弘法さん

If you´re ever in Kyoto on the 21st of any of the non-winter type months, get your butt over to Toji (東寺) for the Kobo-san flea market. Toji is the temple with its famous 5-storied pagoda, images of which show up in a lot of Japan travel literature.

The temple itself was designated by UNESCO as an “Ancient Treasure of Kyoto” Heritage site. I’m not 100% sure if that means it equates with a regular old World Heritage site, like Nikko or Himeji castle, but it’s still pretty cool.

The flea market is really good! You can find just about anything there, from mountains of used kimono (going for about upwards of 1000 yen, cheap!) to tea sets, jewelry, old coins, toy robots, you name it, they probably have it. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a lower price. I got a kimono set for 3000 yen because the lady was impressed with the fact that I could haggle in Japanese. I also picked up some vintage beads and a homemade sinobue. I ended up spending about 7000 yen including transportation and food for the whole day. Not bad!

 

The flea market is named after Kobo Daishi (the posthumous name for Kukai) Who is said to have invented the syllabic Kana writing system (yay!), as well as founded Shingon Buddhism.

There are also lots of yummy Kansai-type foods at Kobo-san. Mmm.

Of course, scythes for all you grim-reaper types.

To get there, from Kyoto Station take the Kintetsu line to Toji station and walk up the street for 5 minutes. You can’t really miss it with that huge pagoda. You can also take the bus from Kyoto Station that says its going to 東寺東門 or 東寺南門. Either way, make sure you get there early enough to beat the rush. Happy shopping!

This time 4 years ago…

I was going to Kyoto for the first time EVER!

Sunset

This is one of my favorite views of Kyoto. When I was going to Gaidai, I would take the train to Sanjo Keihan and walk across the bridge and study in the basement at the Starbucks that’s right by the river there. I’d come after class or sometimes if I wanted to get away from my host family for the evening and study for an exam or write or something. This image of crossing the bridge at sunset is always going to be a fond memory for me, despite it being so mundane.

The biggest dog in Japan

Ok, ok, not really, but I wonder how many tatami mats a St. Bernard would span, anyway? That dog is bigger than my entire apartment. I took this photo on a trip to Uji (宇治) with Kimm during the spring of ‘07. I miss all the dog-watching you can do in Kyoto. Here… not so much.

2006秋(銀閣寺)

 

This was how I spent my Thanksgiving 3 years ago. We had no classes due to Japan’s ‘labor thanksgiving day’ holiday, so I decided to go to the silver pavilion. It was cold, damp, and unbelievably crowded. I was terribly upset that I wasn’t at home with my family. Hopefully this year will be better :)

京都 大徳寺 高桐院

  

I can’t imagine a better place to have a cup of tea.

more photos here & here (on the facebook, of course)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…

It’s true. I absolutely adore this city. There is no place on earth I’d rather be. If it is at all possible to fall in love with a geographic location, I truly believe that I have. I used to go there almost every weekend while I was studying abroad at Kansai Gaidai, just to go exploring. I could give you an exhaustive list of all of the places I’ve been to in this town and there’d still be a million new ones I’ve yet to check out.

While I was there I visited a few of my favorite places (and some new ones!) with some of my favorite people. For two nights, I stayed at a great little hostel that was situated right between Sanjo and Shjio, in Nakano-cho. Then I stayed another two nights at my BFF’s house… right across the street from Nijo-jo! I had planned to stay a night in Osaka as well, but there were important people to see and making the commute via Keihan line to Osaka for a day trip is definitely no hassle whatsoever. I visited those places in Kyoto Station that nobody knows how to get to, walked on the 哲学の道 all the way to Nanzen-ji, and went to a subtemple there and (very much unlike when I visited Ryoan-ji…) had the crane & turtle garden all to myself (honestly, it was as though nobody knew this place was open). Aki and I went to Heian Jingu and did 座禅 at Kenninji, and afterwards, while still at the temple, ran into a honest-to-goodness Maiko; complete with bells in her shoes and a gracious escort who permitted us a photo. I had coffee with my professor. I visited Umeda with Megu and we had Okonomiyaki and did some shopping. In short, It was a wonderful trip away from Tochigi.

It made me so nostalgic to hear 関西弁 everywhere I went. I get a lot of flack for using it in Kanto – either people find it humorous to the extent of ridiculousness or they just can’t comprehend how a foreigner can pick it up. When you live there for almost a year you might as well forget learning 標準語 at all. I always equate my use of Kansai-ben to a Western Pennsylvania dialect, because anymore I only speak it in comfortable, homey situations with close friends – kind of how I can only use certain words and phrases that will only be understood back in Pittsburgh.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I love being a turtle Kyoto!! (25 points if you can name the movie reference)

More photos on the Facebook!