Issue 20 - crowds and shrines
A possibly weekly email about what's been going on in my brain
2 - 8 April 2023
I definitely feel like I'm on the home stretch now. My toiletries have begun to run out raising the necessity of visiting a pharmacy to buy more, and considering how overwhelming supermarkets here are (which don't sell anything but food) I dread to think what I'd end up leaving with - is it toothpaste or is it face cream? One way to find out! My brain has wandered unbidden to all the things I'm going to do when I get home: lazing in my dressing gown, drinking cups of tea, starting DIY projects (with the best intentions to finish them), developing some of these photos I've been taking. As if my layabout lifestyle isn't going to come rushing back to me as soon as I open the door to my cinema room. The unasked question that hung in the air before I left was whether I would be coming back? Unequivocally yes. I have no desire to shift my life into hard mode and I like far too many of my creature comforts to give them up, however temporarily. Plus you know, friends, family, life etc. Besides, no one has yet offered me an all expenses paid, salaried job travelling around Japan taking photos. That's the kind of proposal that would make me rethink my position.
Osaka
When I switched from the northern Japan to the tropical southern islands, I transferred in Tokyo to get to Haneda airport. Going from quiet, wintry towns and onsen to the organised bedlam of the Tokyo metro system was jarring. I arrived in Osaka mid-morning Saturday during the peak of the cherry blossom bloom, so I should have been prepared for the cacophony of people moving through the city. I was not. Getting to my hotel involved a subway and a brief walk and just that was A Lot. Sure my hotel was located on Dotonbori, the uncontested busiest place in Osaka, but I get the impression anywhere in Osaka would have been swamped.
I spent the rest of the day wandering around Osaka Castle which bustled with hanami revellers and tourists alike. It was an infectious atmosphere with live music, the tantalising smell of barbecue, and of course the bright white-pink maelstrom of the cherry blossoms. I didn't even get inside the castle because the lines were so absurdly long I likely would have missed my early evening appointment: a guided food tour of Dotonbori.
Trailing after an English speaking local, myself and five others got to try local specialities such as takoyaki, kushikatsu, taiyaki and plenty more between. It was, I realised afterwards, the first time in over two months that I'd been in an extended English conversation which was a peculiar revelation. The other group members included a hotel magnate, a pair of party loving Seattle-ites, and a couple who thoroughly embodied the chaotic Florida-man energy. It was a long evening but a welcome opportunity to sample some of Osaka's foodstuffs that I probably wouldn't have tried on my own. We also got a tour of some out-of-the-way locations, including an old hotel where each room had been converted into a different bar. You want to play retro games while drinking? There was a bar for you. Maids? Muscles? Hookahs? Hair metal? They were all in there, sequestered, cosy and buzzing on a Saturday night.
By comparison the rest of my time in Osaka was relatively sedate, especially when I accepted there would be no "quiet" time with the crowds: so as long as I went with the flow and didn't try my usual "act imposing and expect people to move", I could join in and gawk as much as I wanted. A morning visit to Den Den Town was followed by an evening jaunt taking photos around the bright lights of Dotonbori (now that I knew the layout and what to expect), then almost a full day of going up tall buildings and marvelling at the sprawl.
Osaka was full-on, but that's unabashedly part of its character. It perhaps didn't help that as swanky as my accommodation was, it was definitely a city centre hotel; so people coming back to their rooms in the wee hours of the morning whistling or laughing at full volume was common, and a four-way argument in Vietnamese right outside my door didn't phase me at that point. Osaka was also the place that I began to see a lot of foreign tourists, I'd seen a few in Nagasaki and Kobe but here they were common rather than the exception. Hand in hand with that is how little Japanese you need to get by when all the restaurants and hospitality staff know enough English to guide you through the basics.
Kyoto (part 1)
I booked a full eight nights in Kyoto partly as a bit of cool down (two months in, exceptional planning John) but also because each time I've visited before (it's a common stop on every group tour package) it's only been for a day or two. And there is plenty to see in and around Kyoto. I tried to time my visit to Japan's old capital when the cherry blossoms usually bloom, unfortunately this year they came early meaning apart from some literal late bloomers, I had to make do with all the history, museums, galleries, temples, shrines, and zen. A tragedy.
Machiya
I booked into a machiya for my first four nights, and as lovely and convenient the house is, it has been designed precisely to murder people of my height. I'm used to ducking when going through doors, here though there are sharp corners right at eye socket height, with everything from the cooker hood to bannister rails inviting just one wrong step. And at the risk of seeming like I'm complaining overmuch: the walls are very thin, and I'm right outside Gion district which isn't exactly rowdy, but does have a lot of foot traffic. On the flip side, when it rains those same thin walls make it sound sublime.
It's location did allow me to order takeaway though which sounds like such a small thing but has been such a pleasure after repeatedly running the gauntlet of local restaurants for the past (checks calendar) 61 days. I did entertain notions of cooking, perhaps a spag bol, for the novelty value but when you tot up the ingredients that couldn't be consumed all at once - stock cubes, herbs, tomato puree etc. - it became less enticing. And I mean Uber Eats is right there.
Shrines and temples
The machiya is perfectly situated for exploring the sights of Higashiyama district though, which took up the majority of two and half days. Some I'd seen before like Sanjusangendo, Ginkaku-ji, and Honen-in; others I'd never visited like Chion-in and Shoren-in. Then there was my 5am trip to Fushimi-inari, mirroring the last time I visited. There is something magical about the shrine, especially that early in the morning when there are so few people around and the tunnels of torii gates and the side shrines are all but empty. I made the ascent to the top of the mountain taking copious photos before heading back down around 7am, at which point I was glad I'd arrived so early: it wasn't just "busy for 7am" but actually busy. I shudder to think how crowded it must get later in the day.
The crowds thus far have been manageable, and it's a little eerie how deserted some areas just off the main route. When it is busy though, I feel a little voice in my head shouting "get out of the way arseholes, I've got to get my zen on". I haven't yet attempted Arashiyama, Kiyomizu-dera, or Kinkau-ji though which are cornerstones of a visit to Kyoto. The latter two I have already experienced, the former though is definitely one I wish to get to, even if it's location does defy very early visits.
The next ten days
- 9th Apr - Kyoto
- 10th Apr - Kyoto
- 11th Apr - Kyoto, Miyako-odori booked
- 12th Apr - transfer to Mount Koya
- 13th Apr - Mount Koya
- 14th Apr - transfer to Wakayama
- 15th Apr - transfer to Kii-Tanabe then Takahara to begin walking parts of the Kumano Kodo
- 16th Apr - transfer to Kawayu Onsen
- 17th Apr - transfer to Yunomine Onsen
- 18th Apr - transfer to Kii-Katsuura
This was hand-crafted by John.