Memiors of a Gaijin, cont.

I promised that I would explain the photo of me dressed up as a geisha. I've been putting it off because I kind of doubt whether anyone besides my parents is interested.

It was probably one of the most awesome Saturdays of my life. My good friend Saki offered to show me around Kyoto in order to make the most of my ever-diminishing time left in the Land of the Rising Sun. Kyoto is about 2 and a half hours away by bus, so we left on a Friday evening and stayed in a hotel. We got up early the next morning and headed out towards Gion, an old district of the city and perhaps the only place in Japan where real geisha and maiko (a geisha-in-training) can still be seen.

We had made reservations at a shop where you can pay to dress up like a maiko, with the fancy kimono, makeup and hair. About eight other women and one man were doing it as well. It was quite a process. Saki described it as kind of "a maiko factory" because the employees' efficient system of transforming customers into maiko was much like an assembly line. Makeup. Next. Wig. Next. Kimono. Next. At the end we had professional pictures taken. For a higher price you could take a walk outside in your costume, but Saki and I chose not to. I think that was a good idea, as our kimonos were a little old and, well, I just looked...extremely unusual. Maybe a little scary. Saki was barely recognizable.

It was a super fun experience. I will never get tired of playing dress-ups. Never. Getting all that white makeup off wasn't easy though.
Saki and I did a lot of things that day, and I'm sure you probably don't want to hear every detail. But I'll tell you about Kiyomizu-dera because I've got some awesome pictures I want to show off, like this one of high schoolers on a field trip lining up for a picture. Little did they know of their impending doom.

Kiyomizu-dera, being one of Kyoto's biggest attractions, was very crowded! There was at least one high school field trip going on at the time. Kiyomizu-dera is a huge old temple constructed of wood on the side of a hill. Thus it commands a wonderful view of the city, and must be truly packed when the cherry blossoms or fall foilage is in full bloom. You can see in the picture below that the very large building has a roof made of thatched grasses.

Interestingly, behind the Buddhist temple lies a Shinto shrine. This shrine seemed to be particularly dedicated to the spirit of love and relationships, with amulets and fortunes to buy for luck in love, marriage, and conception. There were two special boulders set a couple yards away from each other. I saw a group of high school girls giggling as they lead their blindfolded friend through the crowds from one rock to the other. Apparently this is a ritual believed to bring luck in love or something. The whole area was packed with women of all ages, which just goes to show that girls are the same all over the world.

On our way home, we picked up some freshly-baked soymilk donuts, which were hot and fluffy and light and delicious. I wish we had them in the US.

Saki and I returned home that evening, and I was very tired but very happy too.

Thank you Saki!

Makes a good wallpaper: