Kurama Fire Festival

The annual Kurama Fire Festival was held in the mountains north of Kyoto. Dating from 940 AD, it was until recently a rite of passage for the villagers of remote Kurama.

The pushing begins once getting off the crowded train

I was greeted by this mask after getting off the train. I now own a smaller version that hangs on my wall in my room

The main shrine, viewed from the main road.The festival begins with this The bonfires, known as kagaribi are lit in front of most of the houses in the village.Villagers parade up and down the main street holding taimatsu (pine torches).The villages wear traditional clothing
Later, massive pine torches are carried along the same street.

Signs 2

I wonder if SAAB back home might want to sue for misuse of logo and branding!

This sign was outside the Izakaya (the local drinking hole) that we usually go to. Still have no idea what SAAB was selling here in Kyoto. Would be interesting if Gripen was for sale, they do need to get a sale for once! Or is it SAAB automobile with Koenigsegg Group looking for some local talent for their new cars? Might have to go and knock on their door and check it out.

Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki

Since I've been stuffing my face with Japanese Curry and Rice, tonkatsu (breaded pork) and every other sort of katsu available I finally got to try something different! The restaurant is called Janba and its a small local restaurant that only does this sort of food. Since it very small and it is very famous we had to stand in line outside for 45 minutes before we could even order! But it was worth the wait :)

Yakisoba is basically fried noodles and okonomiyaki is an omelet type dish with meat or seafood in it. Duncan in his infinite wisdom and use of his amazing Japanese skillz managed to order squid omelet *puke* but after giving it ago it was OK. I DID promise myself to try new things while I'm here so at least I'm keeping that promise.

Another thing that is great is that the food is cooked by the chefs right at your table. And all in all, it was about 500 yen (40 SEK) per person.

All the ingredients raw

The Main Chef dude does his thing!
Lets EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Biggest Typhoon in a decade to come HERE!!!

How awesome is this, my first Typhoon ever and its apparently going to be massive! Actually, its not awesome since it might injure a lot of people and houses but still, having never experienced one and it may be the biggest in 10 years is kind of cool. Its already started to hit, heavy rain and wind outside my window.

Hopefully Uni will be cancelled tomorrow and hopefully I'll still have Internet and power. If you don't hear from me, don't worry. It should be over in 24-36 hours or so. 400 mm of rain and up to 153 km/h winds expected.

Batten down the hatches me mateys! arrrg!

Projected path of storm - Straight through Osaka/Kyoto region

One of the reason I love Japan...

They have these awesome cars, before anyone in the West does. This Evo was parked opposite my dorm and I saw it while biking home in the rain. I just had to get a picture of it. If I only had the money to buy myself one of these... -_-

I want mine in this colour too

Lots of Horsepower requires big brakes!

The kawaii of Japan

Kawaii is everywhere in Japan. Kawaii is cuteness: Hello Kitty things, panda style umbrellas, cute toys for your cellphones etc.

Last week I saw a kawaii frog barrier to stop (drunk?) people wobbling into the road during their night time partying. Reflective eyes FTW!

Night out in Kyoto - The river and Sam&Daves

Kyoto doesn't have the greatest nightlife but its been adequate so far. Public drinking here is acceptable and basically you can get away with anything (except maybe murder) as long as you are drunk. The police will just talk to you quietly and eventually leave you to yourself. We started the night by drinking at the river in mid 20C weather and watching a performance by some Japanese people.

What I have learnt: from personal and other people's experience of this night is that:
1) Don't ever buy Guinness in a can from Lawsons (tastes like water downed coffee)
2) Don't buy Heineken from Lawsons. It's not Heineken, so don't waste your money.
3) They sell Corona with a sachet of lime and lemon in Lawsons for 260 yen a bottle!!! BUY THIS.
4) Beware of drinking a whole bottle of Black Nikka whisky.
5) It can get slippery by the river. That, or Wolverine lives in Kyoto!6) Don't ride home on a bike with faulty brakes when drunk at 3am.

7) Kyoto clubs have funny names: Club Laid, Fetish House, Moonshine bar, Girls Experience etc etc8)If you are going to puke in a Taxi, puke into your handbag (or out the window)
9) Japanese taxi drivers will always take you home, no matter how sick you look.
10) JAPAN IS GREAT!

Best Ramen I've had so far

I'm not going to bother to write a lot about this. It just IS the best ramen ever!!! It is soooooo tasty and cheap (600 yen) and the staff now recognise me haha. I took the "Kitakyushu boys on tour" to this place and they loved it. If you come to Kyoto I'll take you there and you can see how good it is for yourself.

Enjoy...

Birthday party with new friends

It has been a few days since I last wrote something. A party isn't something I'd usually write about, but because there are photos of my new mates I thought I'd upload them anyways.

This really is an International House. From the top of my head I can recall people coming from Australia, USA, Bulgaria, UK, Sweden, Finland, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Spain and France. The Swedes and the Australians are in a majority. With 7 of us from each of these 2 countries. That's a lot of Swedes!!! How that happens, I have no idea. Out of so many Universities in Japan, 7 end up here. Strange, to say the least.

It is not good for my Japanese with so many foreigners living together but it is just so much fun that I wouldn't want to swap accomodation. These guys and gals are the best! I'm planning on joining a sports club here instead to make some friends from the land of the rising sun.

Gathering up on a hill overlooking Kyoto.

Junko - She doesn't live with us but loves partying (and drinking Swedish vodka and talking Swedish)
Half of the house partying
Aussies + French dude

Ootoya - Food!

Restaurant Ootoya!

This will be the first food review of a restaurant in Japan. Until now I have eaten the most delicious food, but considering most of it has been of the fast food or cafeteria type I've decided not to bring those up unless they are exceptionally tasty.

Restaurant 大戸屋, Ootoya , is located near the river Sanjo and the road of kuwaramachidori. It is on google maps if you search for Ootoya, kyoto.

The restaurant is small but the staff are friendly and the food is excellent. Ordering food is a piece of cake because they have a picture based menu, a picture based and English menu and from what I've seen, 2 staff members that speak good English. I have been 2 times and have been surprised at how busy the restaurant was but that must be a good sign I suppose? It is slightly noisy though.

The food is about 700 yen (100 SEK) for a meal, that includes meat and rice and miso soup and if you order soft drinks it is all you can drink. I have had the ton katsu (fried pork) and chicken katsu (fried chicken) and have enjoyed both meals.

Ton Katsu

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Price:4/5

Overall: 4/5

Japanweirdness!

What the hell? lol, haha, wtf. omg and everything in between. Zina and I were in town looking to get a mobile phone (which is a story of epic proportions including 7 softbank stores, 6 hours, several failed attempts at communication and me becoming her guarantor and kind of guardian since she isn't 20 years old yet) and we stopped on the way to buy a drink because it was so hot.

The Drink

What we thought was just a melon flavoured fanta drink turned out to be something completely different. After opening the can and drinking 1/5th of it, all of a sudden no more liquid came out of the can. It felt like something was inside the can blocking the opening. I turned it upside down and very slowly goo dribbled out of the can onto the ground!

After this I had to carefully try and read the instructions on the side of the can. Apparently the can has to be shook before being opened and drunk to break the goo (aka jelly) into smaller pieces. We tried doing this by blocking the whole with our fingers. Not a good idea since I ended up being covered in sticky drink residue and gooey goo. The drink was tasty though, so for next time Ill be shaking it before drinking. I want it shaken, not stirred!

京都！！！ Kyoto!!!

A couple of days after arriving at my dormitory, International House II here in Kyoto I finally managed to wake up early enough to do some exploring of the area near by. My dormitry is a 45 minute from the main shopping district of Kyoto by bike. It is not centrally located but it is not too bad.

I'm loving Kyoto. It is so easy to get around. The city is very flat, and the roads are so smooth. What a difference to the potholed footpaths of the UK and hilly Borås. After going down the (only) hill from my dormitory to the shopping street I rode absentmindedly. All of a sudden I was right next to a small area of Kyoto that is full of old wooden buildings that have the feel as if they were built 50 years ago, but with the modern look of today's architecture. Only later did I find out it was called 嵐山,　Arashiyama. Apparently they have a monkey park(!) and the best time to go sightseeing there is fall when the leaves change colour and spring, for sakura season. There is also lots of small local restaurants, temples and gift shops here. Unfortunately I haven't had time to explore of all of Arashiyama yet, but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities.

I want to go to the monkey park!!!

On the way to Arashiyama I saw a Panda =P













Might go and eat here and post a review later.

Arashiyama























































This is my bike parked on the corner ^_^ . It even has a basket and everything. Perfect for my shopping. Haha. But there are no gears and sometimes the breaks don't work. Oops









Small narrow streets, with lots of people and cars and BIKES of course







A statue of a Tanuki
A creature from Japanese folklore - Translated it means Raccoon Dog. Usually they are seen as mischievous and playful creatures.

This tanuki is drinking alcohol and smoking.





















Temple

京都に行こう！ Lets go to Kyoto

Night time flight from Dubai to Kyoto. 3am departure and 5pm arrival. Flight time is about 9.5 hours. Emirates has stars on the roof of the plane that give some light but otherwise it is mostly dark. Cool feature anyhow.





After getting the passport stamped and the Visa validated and getting through customs, this is what Kansai airport looked like.














The convenience store was the first stop after getting past customs. The MK Taxi (shuttle) to Kyoto and our dorms would take about 2 hours. We need some snacks.

Duncan had saved lots of coins from his previous trips to Japan since he couldn't exchange them. He paid the taxi driver 4500 Yen (£35) in small value coins.

First post

So I'm finally in Kyoto, Japan where I will be living for the next 10-11 months. It will be exciting, interesting and difficult and I'm hoping that after this time I'll be much better at speaking Japanese. I will be commenting on daily life here for all my overseas friends and family, make comments on things that happen to me, that I have witnessed or heard from others.

This blog make get a new URL if I can think of anything else. Suggestions are welcomed, so please do leave a comment regarding that if that is the case.

The blog will be personalised as soon as I get the hang of this webpage formating and I'll include pictures where possible.

Also, I've made a promise to myself: to stop being so picky about what I eat. So yes, I'll be blogging about food that I have found tasty and different and also on restaurant experiences in Kyoto. Eventually I'll have a small list of restaurants that I'll recommend with a 5 * rating system. Being an average student with NO money, price may be a factor that can increase or decrease the rating the restaurant gets.