Oldschool Japan

See that tall guy in the baseball cap?

That guy is now my hero.

Why?

We'll get to that later.

Today started with an assembly. We were asked to get all dressed up and sit through some boring speeches, in exchange for free food afterwards.

I wore my dress pants and a white button up shirt, both of which were extremely wrinkled, having not been ironed since being shoved into my bag.

For the THIRD day in a row, it was raining when I needed to make the 30 minute walk/15 minute bike ride to campus. For the past two days, I had just ridden and gotten soaked, since I didn't have an umbrella. But I was damned and determined that I wouldn't get wet today. So even though I had bought an umbrella, I opted to take the bus.

So did everyone else in Japan.

We ended up packed in like sardines, with no room to move at all. And that was BEFORE we stopped to let more people in.

Of course, the irony of it all was that after it got started, it barely drizzled for the rest of the time.

That's 220 yen I'm never getting back.

In any case, once we arrived, they did the usual stuff--introductions, guest speakers, etc. One of the speeches was in Japanese, and was apparently quite funny to those who could understand it. -_-

But all that was pretty unimportant. The main event for the day was the Kyoto tour.

What seemed like the entire school turned out for the event. Slowly but surely, we were all put into small groups and paired with Japanese students, and then we were on our way.

As my particular group got started, a tall guy in a baseball cap, named Greg, joined us. He said that those in charge told him he couldn't go with his speaking parter, for some reason. So, he ditched his group and went with us and his speaking partner, anyway.

With that settled, we headed for the train station.
Here we are, all together...
Except for whoever was taking the picture...

After watching some guy do the moonwalk, we got on the train for Kyoto.
(No, he wasn't really doing the moonwalk... but isn't the picture so much more interesting that way?)
We arrived in Kyoto, and started walking.
And walking.
And walking.

At this point, my blisters have blisters.

We were headed, it appears, to Kiyomizu Temple, the most famous temple in Kyoto. I had actually already been there a few years back, but that didn't make it any less fun.


On the way there, we spotted this adorable statue of a god of some sort.

WHO'S A CUTE LITTLE GOD? YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE!

On the way to the temple, we stopped at a 1,010 Yen store where everything, as you might have guessed, costs 1,010 Yen. They had some pretty cool stuff, and they had some stuff that seriously creeped me out.

Once we got on our way again, we actually spotted (what appeared to be) a real live Geisha.
(Wonder how many times a day SHE gets her picture taken.)

As we started getting closer, we started climbing more and more stairs. Just when I was starting to consider whether it was worth it or not, part of it finally came into view.
As it turns out, the long hike WAS worth it. It's a seriously beautiful place, and rather than try to talk about it, I would just strongly encourage you to check out my photo album for the day, and see for yourself.


After we were done with the temple, we headed out kind of randomly down the street. We decided to stop at an ice cream shop, where I got some green tea flavored ice cream (a local delicacy).
It was disgusting.

Well, it was at first, anyway. Once I started getting used to eating ice cream that tasted like a bitter beverage, it was actually pretty good.

We also happened to see Spiderman hanging around.

Then we piled into three taxis, and went for a bite to eat. I had a hamburger steak, sausage, potato wedges, corn, and a fried egg (?!) served on a steaming, sizzling platter.

It was so slightly not-American, it was funny.
We were also next to a restaurant that I seriously didn't like the looks of...

After dinner, we decided to go shopping/wandering aimlessly. We ended up in an area that was like a street with a roof. Shops on either side, but no doors to get in, and people were riding their bikes and such inside.
[x]
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And right in the middle of it all was another shrine. Which is where I saw the most amazing fortune-telling device ever. I just had to get a few vids of it.
This is what it does BEFORE you put money in.
And this is what it did after.


After we were done marveling at the magic paper grabbing dragon, we headed into a shop completely filled with UFO catchers...
Most of them, curiously enough, with a stitch theme.

All save one...

One lone, magnificent UFO catcher with a Super Mario Theme!
As soon as I saw it, I KNEW I had to have a shell or question block.

Now, the game was 200 Yen a pop. I played it two or three times before one of the workers, via one of the Japanese students we were with, told me that the point was NOT, in fact, to grab the item itself. We had to grab a box printed with, what else, stitch on it, and try to get IT into the prize hole--at which point, one of the attendants would open the machine and let us pick a prize.
Now, the box was far too heavy to pick up. Which is why it was perched precariously on the edge, and your job was to lift one end, and rock it over the edge.
I couldn't do it, and ran out of coins. So Greg, fresh from winning a giant stuffed hamster for his speaking partner, took a crack at it. In just a few tries, he had managed to win himself a turtle shell! I knew that if he could do it, so could I.

I was wrong.

I ended up spending about 2,000 Yen on that damn machine ($17.35) and still didn't get it, even though every time I gave up, the guy opened it up and inched it closer to the edge to tempt me to try again.
So Greg stepped up to the plate again. Digging 200 yen out of his own pocket, he fed it into the machine, lined up the crane hand, and shoved the box straight down the prize hole. He reached into the machine, pulled out one of the coin boxes, and wouldn't you know it, he handed it to me.

Success!

I actually hugged the guy I was so happy. XD

So... I wasted almost twenty dollars on some cheap stuffed box.

But can you really put a price on happiness?

Apparently, yes. And that price is 2,000 Yen.

I have no regrets.

It even makes the coin noise when you hit it!

After that, we just wandered around a bit, before deciding to head back.

On the way, we happened to see racism , Buzz Lightyear, and some Engrish.

Which is always fun.

And then we got on the train and headed back, and that was about it.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome trip. Kyoto was gorgeous, the Japanese students that showed us around were fun and friendly, and I got an icon from my youth.

Today's evaluation: Great Success.