2010年10月21日木曜日

With a photographer

Fushimi Inari shrine, ( Torii tunnel )
This time I was on the tour with a photographer. It was very interesting because I am interested in taking pictures. Though I am just a beginner, it was very happy to see someone who are professhional taking pictures. In each places we spent a comparatively long time getting a good shot. But it was still fun to me.

Fushimi Inari shrine,
Since I usually take tourists from a place to another, I don't pay any attention to taking photos. I just do it for this blog. Though I took a compact digital camera, I fully enjoyed taking pictures with him.

Bamboo forest in Arashiyama



This time, I didn't take a photo of the tourist, because he promised me to send me the one taken with his nice camera. When I get it, I will add it to this blog.

Fushimi Inari Shrine Torii tunnel
< Bamboo forest

Tenryuji temple
Tenryuji temple
Tenryuji temple
Rakushisha
Gioji temple

Date : October 13th
Tour ; Fushimi Inari shrine, Tenryuji temple, Bamboo forest, Gioji temple, Rakushisha, Ninnaji temple
Tourist : a man from USA

2010年10月6日水曜日

parfait and conveyer-belt sushi

Touching the food culture of the other countries is a part of fun.
I think the highlight of this tour was conveyer-belt sushi. This time I took a man from America to Kiyomizu temple. Unfortunately that day was the day for school outing. We met elementary school kids everywhere we went.
After walking from Kiyomizu temple to Yasaka shrine, we walked around Gion. Have you ever seen the movie "Memoirs of Geisha"? The story was the one of Gion. I explained the system of so-called Ochaya, Maiko and Geisha in front of the real Ochaya pointing at the wooden name plate of Geisha and Maiko.


Then we went to Kazurasei which sells hair ornament for not only ordinary women but Maiko and Geisha. He chose one as a souvenir for his wife. It was a black one with a white flower. It was very beautiful and probably she will look good with it on and I hope so.


Close to the shop, he found Japanese sweets shop. He got interested in the parfait served there.
He decided to have pre-lunch. He had chesnuts parfait, and I had maccha parfait.
We really enjoyed them and headed for Nishiki food market.
Then we had .... soy-milk doughnuts. Yummmy! He said we didn't necessarily have lunch around noon, and we put it off later.





He got another souvenir for his wife, which is a Japanese fan. The shop at Nishiki market sells hand-painted fans. He chose a fan painted Japanese maple leaves. The red leaves were vivid on the black cloth of the fan.




After visiting Nijo castle, we went to where he wanted to go. That is a conveyer-belt sushi restaurant. He had never seen one during his stay in Japan before we met. That was his first experience. I told him how the system worked. He seemed to really enjoyed it.

That was the cheapest sushi he had ever had, and he said he didn't tell the difference between the ones he had before and the ones we had at that time.

After visiting Golden Pavillion, where we met a lot of kids, we finised the tour.

Date : Oct. 5th
Tour ; Kiyomizu temple, Sanneizaka Ninenzaka, Yasaka shrine, Gion ( Hanami koji), Kazurasei ( hair ornament shop), Koishi, ( Sweets shop ), Nishiki food market, Nijo castle, Conveyer-belt sushi restaurant, Kinkakuji temple ( Golden Pavillion)

Tourist ; a man from America

A shrine was busy carrying out wedding rites

Japanese people usually set the day for the ceremonies or rites according to the recurring sequence of six days in the Chinese calender known as "Rokuyo." For example, there are certain days the funeals or wedding ceremonies should not be held. On the other hand, there are days good for wedding ceremonies. "Taian day" is the lucky day. and we avoid having events on "Butsumetu day" which is accosiated with Buddha's death.
October 2nd was Saturday and "Tomobiki day", good day for wedding.

When we were in Heian shrine, we saw 2 couples having a wedding ceremony. The bride was in the traditinal bride costume. She wore a white cloth headdress and a white coat.
I was a guide of honeymooners, we talked about the wedding ceremony and the way of wedding party for a while.
More and more Japanese young couples tend to have a wedding ceremony in the western style. When I saw the brides in Heian shrine, I realized how nice the tradition was and how beautiful the traditional costume was, not to mention the bride.

That was the last day in Kyoto for them. I took them the most of the places they wanted to visit in their list.
We went to Bamboo forest, Kenninji temple, Ginkakuji temple phylosophy path and Nanzenji temple along with Heian shrine.
Kenninji temple is not so popular among foreign tourists. However, this is the oldest zen temple. We can sit down on the tatami mats and see the moss covered garden. In addition, we can walk a part of the garden and take a look inside of the typical tea room. The painting on the ceiling of the hall was fantastic and impressive. I think it worth seeing.



I hope the tour with me will be one of the nice memories of their honeymoon trip.







Date : Oct. 2nd
Tourists : a couple from Italy

Tour : Bamboo forest, Kenninji temple, Ginakuji temple
Phylosophy path, Heian shrine, Nanzenji temple