I’ve now been away for 3 days, first 2 days in Kyoto and then 1 in Osaka… kinda.
I’d like to apologize in advance for everything that I’ll forget to retell

OMG HIDDEN!

3 August

I got up at 6, managed to catch a shinkansen train at around 8… mostly because I got lost at the Tokyo station and then I had to fiddle around to get my rail pass.

When I got to Kyoto I was struck with confusion… Please, do yourself a favor and buy a guidebook before going.
But I had done some notes at least, so I got on a subway train to where I thought Kinkaku-ji was.
When i got there I was struck with even more confusion and despair.
I had read that it was just to go west and you’d find it.
So I asked a police officer for the way… it turned out that it wasn’t as close as I’d thought.

So in my confusion I found a booth with information about the buses in Kyoto, I even found someone who knew English! As it turns out, taking the bus in Kyoto was actually really cheap! 500¥(~28kr) and use ‘em as much as you want for a whole day.

So I got on the bus, went to the correct station… or so I thought, turns out it was not.
And again, panic
I walked around a bit on the spot, then I found a map near the bus stop, turns out I was only 300m for it or so.

The Kingaku-ji was really cool, it being painted with gold and all. The garden wasn’t that great, but meh, worth it.

And this is when it gets “weird”, a Japanese guy approaches me and asks “English okay?”… I was like, isn’t that my line?
It turns out that he’s looking for someone that speaks English that he can hang out with for the day, since he wants to practise his English.
My brain immediately said “NO”, but I thought… Ah what the hell, lets give it a try.
I knew that this might be a trap, so I had no intentions on doing anything his way.
But he just seemed like a nice guy… and besides, a guide would be great…

So off we go, this time to Ryōan-ji, and now I had someone to lead the way! Much easier.
This was, so-so.

After that we went to Ginkaku-ji, hence the similarity to Kinkaku-ji (Kin = gold, Gin = silver, and Ji = temple, fyi). Ginkaku-ji is actually more or less its nickname.
The temple itself was under repair so that wasn’t… anything >.<
But it had an amazing garden! So it was worth it.

After that we did some walking through an old part of Kyoto, lots of old houses, we also passed some temple that I can’t remember…

Then we got to Kiyomizu-dera, this was so-so at first. But then we found the wooden balcony!
Awesome view.

Then I think we went to the Tō-ji, but it was closed…

It was now around 5 o’clock and I hadn’t had anything but breakfast, which I ate at 6 in the morning, so we decided to find something to eat. We ended up with Soba, which isn’t really my favorite, but I was too afraid to say anything. It’s like, pretty healthy… so it doesn’t taste so good (Smakar typ fullkorn…)

After that I was going to find somewhere to sleep, but he then offered me a place to sleep at his place.
He was currently living with his grandmother near Kyoto for his summer vacation.
After getting an okay from her we went to his place… which was like 1h30m away from Kyoto by subway >.<

I was given some food and a shower, which was great!
Sadly his room didn’t have AC and it was located like in between 2 subway lines
But it was okay. It was fun to see a real Japanese home.
His grandmother didn’t say much, but I hope I wasn’t a nuisance to her. At least it didn’t feel that way to me…

Scroll down to read about the next day

OMG HIDDEN!

4 August

I was waken up at around 7, after 5h of sleep… Because Japanese people seriously don’t seem to sleep more than 4-6h a day… Then it was breakfast.

After saying a lot of thank you and so on I then left for another day in Kyoto.

So this time I was on my own, so getting the right bus wasn’t as easy as it may seem. He had just draged me all around so I was a bit spoiled. Luckily I had a map over the bus stops, which is a must have.

Anyway, I managed to get on the right bus after a while… and I even managed to catch the one that was going in the proper direction!

I jumped off at Tō-ji for another rematch, this time it was open!
This temple looks pretty much like any other, but for some reason I really like it.
It also had a beautiful garden an and exhibition of a few really cool statues… which I wasn’t allowed to photograph. Well worth the trip.

After that I went to the Fushimi Inari shrine, well, at least that was the plan.
I got off the bus near where I thought there was supposed to be a bus stop, but it seems I was miss taken.
But since I couldn’t just stand there I started walking in the correct direction of… where I thought it was.

I actually stumbled over another cool temple on the way, I think it was Tofukuji temple.

After like… walking forever I finally got there. I never found the bus stop that I was looking for so I walked the whole way >.<
My first thought was, a bench…give me something to sit on. Which was easier said than done and it would take me some time before I actually found one…

So I started walking, I knew that it was supposed to be a lot of Toriis, but what I didn’t know is that the walk was going uphills… it was a pretty steep walk >.<

After walking for quite some time I got to some over view-look-thingy where I could finally sit down and enjoy an overpriced drink.

Then I continued to the top, I wasn’t really in the mood, but I had already walked so far anyway! Why stop now.

The top was actually quite boring, I barely even noticed that it was the top until I’d passed it… so I never even took a photo of it.

The way down was pretty scary, because there weren’t that many people anymore, some had quit and taken the same way down as they went up. So I was walking and walking… by myself in the forest, no idea where I was (on a road, of course). After walking for quite some timed I came to this… which was a bit shocking, but I remember hearing something about this so I didn’t panic. The exit wasn’t very flashy, and I was still all alone…

So I walked… and walked… and walked… and after some time I managed to get out of all the houses, it was ironically more or less where I started my walk when I stepped off the bus.

I don’t think I’ve been this sweaty or hot in my entire life… sweat was dripping from my nose when I was near the top. I don’t regret it, but it was still somewhat of a bad idea

After that I took a long bus ride (the bus had AC and i could sit down so I didn’t want to get off ) to Kyoto imperial park, which wasn’t that great… But when I was standing there taking photos an old man came up to me. So we actually talked for an hour or so I think. He reminded me a bit about my grand father, actually.

Then I said farewell and headed to the Nijō Castle, the man told me that it would close very soon and that I wasn’t going to make it, but I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to try. Sadly it wasn’t that close to the bus stop and I didn’t even know the way so I didn’t manage to get in…

After that I walked to the Kyoto international manga museum, which was like a big waste of money…
Yes, they had loads of manga, and yes you got the read them… BUT I CAN’T READ!
They had a small exhibition, but it wasn’t that great either.
But yeah, it’s great if you can read… I guess…

After that I made my way to Osaka, where I thought I’d stay the night.
The trip started of badly, the train was 15min delayed, which is like… very much, in Japan.

When I got to Osaka I once again panicked, since I couldn’t find any maps for the trains at all… but after asking around I managed to get my hands on one. Then after spending a few minutes pondering what trains to take and where to change trains I was on my way. I had found some info on Wikitravel for a Capsule hotel in Osaka.

Getting to the station was a piece of cake, but once I got there it was a bit harder… I had a description that I followed, but it was very limited and this place was PACKED, it felt like finding a needle in a haystack.

After walking for like forever I asked someone for a capsule hotel, he described the way to a different one than the one I was aiming for. But I was too annoyed to care and I followed his advice.
Sadly he was speaking only Japanese, and this place was a bit complicated, so after a while I was more or less lost and asked a police officer for the way. He then gave me a new description. After following that one and giving up again I asked a third man, and his description lead me to it!

Actually, when I got there I realized that all the descriptions had been correct, it was just I who misunderstood and didn’t know the area too well…

This place was located in like… it felt very much like the center of Osaka, so I was afraid that it might be a bit expensive.

When I got there I realized that I’d never been to a capsule hotel before… of course… so it was a bit confusing.
First I had to lock my shoes into a small locker, they later took the key from me when I checked in so I didn’t have to bother with it.

Then I was given like, a watch without a watch. It was a bracelet with a number, bar code and a key.
Number was my locker/capsule number, the bar code was used like a credit card in the vending machines… I think. And the key was for my locker.

Anyway, I was given a locker where I placed all my stuff and I changed into a robe… almost like something that you’d wear at a hospital… But everyone was wearing one.

After leaving all my things int he locker I went to check out my capsule, which wasn’t anything special.
I then battled with it for 30sec trying to find a way to open up the glass so i could get in… but I then realized that there wasn’t any glass >.<
I took a peek, tried the tv… then headed for a shower.

Which was easier said than done, the Japanese way of washing is a bit different from ours.
Luckily I knew a little about it, not enough sadly… But I asked someone who worked there and he gladly… tried to explain.

After taking an awesome shower and a hot bath I went back to my capsule to sleep, after a while I remembered that I’d forgotten to brush my teeth… so I went and did so… It’s funny though, they had these prepared toothbrushes that you only use once, with toothpaste already on ‘em.

Everywhere I went, I got everything I needed.
I mean, this place is made for businessmen who come there with nothing else than their suit and briefcase. So they need everything and are given everything. You could come here naked and be alright… well, technically not. But you get the picture.

OMG HIDDEN!

5 August

So, this time it was time for Osaka… which I sadly didn’t know much about.

All that I had planed was to visit the Osaka castle, more or less, and then do some random walking/sightseeing.
First I went to the Umeda Sky building, more or less because I didn’t have anything else to do. I had no idea where the castle was anyway.

It was really cool and the view was also pretty cool

The escalators were really insane…

Anyway, so when I was standing there looking at the view I happened to see where Osaka Castle was, pointed out on a photo from the tower.

So… I started walking there, which really wasn’t my brightest idea.
I thought about asking someone for the closest subway station, but it didn’t look that far… And no, it wasn’t… and yes, it was, at the same time.

The thing that I thought was the park was another park… so this park wasn’t that close, but the one that I was aiming at was a bit far off.

I happened to find a map so I could get going in the proper direction at least.
After walking for a while I got afraid that I’d made a mistake and I asked a police for the way. I was going on the right way… but he said that I was going to have to walk for an hour or so to get there… which I wasn’t too happy about. But in lack of better ideas I just kept walking…
After maybe 10min I asked another police, because 1h really sounded a bit too much, maybe he had misunderstood I thought and guided me to the wrong place.
This police told me that I should just continue and I’d see it in a while, which sounded a lot better than 1h…

An luckily the last one was right, it wasn’t that far… But I had probably walking for like 1h30min when I finally got there… -.-
I was tired as hell and sat down on the first bench that I could find.

After a while I continued… heading for the nearest vending machine to buy a drink.
There I happened to meet 2 Englishmen who were also heading towards the castle, and we kinda joined together. So I had 2 people to talk to for once. We just happened to join together, it kinda happened. We never said hello or introduced ourselves so I still have no idea what their names were

Anyway, the castle looked awesome from outside, very old and very Japanese. But the inside gave me a shock… it was made into a modern museum, with AC and all, it didn’t look like a temple at all.

We climbed the 8 floors to the top, had a look at the view. Took a few pictures… then my camera went out of battery.

When we came down we split up, they headed for the subway and I for another station… I was not going to walk back >.<

After that I went to Shin-Osaka and got on a Shinkansen train to Tokyo, and here I am. I was running out of clean t-shirts, clean underwear and my camera had no battery… I’ve been writing this blog for hours and now I need to get some sleep because I have to get up in five and a half hour so I can catch a train for Hiroshima, which was like 900km away so that’ll take some time, I also have to change trains once… Wish me luck!

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