I promised a Kyoto and Osaka photo dump and so here it is. Yesterday I posted a kind of poem about and some photos from Nagoya festival. Today it’ll be a more casual explainer.
Kyoto didn’t go according to plan, our first two days, nothing went right and we were exhausted from the festival anyway. After that it started going well. We managed to see two different sets of friends, a couple that just moved there and another traveling.
We didn’t plan on doing so much sightseeing but in the end we went to Kiyomizudera as well as two different shrines and a river in the mountains, as well as the popular shopping area and drinking street.
We saw an experimental film music mashup with a Butoh dancer pictured below along with a digereedoo and drum performance. We went to a cafe in Osaka and accidentally
I checked out 4 or 5 shops on my list to see if we might be able to collaborate in the future. None went as well as I’d hoped but the last day I found two places that were probably even better than what I imagined.
We didn’t make any new friends until the second last day when I went from Kyoto to Osaka. As to be expected, I make friends EVERY time I go to Osaka, my personality and mode of socializing just fits right in there.
Above is a cafe I went to 15 years ago and fell in love with, I was worried it might be gone but it’s still going strong. The community seems a bit smaller than before and there are more tourists but they still seem dedicated to doing things their way which I respect.
Below is the Budoh dancer I mentioned.
the river in Kyoto and some typical temple architecture
Above is a bar I wanted to go the first day but they were closed. They were closed the next day and the next day too. Finally the fourth time (you think I would have given up) they were open and we enjoyed the otherworldly design.
Below is a cute pair of Buddha who stood out looking much different from all the other stone buddhas whose faces had melted off. These ones were newer.
The entrance to Kiyomizudera above. And below is a dessert cafe we stopped at in the popular busy part of town. It was the only cafe that looked interesting to me and it wasn’t as interesting as it looked.
Above is the inside of the cafe I had been 15 years ago, looking exactly the same.
Below is more of that crazy bar I tried so many times to go to.
Above: I love that Kyoto has a lake going right through the central part and it looks clean and has some parts that are relatively quiet and peaceful and you can cross it on a stone bridge and sit and put your feet in.
Below: the other Buddha’s without faces
Above: it’s crazy to me that this is the drinking street. The water runs right through it. I can’t stand the bars here which blast uninspired music and cater to the loudest tourists but at least there’s a lake!
Below: a cafe we found that had pretty interesting books and a really nice boss. The only strangers we really talked to in Kyoto (the rest were in Osaka)
Above: The path behind Kiyomizudera. No one figured out this was here and so we walked back towards the bus stop on a very quiet path with few people. Perfect.
I have more pictures to share if anyone is interested. Maybe tomorrow or the next day!
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