were eager to strike up a conversation with me when they realized I spoke some Japanese. So although the general atmosphere was quite melancholy, customer service was a bit better compared to Kyoto, or at least they tried harder. And I'm assuming that's to attract the tourists.

So, about these different areas. Harajuku is a good place to go if you like to dress to express yourself. It's not just for Japanese kawaii lolita style stuff, like I thought, but more like Camden Town in London - something for everybody, really! You can also find a good selection of geek stuff, like movie merchandise - and again, not just anime stuff but for Western films and shows as well. Not to mention the delicious sweets shops that it's full of. I tried this thing called zakuzaku, which was a crispy pastry filled with something that resembled custard, and it was delicious. I loved Harajuku, and had I had more time and money, I'd probably spent an entire day shopping there.

Zakuzaku!

Takeshita Street

Shinjuku and Shibya were the busiest areas I went to, and since they were pretty much what I expected, I don't really have anything special to say about them. I was dumbfounded and slightly overwhelmed when trying to take it all in, but in a good way. I know I wouldn't be able to stay in such a place for too long, but I'd go back any day for a visit. Tokyo, especially the central area, is the second spot off my bucket list (which is quite funny, seeing that I've traveled a lot), so how could I not have loved every second of it?

The Hachiko statue in front of Shibuya station - I think that guy ended up in the wrong photo!

The famous crossing

Shinjuku at nightfall

The second day was spent in a bit more relaxed environments. I had my breakfast at Tokyo Tower, watching the city scape spread before me. I even paid for a special ticket to go up to the higher observatory, and despite people online arguing it's not worth it, it so was. You can see so much farther - the tower is in the middle of skyscrapers so if you just stay in the first observatory you'll see skyscrapers. Up from the special observatory, you get the bigger picture.

The neverending city 

Breakfast with a view

After brekkie, I headed to Odaiba, a place I'd never heard of before but that turned out to be my favorite place in Tokyo. I took the Yurikamome line there, which was very much like the DLR in London - this, too, had a rollercoastery feeling to it, and it was fully automated so you have a chance to ride in the front. Anyways, Odaiba was so calm and peaceful, with a beach and running courses, a few quiet shopping malls, the Fuji TV Station, and only pedestrian traffic, which was why it was so peaceful in the first place. Oh, and they've got the Statue of Liberty, too. Figures.

Oh yes, count me in for a run around Odaiba!

On my way back to the subway station, I stumbled upon this car museum/shopping mall thing...

Since the afternoon had been so relaxing, I just had to go and be a bit overwhelmed again, so I went to Akihabara. That's where the anime geeks gather, and where the biggest billboards and neon light signs are. It's also just full of men, really, and places that cater to lonely guys who are infatuated with feminine anime characters. I saw very few Japanese girls around, aside from the ones that were dressed in the lolita fashion and handing out fliers for shops and bars and whatever they have around there, I don't even really want to know.

I finally googled - this is actually the band's own theater! I was wondering what the people were lining up for.

Wonder what this hot spot loved by foreigners is - oh, McDonald's. How exciting.

On Saturday, I took the Shinkansen back to Kyoto - which, by the way, was just another train, like I'd feared. I mean, it's fast, and looks cool from the outside, but the interior isn't much fancier than your average Pendolino in Finland. But the ride was very comfortable and that's all you can ask for a train, right? Anyway, after the check-out, I didn't go straight to the station but took a bit longer route to be able to see Ueno Park, which was a bit boring since it's all the kind of stuff you can see in Kyoto any day, with Kyoto being a lot prettier; but I had the most wonderful breakfast moment at a charming café next to the park.

From there, I walked on to Nippori as I'd just learned it's the most cat-dense area in Tokyo, and wasn't disappointed! There's even an entire shopping street devoted to cat-related stuff. Heaven. And then, my last stop before Tokyo Station was Hijiribashi - another spot the guidebook I found too late recommended, and it was so worth those few minutes that I was able to spend there! One of the best photo spots in Tokyo.

I love cats, I love every kind of cat, I just wanna hug all of them but I can't hug every cat!

Like a toy land!

So that was Tokyo for now. It was a very thought-provoking trip, and against all odds, I really enjoyed just walking around alone with my camera, observing and contemplating the way people lead their life there, and life in general, both my own and ours as people. I'm so lucky to be able to experience all this. But it's also not just luck; I've made things happen to be able to be here now, and whenever I travel alone, I feel proud of myself, since I know I'm taking important lessons in life I that wouldn't if I just stayed in Finland. So totally recommend this to everybody, even if it means eating plain rice for the next three months, like it does to me...