Kyoto, a visit to the western side of Japan
March 9, 2015

In order to go to Kyoto, I had to make reservations for the bus to go there, and I most likely would not have been able to do so without the help of Anzu. She showed me the website, and through Skype, she led me through the different steps.

Also, the day of my departure, February 15th, she and two other friends, Arisa and Keigo, waited with me until I got on the bus! I really appreciated their presence. 

(One of my first moments in Kyoto.)

I got on the bus and slept most of the way, waking up from time to time as the bus would stop, then immediately falling back to sleep. I have to say I was exhausted. I arrived at the scheduled time, 6:05 A.M. at the Kyoto Station. I asked a few directions, then I found a Starbucks in which I could sit down and relax a bit. While I was there, I took the time to Skype my family, then once that was done, I headed off to Fushimi Inari, alone. It was only one station away by train, so I was soon out of the station, which was only 3 minutes away from the temple's entrance. 

I was a long way up, but after passing what seemed to be a never ending row of red gates, I made it to the top where I found... more red gates haha! But the beauty and peace of the whole place was beyond my ability to explain. Here's some pictures of what I saw.








(I made it to the top!)

Once I was done getting lost in the red maze, I rushed down the hill since I was running late a little. After arriving at the station, I waited about 30 minutes for Kengo to arrive. I manage to find the gate from which he was going to come through (remember, the train companies are different in this part of Japan from Tokyo). He came through, limping, using one crutch, with a weird smirk on his face. He had told me he was injured, but had said it was good enough to go around, thus I was not expecting this. 

I handed him a coffee, and we walked around the station for a while, talked a little before deciding where to go firsts. Now I'm not going to go through every details of every place, you would be reading this for the next month. I'll simply let the pictures talk.

(Downtown Kyoto)

(Kengo is not letting the crutches stop him.)

(Gion District)

(The love rock!)

(Kiyomizu Temple)

Kengo also showed me around the Doshisha University's original campus! And I thought that Tokai was pretty...

(Panorama from the middle of the campus.)

(This building and the tree next to it are two symbols that represent this university.)

(Kengo's favourite place in Kyoto.)


(Speechless...)

(I also got to eat in the section of Kyoto called Ramen Town. This was my first time trying a ramen where the sauce is separate from the noodles. It was sooo good.) 

Before coming, Kengo had informed me that I would be able to sleep at his place that evening. So we made our way back to his apartment, brushed our teeth, took showers, and got ready to sleep. I must say I was quite tired after that long day.
 
(Kengo misses Canada *he's wearing a U of M hoody*)

Next day, we woke up, got ready, and left for the second campus of Doshisha University. Since space is a big problem in Japan, the university had to split the sport campus, which needs a lot more space, from the main campus. It's about one hour away from the main campus. This is what I saw:

(The main gym building. This is where the dojo is located as well as the work out gym and other facilities.)

(Map of the campus.)

(Their softball practice.)

(Their tennis courts.)


(The beauty of the campus is... unbelievable.)


(Kengo's department study room.)

(The station in front of the university. Just like Tokai, you have to go up a hill to get to the university.)

I also got the chance to watch part of the Doshisa University's Judo Club's practice. In that moment, I came to realize a lot of this about my current situation. First, I must say I feel very fortunate to be able to practice with the Tokai team. Second, I kind of felt pride coming from Tokai, especially after watching Doshisha's practice. I understood a little bit why Tokai is so strict. I also had the thought of "What would have happened had I had come here?". After talking with Kengo, I also realized that Tokai has a lot more fighters than normal clubs do, while before that, I thought almost every university club in Japan had at least 80 fighters. There was nothing wrong with Doshisha University's Judo Club, I believe I just have come to see this in a different way. As my father warned me, going back to Manitoba is going to be a shock. 

(The line-up.)

(The Dojo.)

After seeing the practice, I came to understand Kengo's behaviour back in Canada. I came to understand Japanese behaviour in general, and I can see now there is most than what the eye sees about the judo club, and how it's run.

After that, Kengo decided to come with me again today and visit the following places:

(From the University it was interesting to see no one on the train.)

(I don't know what kind of food this was, but it was soooo gooood!)


(Kinkaku-ji, The Golden Temple.)

(Selfie with Kinkaku-ji, just cause we can!)

(Is it really all gold?)

(Ryoan-ji, The Temple of Dragon at Peace.)



(The famous Zen garden.)

(I really considered moving here.)

(Peace)

After the long day, Kengo took me to a sento, which is a smaller version of the big hot springs they have in Japan.

The whole trip ended in the reverse order. Kengo brought me to the same place where I got off the bus, I rode the bus and slept most of the way, woke up in Yokohama, and took the fastest train back to Tokai.

Thoughts? Can't wait to go back and see the rest of it.


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