"Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other." - Honore de Balzac

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Japan trip
Day 5 - 10th June - Ginkakuji Food, Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto (Part 3)

I finished Ginkakuji off.


Moss


Frothy green tea and snack


More salty tea ("金人" with "梅" in it [Golden Person with Plum]) which tasted like soup. What's with the Japanese and salty tea?!


There was a shop outside selling Ginkakuji cream puffs. Nice, but not very spectacular.


Senbei, which ang mohs rave about (mine was "Japanese Herb"). Basically what you see here is a large, warm and freshly-made version of Wang Wang's signature speciality (though that one is suitable for vegetarians). Much of what ang mohs find so fascinating about Japanese food is lost on those familiar with Chinese cuisine (and probably Korean too) given the similarities (yes, I am aware that the Wang Wang may be a Taiwanese senbei, given the colonisation, but the main point still stands).


Commercialised road down from Ginkakuji


Green Tea drink. "No sugar" and "less sugar" varieties were available. "More sugar" was not, unfortunately (I even asked). I could hardly taste the sugar in this.


Summer Orange-filled sweet dumpling

There were 3 Jap schoolgirls camwhoring in the bus. They asked one of two schoolboys with them to help, but the boys refused so the helped each other camwhore. I would've helped but was tired after chasing after the bus.

Next I went to the Yasaka Shrine.




As you can see, it was heavily commercialised, Stalls outside the shrine are one thing (they provide useful services to tourists, in fact), but these were in it. Gah. No wonder the gods are never at home (except, sometimes, in the main shrine) - they are displeased.




Main temple


A peek in



I also witnessed something most visitors probably don't.


Schoolgirls scattering


Toilet paper roll Shinto Shrine girls
I have a theory that the toilet paper rolls conceal the fact that they are wearing clip-on hair extensions.

Someone: Were there any mikos at the shrines? And were they all nubile looking like anime portrays them to be? :P


Wedding procession

Japanese women sometimes wear kimonos out, and often wear them for weddings, but the men virtually never wear traditional garb, but instead don business suits (except the priests). But then, even when they have kimonos they make many concessions to modernity - I saw one woman in a colourful kimono with a modern handbag and a small bottle of green tea in it.


They look very young.

The wedding used piped music, though one priest played a flute later. Gah.

I'd seen this before, so I moved on after a while.


Ema asking for good exam results (in Chinese, with a postscript in Japanese)


"A toilet gets down from back stone steps, and is in the inner part of a left open space"
"厕所下后的石台阶, 在左边的广场的里头"
They write poetry about the toilet. Damn Japs.

[Thanks to Charis for supplying "阶" - the word I couldn't find in IME pad or pronounce, and correcting "左" (I wrote "坐" - I swear I typed 左 (I know because I accidentally typed 右 at first)]

Someone: i like how even the chinese translation is wrong

Someone else: Dude, haven't you heard of the fabulous toilet technology in Japan?
In Japan, TOILET COMES FIND YOU

Someone (2): only the jap is correct

no idea about the korean
chances are it's probably wrong

At another part of the shrine, I witnessed another ceremony.


I was wondering why the pickup truck was parked so close to the altar.


Then the priest started blessing it. At least he didn't cut off the tailpipe.


Schoolgirls photowhoring


Geisha (they had obi [the cloth on the back identifying them] and the geisha handbags so they were genuine). From their air and age, I think they were maiko (apprentices), though I can't remember the proper way to identify them (wait for the next day's travelogue for that).


"This coffee shop 'CATTLEYA' is located on the site of a former shrine and we make our coffee from the well with the sacred water from the well which still exists"
Seditious coffee!


Kyoto street


Japanese mua chee


I'd been intending to go to Himeji jo this day, but there was a festival (Taue-Sai Festival [Rice Planting Ritual] at the Fushimi-Inari Shrine) so I changed my plans.


Liquor vending machine ("Liquor shop"). Beside the hostel. Notice the 2L tetrapak. Notice also the "Sake pass" age verification.


"Good Time C@fe. Healin' Feelin'"
This sounds somewhat less dodgy now than when I took this picture. Notice the sexist Ladies Room.

The subway station PA system played jungle sounds, with cuckoo noises. Err.