Kyoto Leaves

  Kyoto, Japan
Sunday, November 18, 2007

donated toris

Today I grudgingly drug myself out of bed early on a Saturday morning to go watch one of my elementary school's music festival. It was absolutely amazing, and despite my cold, the freezing weather, and the fact that I was up before 7 on a Saturday, I'm really glad that I went. Upon arrival I was ushered into the Principal's office (which is pretty much the equivalent to the oval office here in Japan) to sit with other official folks of the school and drink tea while the parents jam packed themselves into the gym. A few minutes before start time we were walked through a back door and seated right up front in our own private area with a wonderful view of the stage.

tori paths

The kids came out, sang songs, and played instruments and generally just had fun. None of that strict marching, or ridiculous bowing that is so common in junior high school. Just good old fun. They were giggling and singing and enjoying themselves. They were soooo cute! The kids I know are 2nd and 3rd graders which makes them about 6-9.

Fushimi-inari Shrine

Sitting there in the gym, in my special reserved seat, watching my kids gleam with pride made me really happy. Even if I can't reach out to all of the students at my own school, and if I don't know any of my own students names, or mean anything to them- at least I know these kids, and to them I mean the world!

After the uplifting morning, I headed off to Kyoto to try to see some fall leaves. It's a beautiful sight in Japan I'll have you know. Unfortunately, we were about a week or two early, as most of the hillsides were still green.

kyoto travelers

But we frolicked around enjoying the scenery just the same. First we hit up Fushimi-inari Shine- the one with thousands of orange tori, one of the famous sites in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha. After that we roamed through the streets of Kyoto for a few hours sampling pounds of yatsuhashi (Kyoto's famous triangle mochi sweet) and pickled vegetables. Finally, we ended up at Kiyomizu Temple (one of the new 8 wonders of the world) for the fall night light up.

kiyomizudera's night view

Rarely can a person enter temple grounds legally after hours, but this temple has a special event every fall where they shine lights through the hills and allow people to come through, walk around, and view the beautiful fall leaves. As I stated earlier, the leaves weren't so beautiful just yet- but the temple lit up at night was still gorgeous.