A Japanese Summer: Chapter Six (i)

Continuing from where we left off one month ago. (-_-);; It's finally a day out in Kyoto! Though we started the day venturing to the outskirt of town, to the famous temple of foxes aka kitsune. Anime and Japan fans would probably be very familiar with that word.

If you're an anime fan, you'll probably remember how Sakuragi name-called Rukawa as "Baka kitsune" or if you're a fan of Japanese food, you'll probably came across "Kitsune Udon" in the menu. And, NO! There's no fox meat in that soup of noodle. It seems like one of the main ingredient, the aburaage is a favourite among foxes, and thus the name. ^^;;

I kid you not, google it yourself if you don't believe me.

TAA-DAA!

From deers to foxes.
*grins*

This is a Shinto shrine. And a Shinto shrine does not have a monument or statue like a Buddhist temple. So what you see is a big open space and lots of bells in front. You have to ring the bell and the deities will know of your presence. Then, do that two claps praying motion you'll always see in Japanese drama and ask for your blessings then. Oh, and you should probably throw in a nickle or dime before you do that too. *grins*

So the correct ritual should be in the following sequence:
1. Put your monetary offering in the box (usually in front of the bells)
2. Ring the bell
3. Bow twice with hands together
4. Clap twice and ask for your blessing
5. Bow once more to complete the ritual

Amazingness 100%

Click play for total awesomeness.

There are about hundreds or thousands of Tori along the path that leads you up to the shrine. Here we experienced a Robert Frost moment. Hahahaha.... two roads diverge and we chose the one less taken. *grins* Simply because we want to capture the moment know it's slight eerie walking up with just the two of us but we did meet a traveller or two on the way up. *phew*

HAHAHA.... total cuteness 100%

The usual Ema (wooden blocks which you write your wishes on) is shaped as a fox here. So cute! And you have the liberty to dress up your foxy face.

And we got ourselves three. One each to bring back home as a momento while we share another one, to be placed at the shrine. Hahaha...

The many souvenirs featuring little structures of Tori gates and shrines and porcelein foxes, etc.

But these family of kitsune is the cutest. ^_^

Tempting real-looking fake food. We were on our way back to Kyoto then. It was almost lunch time and boy, were we eager to eat.

But our patience paid off as we arrived back at Kyoto Station and chose to had lunch here instead. Away from the serious humidity outside. All hail Air-conditioned sushi bar!

All Hail Affordable Sushi!

It's surprisingly not too expensive, especially since everything is priced the same.

EVERYTHING!

And Everything is BIG in comparison to the tiny sushi we have here.

The man behind the bar. Hahaha... silly silly pun. *bricked*

HAHAHA... another silly moment. The man beside Cubbie must have thought we're silly silly foreigners. Beside me on the other hand was an elderly lady which was very friendly and helpful. She thought us two silly silly girls how to pour hot water into our tea cups. HAHAHA... and she asked us some things which we attempted to answer with limited Japanese and lots of smiles. *smile smile smile*

When she left, Cubbie pointed out how rare it is to see an elderly lady like her eating all by herself. Well, that's Japan for you. They live till they are very old yet they are still strong and healthy. They like going about alone. Thus, you get old healthy people eating out alone. *sigh* That's definitely not something us Malaysians are very customised to, neh?

After lunch, part 2 of Chapter Six coming up!

Before that I'll leave you with this....

More Delicious Fake Food! (-__-);;


HAHAHAHA....