Friday 12th May – So many trains & buses to Kyoto! Finally arrived to our old samurai house. Which, TBH just means it a bit sh*t and old, haha! It was billed as a 3 bed but it aint. So T and I are sleeping in futons on the living room floor (!). It’s cool though and so lovely to be in a house with stairs!
It was due to rain tomorrow so we headed straight out to the ‘silver temple’ Ginkakuji – just gorgeous. Going towards the end of the day means it is less busy. I’ll come onto that! It’s just so lush and green here, I forgot how gorgeous it is.
This is one of my fave pics – having a rest next to a lush temple.
Saturday 13th May
Fushimi inari shrine today – 1,000 red torii gates lining the hills. At first I was a bit underwhelmed. It is SO busy in Japan and Kyoto. Honestly, you can’t move for people. We’ve really noticed that there are so many foreign tourists here – bus loads of French, German, Italian – everyone! It’s not as expensive here in Japan compared to before so I guess lots of people are now able to visit.
However, once you start following the torii then people fall off along the way and there’s a lovely loop right up near the top that very few people do. It was stunning and such a peaceful experience.
What’s interesting about Kyoto is you imagine it to be this beautiful place with wall to wall temples. But the reality is it’s a massive city that’s just like any other big city in Japan and not particularly beautiful! 👇
Market food for lunch – again, boat loads of tourists so you couldn’t move, and overpriced food. So I basically didn’t eat! But here is C eating octopus tentacles on a stick – never thought I’d see this day!
Then we went to a samurai class thing. It was clearly a kids activity! We learnt a bit about samurai – they were the ones that came in after the ninjas who were the ‘peasant’ spies. The samurai were a higher level of society in those days.
We had a go at using ninja ‘stars’!
Fascinating hearing about hari kiri – they had to ban it at one time because if the master died then all of his clan would kill themselves! There was one time when 328 samurai all killed themselves. I can see why they would ban it, noone would be left!
How funny is this pic of us below! The kids look SOOOOO bored!
Sunday 14th May
We went to the Kyomizudera temple. On a Sunday so it was totally rammed. I didn’t love it the first time around anyway. Here’s how it really was, and how you can pretend it wasn’t that busy!
Look at the crowds! 👆
Here’s the funniest pic of us on gap year – the worst, zoom in on those grimaces!
Also I feel like I need to speak about C & my matchy matchy tops! They were in the sale at Crag Hoppers (they are special mossie ones) and i just wasnt thinking! It has haunted me ever since as we all take the mick out of being matchy matchy! The trousers I’ll take though, hard not to go matchy on some lovely trekking trousers! T and I have lost weight so ours are falling down all the time. Must buy a belt!
We found this cool temple with lots of pom poms in it!
And this one with wishes tied to the structure thing.
We then found the ye olde Starbucks which is complete with tatami mats and a zen garden!
Got home for a movie night…Harry Potter as a family! C has started racing through the books, and i have too (i cant keep up). So i thought id try them again. Dont think i ever finished them the first time around (if I’m honest, JK hadn’t finished writing them, yep, am that old!).
Monday 15th May
Golden temple. Beautiful but again so packed with tourists. You’d think it was just us there from the pics, but don’t be fooled!
So we didn’t stick around, we went to a small temple with 1200 buddah statues that was much more our cup of tea. They were all totally different, some upside down, pregnant, meditating, laughing. All sorts. Nestled in lush green trees and moss (!).
We walked down an old street nearby with some lovely temples and cemeteries. This one had 100s of gravestones that they said were originally all over the local bamboo forest from around 700AD. Then a monk brought them all together to this temple.
In the afternoon we went to the monkey park full of them. Yuk, not my bag but the kids enjoyed it, and feeding them (double yuk!).
Then coffee and home school (a wriggle and squirm as usual….creative writing this time), then the bamboo forest which was quite interesting.
Tuesday 16th May
Today we were going to do a walk between temples buuut we decided to mix it up. We’ve done lots of walks like that so far, and the kids yawn when we mention a temple. So we decided to revisit a place we went to 20 years ago (there’s a theme to this trip!), Amanohashidate.
Its a really long sand spit that makes for a great day out.
The only thing is its 2 hours each way on the train! But we figured its a great opportunity to smash through some home school. T smashing it 🤣
We hired some bikes, which we all loved, and pootled across the spit. It is just as lovely as i remember it. Pine trees, sandy beaches (dipped our toes in the Sea of Japan) and that’s about it! It gave the kids a much needed day of being outdoors but not trekking, playing together and enjoying each other’s company. Honestly, I can’t tell you how lovely it was to cycle along with the wind and sun in our faces!
Grabbed some lunch, got a cable car/ chair lift up the hill. They say that if you look between your legs, it looks like steps to heaven. But actually it just looks like people with their bums out! Also, a note on my outfit – my top is actually my PJ top. Don’t tell me I’m not a true travellaaaaaar at this point 😂
The kids really enjoyed playing and being outside and had a lovely time together. Which is not always the case! Like all siblings, when they get on, it’s magical. Of course they argue, but that’s to be expected. I do think this trip will cement their relationship in a way that not many kids have the opportunity to do. Having 6 months together is genuinely really special, and whilst not all a bed of roses, I can recognise how magical it is for us as a family.
One thing we just noticed is that H is getting into the gap year groove. There was a period about a month ago when he was angry and sad and had lots of meltdowns. But that has subsided which is good to see, it was hard watching and supporting him through those big feelings. He’s our homebody so it’s hard for him.
Wednesday 17th May
Oooh today was cool, if a long one. We went to sumo in Tokyo – which is where T and I really first started flirting and chatting together!
Post-covid it’s been really hard to get tickets so we couldn’t get tickets while we were staying in Tokyo so we had to go from Kyoto – to Tokyo sumo – then to Hakone! For context, it’s probably a 5 hour trip all in. Totally worth it though. Last time I think we just got drunk and chatted (!) but this time it was genuinely really cool and everyone cheers for the person they want to win. There are some BIG guys out there but equally some really ‘skinny’ ones that have agility over weight.
Oooh this is a picture of all the judges coming into the ring to discuss the last match which looked like a tie – so they had a rematch.
Then we had to get 3 hours of trains to Hakone and arrived after 9pm. The highlight for the kids was the carriage was completely empty so they got to use it as a gym for the journey!
Team Mossy on the move 