Showa Day - Showa no hi (昭和の日）

Showa Day is part of Golden Week which is a series of holidays in Japan. They are secretly celebrating the birthdays of old emperors but the names of the days changed...that's it. In case you did not know the Japanese DO NOT take vacations. Their work ethic is very extreme. Foreigner workers in Japanese companies have to follow the same ethic if they expect to fit in. So Golden Week also is an excuse to force Japanese people to take a vacation. In turn is one of the most crowded and expensive times to travel in Japan.

At Kansai Gaidai, we had only a Weds. off that week and the next day was school. Pointless I thought but anyways after a late start on that day my friends and I went to Kyoto for more sightseeing. I wanted to go to Uji (famous for the setting of Tale of Genji and green tea) but we ended up at Nijou which is a traditional, Japanese castle. We couldn't take pictures in the castle because it would damage the screen doors and windows. Inside was really nice. We went at a nice time because it was late in the day and the sun was going to set so light was peering into the halls. There were many, many rooms in the castle. Some rooms had mannequins dressed in period clothing which was actually kind of creepy and some rooms had audio explanations only in Japanese. I was honestly a bit bored because every room felt the same to me but it was a nice experience to go to there. I was also hungry so my mood wasn't that good either.

This was the ticket. The outside infrastructure was beautiful and well-constructed I thought.

Bad Japanese friend who is disrespecting his heritage by climbing the walls of this castle. j/k

After walking through the interior of the castle. we were able to explore the extensive gardens. At one point we could climb to this outpost thing out looking the whole area of the castle. The view was beautiful because you can see the mountains in the background as well as the grounds. Nice tourist pictures.

It was a hot day when I went but there was a river next to the outpost. So you could fall asleep putting your head on the metal bars and feel the nice breeze from the air and coolness of the river.

Another bad friend writing her last name in the metal bar.

The next place I went to totally made my day. My friend read about this place in a tour book. At the time the place was going to close soon so we basically had to run to get there. It was another Buddhist temple. Sanjuusangen-do. We first explored the outside which was very typical of all the historical architecture I have seen in Japanese so far. What was inside was something I never expected. Again I could not take pictures in order to preserve the artifacts.

This is the first time that I bought a book for the inside of a place I could not take pictures in. This reminded me of the time I went to the Valley of the Kings. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the tombs but I remember what it felt like to be inside. I still remember the beauty of the imagery and colors but in this place I wanted to remember it all. Again we went at a great time because the sun was setting so the light shown beautifully through the screens. It was a Buddhist temple so we stepped into a hall. There was incense in the air and a sense of serenity. We faced what felt like an endless row of golden exquisitely carved statues. Before the states were 38 unique guardian statues and the center was a large statue of Buddha. The hall was long but I really wish I could absorb the atmosphere. I felt some sort of clean feeling and excitement in there. Below are some pictures from the book. They really don't do justice of what it felt like to be in the hall.

All the statues had some origin in India. They were all amazingly constructed. I was impressed by the detail and scary feeling they produced. They would all make kick-ass video game boss designs. Shin Megami Tensei III:Nocturneみたいに。

The row upon row of golden statues really created this serene and endless effect. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling.

So we only had time to visit two places because we all woke up late. We ended the day in a Japanese style restaurant and played Apples to Apples.

At the end of the day, I was tired and my legs hurt. I did zero homework for classes the next day.