久しぶり！

That's 'long time no see' in Japanese, except that there's no verb that refers to seeing or meeting specifically, so it can be used for writing as well! Quite clever, isn't it. Anyway, I stopped writing for a while since I was preoccupied with the final exams and surviving the final school weeks, so I wasn't really feeling like going anywhere or doing anything interesting or worth writing about.

And then I thought that since there's only like a month or so left for me here, there's really no point in writing anymore... but then I got a sudden boost of inspiration - I guess it was the great day that I had today with Miho, thanks again! I wish we'd had more chances to hang out together, though!

I'm not going to write about today today, though (haha). I'm saving that for later, and instead I'll give you a brief recap on these few weeks when I was neglecting the blog.

The first snowfall came right after the first plum blossoms. Winter in Japan, you so weird.

In mid-January, there was a New Year's party at my friend's dorm. I know, a bit late for a New Year's party, right? Well, New Year here is like Christmas in Finland - people start preparing for it a long time ahead, buying or making decorations, preparing traditional New Year's dishes; and then you keep on wishing everybody Happy New Year until the 16th of January. I don't know why that exact date, but that's what our senseis were telling us.

So a few days before the 16th there was a party where we made rice cakes, had ozouni (a traditional New Year's soup), got wrapped in kimonos and were given a chance to participate in traditional New Year's activities, such as my new favorite card game, karuta! And the real version this time, where you actually have to know the poems and shit. I'd only learned around 10 poems by that time, but I managed to snatch a few cards, to everyone's surprise - it was obvious that the Japanese were not expecting a Westerner to recognize any of the poems by just their first verses. Haha.

Well, this is what I've been up to recently...

Making some rice cakes!

Not sure what to think of these fun and games...

A couple of weeks ago, there was an archery event at Sanjusangendo, which is a pretty cool temple where, if you go inside, there's a long hall with thousand statues of this deity called Kannon. Pretty impressive. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, photography was prohibited inside, so if you wanna see what it's like, google it!

Well, at least I've got photos of the archery event... Oh, wait.

Nope, the best views I got was through a smartphone screen that someone in the front row was shooting a video with. I was too impatient to stay there and wait until I got to the front, but my friend Dave, who arrived a bit later with his camera, got pretty amazing shots, so please, do go and see his blog post about it!

However, it was still a nice event, with amazing street foods and beautiful kimonos everywhere you looked.

Waiting.

And then it's time for a complete change of topic. Now, I was taking a walk around the Imperial Palace Gardens, which is where I usually go for a walk or a run, since it's right next to my dorm. I was just chilling and enjoying the cold winter's day, which really wasn't that cold for a winter's day, but anyway... And I saw this.

And it just made me so unbelievably mad! I also felt like throwing up, because I instantly recalled the pictures online in which you can see the stomach contents of dead birds - in case you haven't seen them, they're full of plastic and other shit since people are fucking retards and don't know how to properly dispose of their litter. I've got a piece of advice for you - whatever you do with it, don't leave it lying around where these idiot birds with brains the size of a peanut (if that) can get to it and mistake it for food. I mean, I hate birds more than anybody I know, and quite often find myself wishing them all dead, but I don't want it to happen like this - that's just wrong.

Well, got that out of my chest. Phew. The rest of the walk was enjoyable, at least, and if there's one place I'm gonna miss in Kyoto (well, of course there are many, but if there was just one), it would be the Imperial Palace Gardens. It's been really good to me, and I'm so lucky that I live right next to it - it's like an oasis in the middle of the city.

So now the exams are over, school's done with, and we even had a farewell party with these amazing people that I spent the past semester with. Thanks guys, it's been a blast! Still a few weeks left to explore Kyoto and surrounding areas, so I'll probs be writing a couple more posts to fill the days when I'm not traveling or meeting up with friends for the last time. Also, if you're a friend and we haven't arranged a date yet, (and if you want to, lol), please contact me! I really wanna see everybody once more and do fun stuff before I leave.

Another place I'm going to miss - Torikizoku! My favorite izakaya in Kyoto.

on holiday!

And so begins year 2016 with zero motivation to study, although I prayed my first prayers at the shrine dedicated to gods of study. Dunno, it just feels so dumb to have a holiday just four weeks before the entire semester will end. Two tests tomorrow, and I'm just like... who cares. So instead of grammar and vocab revision, let's just relive the past week, since it was all way more fun.

Now, it's been a busy week for the camera, too, so in order to keep this post short enough to scroll through in less than an hour, I'll keep writing to the minimum and let you guys enjoy the pictures. Also, since Eve won't be getting the entire bunch until Easter, this functions as a sneak peek for her, too, and to anyone she might be wanting to show these.

Arashiyama monkey park!

Tourists were advised to stay a minimum 2 meters away and not to point their camera straight at the monkeys... He looks like a professional though, I guess he knows what he's doing.

A big Totoro thumbs-up for Arashiyama.

Finally a photo of me in Japan, and got photobombed so bad. Don't know what to say. 

So much moss that it inspired us to create a gif.

Coffee and chocolate (she brought me my favorite!) to take us through the New Year celebrations.

Are you ready for the year of the monkey?

Hatsumoode at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine - since it's the shrine for gods of study, it's pretty popular...

Although I'm not a shintoist (is that even a word?), it was pretty cool to engage in the traditional activity of the first prayers of the year, right after midnight.

Even got a fortune - so little luck that we hung them up on the strings for unwanted fortunes.

Kinkakuji on a winter's day - since you've seen the pics from before, here's just a cool (or not) reflection of it.

Why, hello!

Nijojo, the castle with a funny name.

Eve and the fish.

Not impressed.

The Japanese are really good at gardens.

Since Eve loves Japanese sweets, half of our diet for the week consisted of wagashi.

And the other half was just traditional Japanese foods. This was okonomiyaki Osaka-style - they seem to like cheese a lot!

Out with the old, in with the new. 

Sky Garden in Osaka and shining shoes.

Looks like a great day for soaking in an onsen!

Afterwards, unagi (eel) for the first time! 5/5, would eat again. 

Aqueducts, Eve, and generally just a pretty cool scenery in Kurama. Such relax, much wow.

In sum, it was a week full of fun; izakaya, karaoke, onsen (twice, haha), monkeys, and last but not least, moss. Also a big thanks to my friends Miki and Ayame for introducing us the proper manners for visiting a shrine, and for good company in general!

The fact that Kyoto pretty much died after New Year's Eve pooped some of our great plans, though - a lot of the stores were closed for a few days. In fact my coffee shop is still closed... I lived on instant coffee for a while, but now I'm out of that as well and really not going to buy another pack of that shit, so please please please be open tomorrow will you?

Oh, and wanna hear about the time when Kyoto finally woke up? Well, that was when I was seeing my sister off to the airport, and left my bike in front of McDonald's next to the subway station. When I came back, it wasn't there! So during those two hours that I was gone, they'd come and cleaned up the spot, since it was forbidden to park there. To get it back, I need to take a train to the middle of nowhere and pay 2300 yen for the bike, so not really going to do that, seeing that I paid only 5000 for the thing in the first place, and I'd be using it for another 3 weeks. Keep the damn thing, you fuckers.

christmas "holidays"

My sister just arrived here for the winter holiday, and I had already given up trying to write this post since I wouldn't have time to do it while she's here, and after it would just be so terribly delayed that I wouldn't even have bothered. But after a nice meal of bento and mochi ice-cream, she pretty much just lost consciousness... So I do have time to update after all!

Looks like she'll be fine for the next couple of hours...

So, about the Christmas holidays. Well, in reality, we only had Christmas Day off, which is only because Doshisha is a Christian university. For the rest of Japan it's just another day at work or school. On Christmas Eve we had school from 9 to 3, and also there are no such things as Boxing Day in England, or the Second Christmas Day in Finland; but since Christmas Day was a Friday, we had a long weekend. After school on Christmas Eve we went to an onsen in Arashiyama, and it was amazing! They had two saunas, one "traditional" and one steam sauna, two different types of baths inside, and outside a traditional one plus a cold one. After soaking in the baths for about an hour, every muscle in my body was so relaxed that it felt impossible to drag myself back to town. Again, no pictures from the onsen; since people get naked in there, it wouldn't be very appropriate.

In the evening, I ate a fuckload of chocolate with some shitty red wine and a movie that was supposed to be really sad and moving but wasn't. Boyhood, that was.

Not a bad way to spend Christmas Eve, though!

On Christmas Day, there was an international party at my friend's dorm - I think the idea was originally hers, and she also made nearly half of the food, although it was a potluck party. I also took the opportunity to use the big kitchen before the party to cook the traditional Finnish carrot casserole, which is an essential part of the Christmas dinner for us.

One hungry goat.

Secret Santa! 

Doing kendama.

On Sunday, it was about time to go out and burn some calories, since for the entire weekend all I did was eat, really... No, I'm kidding, we had been planning this for a long time so it wasn't just for the guilt - a climb to Kibuneyama! First we took the Eizan line to Ninose station, crossed the small village and headed into the woods.

Ninose 

The station and its master.

Into the woods.

The woods.

The climb was pretty steep, but not too difficult. The path was pretty small but clearly visible, and the signs were alright - I mean, from time to time you were reminded of how long you still had to walk to reach a certain point, so it's not like we felt lost at any time... But going down, it got pretty difficult at times! At one point, instead of a path we were walking down a dry river bed, and it got pretty slippery at times. And where there was path, it was very narrow and there were spots where you might've just fallen down the slope if you weren't being careful. Also, some pretty interesting sets of safety ropes were set up at the trickiest spots. But it was all fun as hell!

This was the easy part.

It snowed!

Mostly it was just forest so there were no good views, but we were high!

Creatures of the forest. 

Slippery slope

To prevent landslide, I think?

Walk back to Kuramaguchi station.

Swallowed by a tree

At the end, we paid brief visit to Kibune shrine.

So I do recommend this trail for everybody who are up for a bit of a challenge - not that it was too difficult, still good for a beginner, I think. If you want more info, check this out. It's all in Japanese but you can see the route on the map there. All in all it took us around 4 hours to climb up and down, and according to the original plan, we should've continued down all the way to Kurama station. So whoever came up with that route is fast as hell.

That's all for now, now it's naptime before heading out for some beer and good food at our favorite izakaya, Torikizoku. Next week I might post some pictures about the adventures I'm planning to take my sister to - until then, sayonara!