Otani Sobyo Temple
I woke up late, as I ended up being out late (noticing a trend?) and was prepared to visit Nijo-jo Castle grounds. My friend asked me if I could meet him near Gion and I said sure. So then he said, “wait meet me at the castle” and I was like… “dude I’m already in Gion wtf man”. So I made the best of it at this place called Otani Sobyo. So I was there by myself, and to be honest, I’m glad I was. It was a mausoleum to the founder of Shin Buddhism, Shinran and there was a service being performed. I believe because it is a holiday weekend this weekend that they held the memorial service unless there’s some significance to the day that I’m missing. But the temple was beautiful. I spent a decent amount of time there just taking it all in. I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t want to be disrespectful.
The lock screen on my phone has said, “大丈夫” for the past 6 months in an effort to connect more honestly, stop being so concerned when things go wrong, and forgive myself and others for whatever transgressions may happen. After reading the info on Shinran and seeing and hearing some of the memorial ceremony, I walked back down the stairs and came upon a flower arrangement that made me tear up a little.
I found myself just enjoying life and worrying less for the rest of the day. Then I met up with my friend who cursed me with carrying around a huge bottle of whiskey for him and a 2 liter of coca-cola. I just don’t understand some people. I don’t think there’s a reason to buy a bunch of liquor somewhere else instead of the bar unless it’s just to save money, but then you aren’t really patronizing the bar and it’s kind of like robbing them. I think I’ve bought more drinks in bars than conbini and I’d prefer it that way.
Nijo-jo Castle
Nijo-jo was great! I didn’t pay the extra 500 yen to go inside because I wanted to fully appreciate the aesthetic from the outside. It was a beautiful palace with beautiful grounds. I think the pictures will do it a bit more justice than I can. There were some parts of it that weren’t that exciting but I am sure it looks so much nicer in the spring when all the trees bloom.
To be honest, I think this was one of my favorite places in Kyoto to spend time at because of how peaceful it is and the views you can find.
Exorcise Curses
So then this guy I’ve been hanging out with is heading off to Osaka. We get some takoyaki (fried balls with octopus chunks) and head out. He’s over packed, wearing a kimono, strapped to the gills with stuff and ready to leave. He and I were talking and hanging out a few times before this but I think it’s easy for people to get too comfortable sometimes. There were many things he said while we were hanging out that really struck me the wrong way, especially regarding other couples. It really bothered me because I told him to stop several times. Oh well! He’s off to Osaka.
Some people are just… Anyway, so he finally left and I still had to carry shit for him (he’s been doing this to me the entire time up to this point and it’s actually fucked up, but I’m only saying something about it now. I carried like an extra 10lbs of his shit all the way up Fushimi-Inari.) But for better or worse, he was company for a while. I think there are people who don’t consider others, and he’s definitely one of them. I’d never even dream of burdening someone else with my shit like that though.
He did many things I disagreed with, and I told him many times that he’s doing things that give foreigners a bad name. Like, he just took a bottle, walked into a random tiny restaurant and put it in their garbage then took off. The look on the dude’s face was one of utter shock, and then we’re walking and the woman runs after me and says “NO, You can’t do that, you can’t do that” and I’m like “I’m sorry, it’s not mine, it’s his.” But take the bottle. I fucking cringed to death when he did it too.
Round 2 at Round 1
Went back to the arcade to play that rhythm game. What a good time. Then I met up with someone from discord to play Darts at Round 1. It was super cool. We also got scammed on Gachas lol.
Back to the 8-Bit Bar
I went back to the Cafe la Siesta and hung out there for a while. I was talking to the bartender and he’s pretty cool. He and I chatted for a long while about American Cuisine and I told him he’s gotta try Jambalaya because he said he liked Gumbo. So after chatting for a while, at midnight a German couple showed up and the guy started talking to me a bit. He told me that he just finished up the trailer for the new Black Ops 6 game and that the trailer would come out next week (but if I wanted to watch it, I could). I was like oh hell yeah and so let me just say, the trailer is dope af. It’s like, this stop-motion film but it’s not really stop-motion. It’s a lot of camera tricks and creative zooming. The music is awesome too. You’ll love it.
So after that we chatted video game music and stuff like that, I gave him some good Satoshi Kon recommendations, and then they left. His wife was talking to someone nearby the whole time and I didn’t notice until the very end. So afterwards the lady his wife was talking to comes over to the bar and we started talking in English/Japanese. We talked for like, 2 hours and then it was ~3am. So they were closing up (we kinda punished them by staying so late). Then she was like “I know other bar, you want go?” I was like, sure!
PRO TIP: The trick to a fun vacation is say yes to everything.
So we get to this other bar and it’s like this absolute hole in the wall. You would never know there’s a bar there. It’s kind of an invite only thing so she introduces me to the bartender and he says, “O.K.” and we both get handed a beer. It was pretty awesome. There was a live DJ mixing some cool Jazz Reggaeton fusion stuff and like, it seemed like a total stoner bar for sure. Those were the vibes at least. So we’re chatting and she’s asking me about my life and whatnot. I explained a bunch as best I could in Japanese, but it’s always tough when you don’t know the words. She said, “It’s not about the language, it’s the feeling. As long as we both have the feeling.” We danced a bit to the live DJ’s set and she had 2 drinks with me and then kinda passed out at the bar. I woke her up at 5 a.m. and went to settle up and the bartender said she bought my first beer. I didn’t realize! I think she was hot on me but I can’t just like, be running around doing that. She was older than me by like probably 10 years. She was wonderful though and I really hope she enjoyed it too.
The Long Walk Home
I’m just gonna say straight up, because I’m sure you’ve noticed, I am kind of a night owl and really enjoy chatting with locals. It’s really interesting and fun for me to use my Japanese and connect with strangers who otherwise would be not interested in chatting with me. Don’t think I’m some kind of savant though. Both myself and them struggle through the language barrier, but you know what? It’s really nice and I appreciate it that they’re willing to put in the effort too. If the price I have to pay for this experience is a 30 minute walk back to my hostel and waking up a bunch of people and feeling bad about it, so be it. I’m sorry but it’s also like… I left enough earplugs on the bed for everyone so we’re even. 😉
