More Osaka & Kyoto

This weekend I went on another trip to the Kansai region’s two most famous cities, Osaka and Kyoto, two of my favorite places ever. After taking a final on Friday which I did surprisingly well on, me and my friend jumped on the shinkansen to Osaka, followed by the Osaka subway, arriving at our concert venue just in time to see the Pillows. We got to the venue just as the opening act was starting. They were pretty good, a punky indie J-Rock band. The Pillows set was terrific, but not as crazy as I expected, and not as good as the Sparta Locals. But still good.

Afterwards, we headed to Spa World to wash away all the sweat from the concert and the hot day. This time men had to go to the Asia floor, which had all the same features as the Europe floor, just with different looks. There were two Japan themed spas, a Bali themed spa with a jacuzzi and saunas, a Persia themed one with saltwater, a middle-eastern one (with the unfortunately mis-translated name “Islam”) with really hot water, and a totally out of place one called “Dr. Spa” which was hospital themed. Kinda strange. But still relaxing.

We spent the night at Spa World, since it was cheaper and nicer than going to a hostel, and then went to the Peace Osaka museum before going to Kyoto. The Peace Osaka museum is, not surprisingly, a museum dedicated to world peace. A great purpose for a museum, but incredibly depressing. The whole museum was about war and the horrible effects it has. The first floor was all about the atrocities committed against the Japanese by Americans during WWII, and it made me think that the museum was a little biased. But then I changed my mind when we got to the next floor, which was about all the atrocities that Japan committed against the Chinese and Koreans during WWII. The final floor was a little uplifting but still depressing, essentially saying “It’s completely possible for world peace to happen, but it’s also completely possible for the world to be destroyed, either by nuclear warfare or global warming.” Despite how depressing it was, it was a very informative museum about things that everyone should learn about at some point.

When we got to Kyoto we were met by my friend’s friend and his parents, who were giving us a place to stay for the weekend. They’re from Sapporo in Hokkaido, but they were visiting they’re his grandmother in Kyoto, who had enough room in her house for all of us to stay. They were so generous and helpful, and we spent a lot of our time in the house watching Japanese TV and eating delicious Japanese food. Other than that, they took us to visit a few temples, and to an incredible meal at a traditional Japanese restaurant that one of their relatives ran. The restaurant overlooked a river and was surrounded by trees, and we had a multi-course meal of fish, eggplant, tofu, soba, and various other dishes.

On our way back to Nagoya today we took a series of various local trains, since it was the cheapest option and we were in no hurry. During the 4 hour trip back we passed through beautiful countryside and saw mountains covered in forests, as well as tiny farming villages in valleys. The Kansai region of Japan has such rich culture and is just so beautiful. Even the industrial looking Osaka just has a wonderful vibe and a rich, even tragic history. If I were to live in Japan again, it would almost definitely be in Osaka. Not only is it my favorite Japanese city, but it’s just an hour away from the beautiful, historic Kyoto. Kansai is the most varied region of anywhere I’ve been in Japan; you have a modern metropolis next to a historic city, both of which are surrounded by beautiful countryside. That’s why I love not just Osaka, but also Kyoto, and everything else I’ve seen of that region.

Kyoto

If you were to compare the three major cities of Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto), a good way to do so would be in this way: Tokyo is the future (high-tech, hyper-globalized), Osaka is the present (more laid back, a real living-in-the-moment vibe), and Kyoto is the past. You’ve probably heard about Kyoto before; it’s where people go to see the old Japan: shrines, temples, tea houses, geishas, etc. Kyoto has the most world heritage cites out of anywhere in Japan, and probably has more than in the entire United States. You might think that because of this Kyoto is just a tourist-trap, but there’s way more to it than that.

For one thing, Kyoto is not just a city of old buildings. It is a real, functioning city, so of course the vast majority of its buildings are not that impressive. I’ve heard that because of this many people are disappointed when they first come to Kyoto; for some reason they expect it to be this magical place where Japan hasn’t advanced technologically or architecturally since the 1800s. There are tons of beautiful pieces of old architecture, but they’re hidden among lots of really boring architecture. That said, even the standard architecture of Kyoto is more reminiscent of old Japan than the architecture of Tokyo or Osaka. It still has to do with the comparison I made earlier. Tokyo’s futuristic buildings are covered in flashing lights; Osaka’s modern buildings are strictly practical and not at all aesthetically pleasing; Kyoto’s traditional buildings generally have features reminiscent of older architecture.

The feeling of Kyoto being reminiscent of the past extends to the overall vibe as well. You generally expect nightlife districts to be crazier than the rest of the city. So in Tokyo, the nightlife districts are absolutely insane and the rest of the city is crazy; in Osaka the nightlife districts are crazy and the rest of the city is chill; but in Kyoto the nightlife districts are chill and the rest of the city is sleepy. Even though the nightlife area we went to was full of people and had a great vibe, it was in no way like Tokyo or Osaka. There were no people yelling at us in random English sentences to come to their clubs. In fact, we didn’t even see any clubs. People were just hanging out in bars, or were just chilling by the river, which was what we ended up doing.

But anyway, the whole point of going to Kyoto was to see the historical landmarks. And they were incredible. The first one we went to had a sweeping view of a beautiful forest, and held a waterfall that people could drink from and make a wish. The second one housed 1001 gold statues of Buddha, as well as one giant Buddha statue, and 28 statues representing other deities. The last one we went to was the famous golden temple, which was as impressive as you would imagine a solid gold building surrounded by water would be. Everything was awe inspiring. It must have had a far greater effect during feudal Japan.

As for the food in Kyoto, it was much lighter than Osaka or Nagoya cooking. Kyoto cuisine uses a lot of tofu (seriously, I’ve never had tofu prepared in so many different ways), and is also famous for matcha, a thick tea that they put in almost every dessert. Kyoto summers are notoriously hot, so green tea ice cream and shave ice were incredible in Kyoto.

So there you go. I’m going to Hong Kong in a couple days, and will probably post every day, or at least a couple times, while I’m there.