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yoru_no_hikariHi, minna-san!!!!! >^_^<
Today was not really very eventful in special things that happened. That's okay, though. If every day were as exhausting as yesterday, I think I'd give up after jsut a few days. ^^" Mah, but it was really a very beautiful day today too. :D
I got up quite a bit later than yesterday. Well, I hadn't planned a tour outside of town and I had actually planned to take it slow and just visit a temple, or two. And then, here's what actually happened. ^^
Of the huge variety I could and wanted to see I picked Daigoji as my first option. LOL! OF COURSE I'd visit the "Daigo" temple. XDDDD I love him so much, after all. ^_~ No really, I had picked this spot quite some time before I discovered Breakerz. I saw some really nice pics on the net and decided I wanted to see this place. What was more, it was merely a few metro stations away, which was perfect in concerns of time to get to the site. So I put on my four layers of today (the perfect number of layers for this day, btw ^^ ) and set out. I wasn't sure about the second sight I wanted to see, but I decided to think about that when I had covered Daigoji.
Sure enough, it took me a mere 30 minutes altogether to be there, which is like nothing around here. I'm pretty glad I went for the bus ride to the temple rather than walking for two reasons. First, Daigoji is a mountain temple, so it would have been quite an exhausting walk. Second, the 15 minutes the guide said it would take were completely impossible.. It would have taken me more than 30 more minutes to actually get there, I'm sure.
At any rate, once I was there I had to realise that Daigoji is not just your usual single temple, but it's actually something like a National Park. There are three main areas, which each have a fee and special attraction and if you're up for it, you can even move up to the mountain top to find the spring of a small river that flows down through the entire area. You could spend an entire day in this place. Well, I DID spend some time there. Something like 4 hours altogether, I think. And I didn't even see everything. ^^"
First I went to see a special construction of temple buildings that were open for the public with a fixed walking path. It was really nice to see what such a temple complex looks like. Many small buildings that look like huts, all connected with corridors and steps. Some are lower, some a bit higher. Everything is made of wood, some bronze on top of the steps and the inside entirely covered in tatami. Tatami is the cue here, means: get your shoes off before you get in. It wasn't a problem, though. The sun was out and the dark wood was pleasantly warm as I walked through the small park with a little pond up to the main building and back again. The sliding doors of every room were painted beautifully in various themes. I liked the image of Fujisan in different day shades best. Those were very colourful and strong. Sadly it was forbidden to take photographs and I'm a good tourist, who buys pamphlets. ^^ So, no pics of that, for now, since I didn't bring a scanner. XD
Entrance to the walk through the temple with park
Next I went for the big park with the Pagoda, the pond and the bridge. That was really beautiful. I found once again that the place was not overly crowded with tourists and it's a very different kind of experience if you can enjoy the calm feeling of a temple like this. I spent a lot of time there, because there were many things to discover. Many plains on different levels had small huts built on them, some small temple buildings, some shops, some that I don't really know what they are because you could only walk by them but not get in. The basic tour ends at the pond and the bridge. It's a lovely site, really. You can explore the local area a bit more and then move on to the mountain top, but I still had that ticket for the museum and it was already running pretty late.
Temple building somewhere around the entrance
Five story Pagode
Wooden area along the way with temple building in the middle
Full wooden building
View to the area around the bridge
Temple with pond
View from the bridge to a small Pavillon
Beautiful water scenery
View to the bridge
Pond with sun
Quite late, actually, because once I came back to the main spot I was already 5 minutes late for admission to the museum. Luckily I got a late admittance and could still see the area, the building and the museum too. :D The park wasn't that much of an attraction. The building was pretty cool, though, with decorative covers throughout the entire walls. The inside of the museum was really - what you get to see in museums. Old paintings, paper walls, cloth, some statues. Not that it's not very nice. It's just that when you're not connected to the culture one of them looks to you like the next. What really impressed me was the big hall itself. as I got in, I was like "WOOAAHHHHH!!!!! Now, this would make a fancy ballroom." ^^ It was really a huge hall with high walls and neat lighting. It would be perfect for having dancing events. :D
Museum building
After I had visited the museum too and gotten back out onto the street, it was already past 4 pm. Most temples close around this hour in winter and I was really totally spent too, so I decided to get back to my hotel. After the bus ride back to the metro station, I saw that the station was right next to a huge shopping mall. It was still quite early, so I went to explore it. It's my first time seeing something like this in a building rather than the shops that connect the underground network. I checked out a book store and a cd store. And there I forgot again that aggravatingly my jacket still has one of those things that make the security thingies go "beep". It's quite annoying really. Especially because naturally it didn't do anything as I got in, so I could explain right away. No, I got to get in alright, but once I wanted to leave, I "rang". It's quite embarrassing, when that keeps happening, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I refuse to cut up my jacket to get rid of the thing.
Anyway, once I had checked through what I wanted, I went back to my hotel. It was still really early and I felt like doing something else, so I asked at the counter for a good record store. They suggested a store to me which I had already visited, but which had neither Breakerz, nor ABC in stock, so I asked if there was something else. And yays, I got directions for a Tower Records store. After having a small snack I made my way there. Again, as I got in, no "beep". (I already dreaded having to get back out, especially since I intended to buy something... >_<) First I had to find my way through the mass of rows. B.A. will remember that finding what you are looking for isn't exactly easy when you're not familiar with the system. Like, "Breakerz" is located in the J-Pop section. Same as Exile. Well, that's debatable. I was so proud after I had found "Fighterz" all by myself. :D I couldn't find ABC, though, which was quite frustrating. I had even thought to not go for "A" as in "Acid Black Cherry", but check the section with "E", because that's how they would say it "E-shi-do bu-ra-ku che-rii". Still, no luck. I decided to leave it for the moment and check the "Ja-ni-su ko-a-na" (Johnny's corner) that every good record store has. I was hoping maybe I'd find a SHOCK DVD of 05, but sadly no such thing was there. They had a lot of LE stuff, though, that was really tempting, but I decided that I didn't really need any of it.
Luckily, right next to it, there was the "J-Rock" section. And there I finally found ABC!!!!! *__* (Okay, remember: Breakerz = J-Pop section, ABC = J-Rock section. I don't get it, but I'll just accept it. ^^ ) And I was even more lucky because they had the special LE of their latest tour. I grabbed that one immediately and then debated with myself whether I should add something I totally didn't know, but looked very nice, or a tour DVD of Jeanne da arc to the set, because I downright love Yasu to the point where it's ridiculous. ^^ It got to be Jeanne da arc in the end and I'm very curious about it already. Can't wait to check it out first opportunity I get. :D
So, I moved on to pay for my chosen items and then it was time... I had to get back out. I made sure to find an exit that had employees close by so I wouldn't get run after - just in case. I took my jacket and moved it past the security check and luckily nothing happened. I was very relieved and left as quickly as I could.
Once I was back in my hotel area, I wanted to get something to eat. I had actually eyed that Okonomiyaki store earlier that day, but that was so totally over-run at that time. So I went one street further and had some "Omu-raisu", rice wrapped up in an omlett, with various toppings and sauce. That was really delicious too. Okonomiyaki for tomorrow, then. ^^
Basically, that's really it. I didn't get to see many different places today, but I sure got to see a lot. ^^ Tomorrow I'll check out the Eastern area and see what I'll find there. ^^
Oh, I did try something new today - the "shower" function of my toilet. XDDDD I have to say, this is actually a very nice invention. I'll miss that once I'm back home again. They should buy this for our country, really. I find it very useful. ^^
Okay, so that's my report of today. And three days until SHOCK. I'm already so excited for that. ^^
For today I'll go to bed. Good night, everybody! Chuu~!!!! <3
