The Koyo

This week started with me going to get a Japanese bank account on Tuesday. My school has decided to stop paying me by cash for whatever reason, so they`ve told me I have to get a bank account. After ringing round just about every bank in Nisshin we eventually found one who would accept me as a customer. To get a bank account, you need an `inkan` which is kind of like a stamp with your name in Kanji (a single Chinese character). Since my name (obviously) has no Kanji I have had one (very generously by Ayaes mum) made in the shape of a `J`.

Because it’s a home made one, lots of banks wont accept it, but eventually we found one that would although it was on the other side of town. After taking about 4 buses (most of them going the wrong way) we eventually got there. To create the bank account I had to fill in lots of forms, which took ages as Ive never really written Kanji before, so I had to have Ayae draw each one first so I could copy it.

On the way home, I realized Id missed out 2 lines of address on the forms so they wouldn’t be able to send the cash card to me. After a few phone calls it got kind of sorted out , although Im now gonna have to wait a month to access my cash which leaves me a little skint.

Anyway Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful, but Friday we had a Takoyaki party at our apartment, with a couple of Ayaes friends. Takoyaki are basically golf ball sized fried balls of batter (made of flour, eggs, vegetables, and fish shavings things) with chunks of Octopus in the middle. They are then covered with Soosu (a brown, slightly sweet sauce), mayonnaise, seaweed, and bonito flakes. These are available as street food at most festivals and downtown city areas, and I have them quite regularly as they are well tasty.

One of Ayaes friends had a Takoyaki machine which is kind of a hotplate with circle shapes on it. You pour the batter into the holes, then put some Octopus onto the batter, then when one side is done flip it over using cocktail sticks and put a bit more batter in to make it a bit bigger.
Despite finding it difficult at first, after a couple I was a Takoyaki master. They tasted awesome and were well satisfying to make. When you buy them at street stores, you normally get a box of 8, but the fact that we wanted to use all the mixture meant we had an average of 30 each, although Im sure my number was higher than the others so Im guessing I had about 40 Takoyaki. Which is ridiculous.

On Saturday I went to work, although stopped off in Sakae to see if anything was happening. There was a big model pirate ship with some Spanish guitar style band playing, and a huge model treasure chest. Weird.

On Sunday we woke up at 4 to get a bus to Kyoto to see the Koyo. Koyo is what the Japanese call leaf viewing in the autumn. Certain areas are really great for Koyo, and Kyoto is one of the best. We booked onto a tour bus which would take us to 2 places in Kyoto which are famous for their leaves.

The first we got to was a temple called Tofokuji. Tofokuji is where zen priests used to go to achieve enlightenment although that would be almost impossible now given the immense quantity of people. As soon as we got there we could see a sea of people that stretched out ahead of us as far as the eye could see. After queuing for a while however we eventually got to a bridge over a chasm valley type thing.

This was absolutely gorgeous and unlike anything Ive ever seen before. The sheer amount of leaves was really overwhelming, and despite the huge amounts of people, all vying for the best spot to get a picture on their digital cameras, it was really beautiful.

The temple buildings themselves were also really nice and were surrounded by awesome zen gardens. It was a pretty huge site and there was loads of trees to see. The ground was often entirely red in places and was just like something out of a Zhang Yimou kung fu flick.

After looking round for about an hour and a half we got back onto the bus to go to Ginkakuji. Ginkakuji was a temple Id wanted to see for a long time but never got round to seeing. Whilst Kinkakuji (which I visited last month) is known as the Golden temple, Ginkakuji is the silver temple.

The road to the temple was next to a small river, and there was plenty of red trees and bushes along the path which was well pretty.

As we got closer to the temple there was more and more shops selling traditional Kyoto goods such as kimonos and fans, as well as lots of souvenir shops. There was also lots of snack stalls selling Macha (green tea) related goods. We had some macha ice cream, and some other Japanese style sweet things. They also sold macha cream puffs, although I didn’t partake in any of them.

When we got to the temple it was, as predicted really really gorgeous although the pictures here show it a lot better than I can describe. Some shogunate in like the 1500s spent his whole life building it as a place to live, and so the garden was really really lush, although once again it was swarming with people.

After looking round the temple and the surrounding area for a while, we found a nice little restaurant, selling Macha flavoured Soba (noodles). This restaurant had an Edo style interior and recreated the feel of a very old restaurant really well.

After lots more wondering round we eventually got back on the bus to Nagoya although it stopped off at a famous Kyoto Pickle shop first. Whilst I do enjoy Japanese pickles from time to time Im not mad keen on them so we didn’t buy anything.

We got home around 10 pm totally knackered and went straight to bed.

K, that’s about all for this week, unfortunately Im a bit low on time so I wont say any more. Next week I pretty much have a free week so Ill try and make something happen. This blog sometimes feels like an albatross as I have to do something otherwise Ill have nothing to write about. However, I think its beneficial really as it makes me more adventurous and gives me extra motivation to not sit in my apartment watching Japanese TV all day (although that’s always a temptation lol).

So until next week, stay classy UK.

Jack