Konban wa (Good Night),
Something I already learnt in my first Japanese class, which I took yesterday as part of a tour. This tour was offered by Kyoto volunteers and only the 1-hour Japanese lesson had to be paid. Something I would recommend anyone coming to Japan and especially visiting Kyoto. (http://j-space.sakura.ne.jp/w-frame.html)
During this tour we got to know some parts of Kyoto (a historical townhouse and some temples) I would not have visited.
Actually, I should start from the beginning:
My primary intentions were to leave Kyoto after 2 nights, but my plans got all messed up. First I wanted to go to the Goto Islands, which are south of Nagasaki. Well since they are not very touristic even for Japanese people it is hard to visit them individually as there is no information online or anywhere else. So thats when I decided to stay 2 more nights in Kyoto, giving me the chance to see more of Kyoto's sights. You probably need an entire month in Kyoto to visit all of the 50 different shrines and temples, and not including the castle, the palace and all the museums.
So after my first Japanese lesson and the guided tour (we had 4 guides and 3 visitors, thats what I call service), we ended our tour in Gion a famous district of Kyoto, where you can supposedly see either Geishas or Maikas (Geishas in training). To be honest I think you will never see them, and if you think you do than they are mainly tourists dressed up as Geishas or Maikas, thats what at least my guidebook says.
After waiting and walking some time in the Gion district I went to the food market to get some fried shrimp with leek (very recommendable) and went home earlier after walking for almost 12 hours. After 5 days in Japan I dont even wanna know how many kilometers I have walked, but every day it was around 10 to 12 hours.
Today I tried to visit the sights of Kyoto I haven't seen yet. That including the Imperial Palace (waste of time as you dont get inside any building and you are with a guided tour of 100s of people as it is for free), the Golden Pavillon (Kinkaku-ji) and the best example of a proper Japanese zen-garden at Ryoan-ji. In the afternoon I went to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, to get an insight on a cultural tradition that has shaped Japanese history through the last couple of centuries (so Manga is nothing from the 20th century).
The highlight of the day was a traditional tea ceremony (http://teaceremonyen.com), which I can warmly recommend to anyone visiting Kyoto especially if you are interested in the higher arts (such as the traditional martial arts are too; there are certain commonalities in both practices).
Sayonara (Good bye)
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