Japan Day 8 & 9

OK, today I have energy so I'll just knock both of these out tonight since tomorrow will mostly be me traveling back home all day. I've taken some notes through the day where I could so some of the recaps may have confusing tense referring to the days. Just a heads up. Let's begin! Day 8 What a day. Kyoto is hot. Very very hot. It's not the flat heat that bothers me, though, but rather the added humidity. It wouldn't have been an issue at all if the majority of our day wasn't walking tours, but alas, walking it was. First stop was Fushimi Inari Shrine. This is the shrine with the famous thousand gates; red gates stacked next to each other up and down stone stairways leading to the top of the mountain. By far the coolest shrine we've been to so far in my opinion. If not for the atmosphere and decor, then for the dream I had a couple nights before. I won't get too much into details, but here's a long story short: I don't look much at itineraries so I had no idea what we were gonna do day to day, nor did I look them up when the guide gave us the heads up the day before, my dream consisted of a movie-trailer type scene featuring a very clear kitsune type creature, only slightly hunched humanoid posture, longer wavy hair, and 6-7 ft tall, with a message at the end from an unidentified figure saying "Peter, ring the bell". Now my name isn't Peter, but the shrine had fox statues all around the grounds and the circular bells used to "alert the gods of your presence" or something to that extent. It was spooky. Believe me or not, it had me tripping out most of the day. So overall it was a very unique and intriguing visit, even for someone such as myself being a Christian. I'm not about to worship other spirits, but I'm not closed off to the notion of their presence. At least not now. Next I believe was the san-jyuu San (33) temple which was the first occasion that required us to take off our shoes. I'm not much of a viewer; I prefer to actively engage in an experience. But we went through all the same, looked at the different parts, and breathed in all that smokey incense. I will say, however, that one room was filled from side to side with easily over 300 bronze, life-sized Buddhas with 34 hands each. It was impressive. Unfortunately there was a no pictures rule (as do many places come to find out) but you should be able to find examples online. We then got to see the gold-plated pagoda. It was gold. It was a pagoda. It was on a pond. It was a crowded place to be that day. That just about sums up that experience, lol. I was able to pick up a small kimono (not the $1000 authentic ofc) and ninja suit romper for Ariela at the Handcraft Center, though, so that was one thing checked off my to-do for others before I got home. I can't wait till she can wear it! At the end of the day we were supposed to go to a "Ninja Restaurant" at the end of this shopping strip. We should have stayed in the shopping strip. The strip had all kinds of sake, fish, food, trinkets, pickled everything; it was genuinely interesting and crowded with locals (been tired of tourist traps). The restaurant was lacking such allure. Up front it looked fun. You go in, girls dressed up as kunoichi, and you're lead down underground through dimly lit hallways into the dining hall. OK, ninjas, dark, I get it. This is meant for foreigners, clearly, but the gimmick is fun. Next we're seated and wait for our full group to get drinks. They forgot at least twice after being told that people needed their glasses. Rough start, but not unsalvageable. Keep in mind the tour company signed us up for a multi-course meal without the options for many changes aside from allergy needs, so we were rolling the dice here. Each course comes out, some good, some... questionable. My sister is a picky eater so she just about went hungry lol. She at least gave things a chance, but we found out Japanese cuisine was not her forte since the US puts much more non-fish meat on the menu than do the authentic Japanese eateries. All this time we're having people still missing drinks, them skipping over people for drink orders, and an increasingly irritated group. Then desert comes in the form of a cheesecake frog, bonsai tree ice cream, "darkness" (maple ball with fruit inside), and chocolate lava cake (not very creative on the last one). They were really cool looking, but we didn't get to pick which ones we got. Why the hell wouldn't you give people the choice?? Bring out samples and let us order! I liked mine enough, though, so no worries (got the bonsai, wanted the frog), and we're told a show is about to start. Thank goodness! So a guy comes out in a ninja gi... And no facemask. Just a bandana nearly covering his eyes. Oh boy. Then he starts off slowly in a heavy accent, but clear English. This is certainly for foreigners. He says to expect "ninja magic and tricks". Cool. First trick is changing the words on a folded piece of paper. Impressive if he wasn't clearly thumbing through the tabs. Still cute, so it'll do. Now for the tricks! He juggled. That was it. Balls, batons, and "knives". Most hit the ground a couple of times too, which he did pass off as "ninja floor juggling" as he span them around from hand to hand on the floor. If this was meant to be a comedy show it would've worked so much better. I doubt it was, though. Everyone was still very friendly, fun, and kind so it wasn't a horrible experience. Just don't ever go expecting an Anaheim, CA level (or even STYLE) of show and/or experience like Medieval Times or the Pirate Show. Or half of it. That ends our 8th day, and left me absolutely exhausted. Day 9 Today was much easier. We checked out a very popular shrine (don't have the itinerary on me so the name escapes me) which is said to have a "80% success rate" for youth seeking "mr/ms right" according to our guide. She was a part of the 20% that only THOUGHT they married the right one =\ . There were lots of school kids here as well, but they finally gave me high-5s!! Mission success. They had a neat anime/collectible shop near the entrance, but our roaming time was too short and the number of kids in there literally wouldn't let us even past the threshold. Little did we know that would be the last shop of its kind we'd see here. After the shrine visit, we went to a historical merchant's home turned museum but still under the management of the family's successors. The young woman speaking with us was fluent enough in her English which made things easy. Apparently the home itself was built by the 10th generation master. To confirm I'd heard correctly, I asked "jyuudaime?" I swear, I must not have the look of someone who can speak any Japanese let alone do a [near] proper pronunciation (according to our guide my Japanese accent was better than her English one, which wasn't bad) because the look of shock I get is simply amazing. She was excited, but she had to look to our guide for confirmation that she did just hear that come from the grizzled yanky. People who don't know me tend to find me unapproachable, so I understand. Not a bad thing as long as they follow through with my attempts to start a conversation. Anyway, I've been enjoying the shock value so far. After a nice pickled lunch, we had a quick calligraphy lesson! It was a lot of fun and we got to keep our final drafts and our brushes! So cool ^_^ Finally was a long walk around a more exclusive area which was home to a geicha (Kyoto gaisha) school and restaurants and tea shops they'd host at. Then we had free reign of the public shopping strip which had a green tea cafe, some sweets, then a green tea cafe, then some coffee shops and a green tea cafe... They're everywhere. I thought it was just a stereotype, no! Green tea is on every corner, for every meal, in every vending machine and almost every variation of food! I like it at this point whether I wanted to or not, but jeez. At last we had the option to trek over to the bamboo forest, but I was beat and had no interest in more viewing activities. My sister and I braved the subway one last time to try and find another anime store in Kyoto Station (and beyond) but no luck. Our wifi didn't work well outside the hotel either so searching elsewhere was a no-go. We still got to eat the best ramen of my life, so it was a good night in the end. I will be hitting up online stores for sure when I get home. That sums up my last full day in Japan! Tomorrow will be traveling and finally getting to see my girls! Thanks again for your support, everyone, and I hope you've enjoyed this little saga. I'm looking forward to Fantasia-ing back to my Au'ra, catching up on Black Desert, and I'll see you all SUNDAY... on the stream :)