Japan: Days 7 & 8

Since I refuse to pay for the internet from a hotel, we haven't had access for about a week. No big deal 'cause we've been busy enjoying our vacation but I'm mentioning it more as an editor's note. If I get motivated, days 9 & 10 should be up before we fly back home 24 hours from now.

Another few days gone and we’ve gotten into the city-hoping portion of our trip. Our time was spent on a day trip to Himeji to see the castle there and a night in a Buddhist temple after an afternoon in Koyasan. The weather has turned downright chilly with snow falling a good portion of the last two days. News of note…

• Making a day of visiting Himeji is worthwhile if you can spare the time. I’m not sure it’s as iconic as say, Edinburgh Castle, but it’s worth a visit. It sits atop a hill, enjoying a fairly imposing position over the city in which there really isn’t much else to see (after you’ve done Kyoto). A trip to the top of the main tower is a climb, literally, into the minds of those who built it centuries ago.
• French fries at McDonald’s in Japan taste exactly the same as they do in the United States. I’m not really sure how they do it, but they were somewhat comforting after a week of eating foods I’m not used to. The staff there spoke perfect English, so I’m sure they get a lot of Americans looking for a taste of home. I’m also convinced that teriyaki and hamburgers were meant to be together. They make a good match on Red Robin’s Banzai Burger and they’re work just as well on McDonald’s Teriyaki McBurger.
• I don’t think the Japanese are susceptible to the cold. It snowed most of the last two days we stayed in Kyoto and it didn’t appear the Japanese changed their wardrobe much. The women were still wearing stiletto heels, leather boots and short skirts and not many men or women were wearing hats. I guess I can’t fault them for showing commitment to their cause.
• There’s definitely an off-season to the ryokan business in Koyasan. We were the only people, gaijin or otherwise, stupid enough to brave the cold at our particular temple. The town was seemingly dead and probably with good reason, since the temperature dropped below freezing at night. Did I mention that the temple was basically non-insinuated wood cottages with no central heating system? A space heater made it cozy but I couldn’t help but appreciate the “winter camping” feel of it.
• I’m a carnivore through and through but it’s amazing what the Buddhist monks can do without meat. Our traditional meal at the temple was as delicious as it was varied and there was actually enough of it to satiate my large American appetite. I wish I could tell you what the most delicious parts were but I really have no idea what half I ate was.
• Okunoin is probably amazing any time of year but it was downright surreal with a foot of snow. They do a good job of maintaining the paths but a lot of the grave markers had piles of snow on them. We hiked through the cemetery to a temple containing 11,000 lanterns, the longest burning of which are said to have been doing so since the 11th century. You couldn’t take pictures in the “inner circle” that contained the temple, so you’ll just have to go see it for yourself. Seriously, go see it for yourself.
• Part of the experience of staying at a Buddhist temple was witnessing the morning prayer. Imagine waking up at 6 am, hot rocks still warming the foot of your futon, to walk to the ceremony hall. When you approach the hall, you hear chanting resonating through the walls of a building that has no windows. You slide open the door to see Buddhist monks kneeling, reading mantras from their prayer books. You sit behind them, at your personal bench with space heater, and listen to them as the prayers literally spill from their mouths in the form of water vapor. No words or pictures would ever do it justice.