First of 2014

1.1.2014

First Sunrise - Enoshima Beach

Procrastination led me to post this until today. At first, I thought that I would just post it away as soon as I got back from the beach, but...then I looked at my phone and it said that today is January 5 already (pardon ?). It feels like it was just yesterday when I woke up early to catch the sunrise at Enoshima beach. 

2013 had been a really great year for me. I got a scholarship to stay and study in Japan, made new friends with people around the globe, and at almost the end of the year I got an enlightenment about what I am going to do after I finish my undergraduate degree. 

Nothing make me alive except dreams and hopes. Dream brought me here, meeting new best friends with different cultural backgrounds. Although sometimes different point of view leads us into small clashes and arguments, but later we just realize that how we see things are just different and try to accept each other's opinion. And we back to burst of laughs again. 

Oh and how about my good old pals ? We remain the same although we are separated by distance. Nothing changes or I do hope so. We pray for each other success and laugh out loud every time we recall our silliness in the past. Because good friends will always be good friends, no matter how and when we met. We stay for each other, and will always be.

Hatsumoude (First visit) - Enoshima Shrine

I just realized that there was no fireworks here and there all around Japan during new year celebrations. The people here tend to celebrate new year in a calm way such as spending the off time with family eating new year's dish and playing new year's games. And the thing that is never missed during new year is going to the shrine. Luckily, I did all of those things with my friends. What a blessed new year !

After we enjoyed sunrise, we headed to Enoshima shrine that is not so far from the beach. We did hatsumoude or the first visit to the shrine during new year. Hatsumoude is a part of Japanese customs on celebrating new year. They will go to a shrine, sending their new year hopes to God. It was extremely crowded all along the way from the gate of the shrine until the inner part. The thing that I amazed the most about Japanese is that everybody was queuing in peace and always giving a space for each other to stand comfortably.

Wash our hands and rinse our mouth before entering the shrine

While queuing to pray at the altar of the shrine

These are Omikuji or fortune papers. People usually draw omikuji when they come to a shinto shrine and so did my friends. The price of omikuji for each shrine is different. Here in Enoshima shrine it costed 200 Yen each.

Once we unroll the folded omikuji, we will find a divination about our near future written on it. It usually emphasizes on general advice on things like health, travel and business. Fortunes written on it are divided into different levels of luck and misfortune. 

And fortunately, my friends got good lucks written on their first omikuji in 2014 ! yeah. See how happy they are :>

And for the ones who doesn't satisfy with their omikuji result, they will usually tie and leave it at the shrine

Well, that's all about my first day in 2014. 

I wish this year will be the year of endless dreams and efforts. May the goodness of last year continue and the shortcomings diminish.

xx,

Shabrina

Kyoto Day 1

Finally here comes the post of my Kansai Trip.
So, as the starter, here for you Kyoto Day 1 ! <3 

After sitting in the night bus for about 7 hours from Yokohama to Kyoto, finally En, Cho, Maru and I arrived safe and sound in Kyoto. It was still quite early in the morning when we stepped our feet on Kyoto's street for the first time. We proceeded to walk down the street with big backpacks attached on our backs, and just like new comers, we didn't know how to reach the station since we found no map in our surroundings. And yes, asking someone will always be the ultimate survival weapon in terms of everything including travelling ! We asked a man who was cleaning up the street, he then explained the way to the station and voila, we arrived at the destination not so long after.

The first essential thing we were looking for was that lockers. Yeah, we didn't want to walk all day long with big, heavy carriers so we left our things in the lockers after inserting four coins of 100 Yen for a locker. The next essential thing was breakfast ! We had our breakfast in a convenience store about five minutes walked across the station. Yes, that's the simplest and the quickest way to fulfill our hunger in such early morning while all the restaurants had not yet opened.

Kyoto Tower in the morning

 Kyoto City Bus One-Day Pass. We bought this useful pass as we arrived at Kyoto Station through the ticket vending machine for 500 Yen. Why we bought this pass ? because based on our first day's itinerary, we needed to take buses several times from one place to another. So with this pass despite how many times we had to  take buses, we only paid for 500 Yen on the first place. If in your itinerary you need to take buses for more than thrice, I recommend you to take this pass because you won't spend so much money on bus expenditure. Instead, you can save up for the other things like entrance fees in some temples.

First Visit: Higashi and Nishi Honganji Temple

Higashi Honganji Temple

By the time we went to Higashi Honganji Temple, we didn't spend a long time there since some of the buildings in the inner area were still under construction. Now, let's head to the other one, the Nishi Honganji ;)

Nishi Honganji Temple

I still don't understand why in the pamphlet they wrote "Hongwanji" instead of "Honganji" because based on the Kanji that forms the word it should be "ga" and not "wa". If somebody understand about this matter, please please let me know because I'm so curious about it ;)

Higashi Honganji and Nishi Honganji are regarded as two dominant sub-sects of Shin-Buddhism in Japan and abroad. These two temples have more casual names, and are known affectionately in Kyoto as Onissan (for Nishi Honganji, which means Dear Mr. West) and Ohigashisan (for Higashi Honganji, which means Dear Mr. East).

Higashi Honganji was established eleven years after the Nishi one, in 1602 by the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. 

Second Visit: Nishiki Market

Nishiki Market or is also known as Nishiki Ichiba, is a traditional Japanese market in downtown Kyoto. Its catchword is "the Kitchen of Kyoto" !  This market has a long history and the first store in the market was that a fish store opened in 1311. 

Lunch !

Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine

"The Petting Cow". It is said that you will gain success in your study if you pat the cow on its head.

Third Visit: Nijo-Jo/ Nijo Castle

The outter gate of the castle

Hey, do you spot the autumnal tints at the corner of the garden? :)

Nijo-jo, I love this place so much ! I think it is one of my most favorite sight-seeing place in Kyoto. This castle was built in 1626 by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Fourth Visit: Kinkaku-Ji "Temple of The Golden Pavilion"

Established in 1397 by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

"Yeah, officially Kyoto !" That was the first thing ever popped in my mind after I reached this amazing Kinkaku-Ji. Probably some people will have some sort of feelings too when they travel to some places. I had been wanting to visit this astonishing temple since so long long time ago, and yeah I finally made it ! This place was just unforgettable. This place is indeed not that big, even some people could finish their sight-seeing here in just 10 minutes, but we did love seeing the golden pavilion as well as its reflection from afar so that, it made us stay here longer than anybody else! haha. The pavilion itself is not opened for public. But I think it doesn't matter because it's much more fun to see its mesmerizing beauty from the distance.

Dinner

After the hectic morning due to our early arrival, and then continued with the first day's journey which was so full yet undeniably exciting, we finally had our dinner in Kyoto Station. Yes, this "Kyoto Station Dinner Routine" was literary lasting during our days here ! haha :D 

In the train bound for our lodging, I saw for the very first time such a cute priority seat in Kyoto JR train. Moreover it was the longest priority seat I've ever seen ! cool ! :>

It was a very very fun first day aaand I still have a lot more stories and photos to show you guys, so keep updating yourself through this blog ! I hope this post can be your reference for your upcoming Kyoto trip <3 Anyway,if you have any questions or opinions, just drop them in the comment box ! Thank you.

See ya super soon on the next post ! <3

xx,

Shabrina