日帰り旅行 － 鞍馬と貴船

Well I didn't end up going to Nagano. Aaron, Andy and Masahiro are there right now though. They found a pretty good deal. 20,000 for 2 days of skiing/snowboarding with a hotel for one night and a bus from Kyoto to Nagano. There were only 3 tickets left for the bus and since I didn't really want to ski, but just wanted to see Nagano I had to pass on it. On the positive side it let me study up and work on one of my papers for class.

Today, Sebastian and I took the train up to the Kurama and Kibune area of Kyoto. It's been a pretty popular area this year thanks to this years NHK taiga drama, Yoshitsune. According to the story, Yoshitsune was born just before a battle in which his father and oldest two brothers were killed. His life was spared and he was put under the care of Kurama Temple. While in Kurama he was trained by tengu and later went on to fight in the Genpei War. Unfortunately he was betrayed by a cousin and died young.

The Kurama Temple area is really large and is comprised of four major shrines along with a bunch of smaller ones sprinkled throughout a mountain forest. You can actually get off the train at Kurama station and walk through the entire forest to the Kibune area. There are also a couple of Shinto shrines nearby as well which makes the area a great day trip from Kyoto. Today there was still quite a bit of snow left up there, but it was melting so it made for some nice pictures along with some fairly pleasant weather.

Kurama and Kibune are both really small and are both completely surrounded by mountains. Kurama has an onsen which is supposedly really nice and fairly cheap at 1000 yen. Kibune has a lot of nice, but expensive restaurants and ryokan. The main, and only road actually runs right alongside a picturesque river and, if you've got the cash to drop, I'm sure it would be a great place to spend a summer night.

雪風の銀閣寺

Last Thurday we had a pretty decent snowstorm of about 20-30 centimeters. It's all melted now but it was nice while it lasted. In the middle of the storm Andy, Aaron and I went to Ginkakuji which is about a 10 minute walk from the university and about a 10 minute bike ride from our res. It was gorgeous in the snow as we had all expected and would make a fantastic Tenchu level. They should make a Tenchu with levels based entirely on real life locations in Japan. Gion and Himeji-jo would be fantastic levels as well.

I may be heading up to Nagano tomorrow cause Aaron, Andy, and Masahiro want to ski. Right now Aaron and Masahiro are out trying to find a good package deal. I don't think I'll ski any but I'd like to go to Nagano just to see the city. It's supposed to be really nice since it's up in the mountains, and recently they've been hit by some huge snowstorms dumping upwards of 2m on the city so that should make for some good pictures if things pan out with this trip.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...Any Other Day

Christmas is a virtual non-event here. Obviously there's no religious reason for celebrating it here, but I thought that the commercial aspects of it would have been much greater than actually exist. Chrsitmas Eve is a big date night for couples. A lot of people also have parties with friends or go out, but that's about it. Very little in the way of decorations aside from the department stores and some random lights on some of the main streets. The focus on gift giving is really up to personal preference. Some people are in to it, others not. I can't say I'm really missing it though. Without all the fuss, and being in school until tomorrow I've really had no kind of build-up to get me all excited about it. I think that the lack of a real Christmas feeling this year will cause a renewed and revitalized Christmas spirit come next year.

Girls Can Be Bitches

I'm a bit bitter right now let me explain.

Last night a bunch of us from the res went out for Andy and Masahiro's birthdays. A few of the guys from Doshisha came as well and as we were sitting there drinking and chatting Ken said he had something important to tell me. He then proceeded to tell me that Yuko, the girl I have been seeing quite frequently for the past month or so, has been sleeping around with one of my other Doshisha friends, Tetsuo.

The previous Saturday Masahiro, Yuko, another girl Chieka and myself went bowling and when we were done the girls said that they were really busy the next day so they had to get back home. It sounded quite suspicious at the time but I couldn't really follow up on it. Well it turns out that they both went over to Tetsuo's after this. Ken also told me they were meeting up last night as well, which would explain why she declined my invite to come out for the party.

Another girl that was at the party last night goes to the same school as Yuko and when she heard about it she said that Yuko and her friends are kind of like the outsiders of the school and not too many people like them and that I shouldn't think that all girls are like them because they really are the exception.

Shit like this happens all the time with dating/relationships and that's the breaks. Not much I can to about it since it was really all out of my control and it was nothing that I did or didn't do that caused it. That doesn't really bug me. What pisses me off is that she didn't have the common decency to just come out and tell me. She knows that I'm friends with a bunch of Tetsuo's friends and that sooner or later it's going to come out, why just not get it over with. Last Saturday, or sooner she should have just said things aren't working between us and ended it, while it may have still been upsetting, at least I wouldn't despise her like I do now. But, it really does go to show her true character and I'm glad I found out sooner rather than later before we had become more involved because this isn't not the kind of person that I want to go out of my way to spend time with to begin with.

Granted this is a very rare occasion, and I still have faith in women, but Yuko. Yuko's a bitch.

懐かしいもの/こと

Well with 2 months in Japan behind me and 9 more to go I think I've been here long enough to do this. So without further adieu I present:

Things I miss and don't miss about Canada

First things I don't miss.

Things I don't miss
- The hour long commute to and from school
- The amount of work involved with school
- Paying 15% sales tax
- Traffic jams
- The lack of convenience in convenience stores (This is kind of unfair though as Japanese ones are really on a whole different level)
- No sentos/onsens
- No temples/shrines
- Cold weather (although today was actually kinda cold. I'd say about 5C or so)
- No izakayas
- No nomi-hodai (All you can drink for a set price)
- Paying $15 for an Initial D or Kenshin manga (Initial D is $5 here, Kenshin is $3)
- Only getting NHK for Japanese TV

Things I do miss
- My programs: Seinfeld, Smallville, 24, Arrested Development etc.
- Driving, that being said I would not want to drive in this city, ever.
- I didn't think I'd say this, but I miss working at the bank
- Being able to get a pizza for $10
- Affordable beef
- Stick deodorant
- Playing guitar
- $5 bootleg movies in Chinatown
- Teaching Taekwondo
- PS2
- And of course it goes without saying, friends and family

Things I Love About Japan #347

It's great how a trip to Sanjo for ramen for dinner easily turns into an all night affair.