Today we woke up earlier than usual to get to our bike tour in Arashiyama, a town West of Kyoto. We left at 7:15a for the 8am tour. We got to the Arashiyama station and our guide Don was there waiting.
We got our bikes and headed straight to the bamboo forest to beat the crowds. The forests were true to the pictures, very impressive, and the crowds were not too crazy yet. We learned that a company curated the forest to only keep straight bamboo and to make sure that they are spaced appropriately. Other fun facts include, the bamboo grow to about 90ft tall, could grow that high in 3 months, are native to China, are edible, and are grass with an interconnected root system.
After walking through the forest, we went to the Tenryu-ji Temple and walked through the carefully manicured gardens. Here we learned that temples are Buddhist and have walls and shrines are Shinto, open to nature and have a torii gate in front. This temple was a zen temple complete with a zen garden that has been relatively untouched since the 14th century. Before and after the gates open and close the monks spend their time mediating from the beautiful veranda overlooking the breathtaking zen garden.
Located within the Arashiyama bambook forest we visited our first shrine of the day. This is where we learned that each shrine is devoted to different causes/wishes. The shrine we visited was dedicated to hair(Mikami shrine). There were prayers that people left that were wishing to restore hair, to complete hair dressing school and for long beautiful hair. Charles and Moody made a wish at the shrine.
We then got back on the bikes and rode further into the country to a vegetable stand, a natural bamboo thicket and to see rice fields. Learning that fields are flooded to prevent weeds and a small rice field and feed only about 20 people for one year.
Then we rode to Tenryu-ji temple that contained a 9th century replica of the “living buddha”. At the temple we learned that Japanese are typically both Buddhist and Shinto. Shinto at birth and throughout your everyday life and Buddhist upon death for your funeral. When people visit temples they are not there for themselves but to think of people who have passed on. In the temple we then took a break to write in Japanese and make a blessing.
After that we rode to a tourist hot spot and saw the Togetsukyo (Moon Bridge) before returning to the train station.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch. Since we needed to made a quick turnaround to make our Nintendo Museum reservation and we had missed our normal 7-Eleven breakfast, we grabbed food from 7-Eleven and ate lunch at the hotel.
Then we were off to the Nintendo Museum on the far south side of the city. The Nintendo museum security was the most extensive that we have seen in Japan, including customs. It included passport check, bag check, liquid check and a Nintendo issued ID. But once you were in, it was a very nice and well organized museum. We made hanafuda (playing cards) in the craft room, followed by the museum tour and then the game area. The key attraction was a 100ft wall “duck hunt” board where you competed against 16 competitors shooting Koopas and other NES villains. Lily and Matt both won first place on different occasions. Moody came in 3rd both times he played. There was also a batting cage, an area to play old school games, and a “lovers game” where you needed to hold hands with a partner and complete different tasks. Matt and Belinda thought we were doing well scoring 98% until Melanie and Charles got a 114%.
Then we went to the museum store to buy souvenirs. Including the sought after controller pillows-which we got a Wii so that it would fit in the duffle. After the museum Belinda found a conveyor sushi restaurant near by. We ate a lot of sushi until all seven of us were stuffed and it ended up only spending about $60.
Then it was back to the hotel for ice cream and side quests. Like Moody, Jo and Lily going back to the Onitsuka Tiger store but not being able to get in due to too long of a line and Mel and Belinda going to Don Quijote for a bit haul of hair and skin care products.
