When AirAsia was having a promotion for Japan in February last year, I chose to travel in mid-October, thinking I might catch the red leaves season.
Unfortunately, I was too early for the red leaves.
Pitiful red leaves
Fortunately, I was in time for the Jidai Matsuri, a Japanese festival I have been hoping to catch for a long long time.
Jidai Matsuti, or the Festival of the Ages, is a long parade where people dress up in period costume (sometimes representing historical characters) [inset Japanese history fan girl cheer here] stroll through a fixed path from the Old Imperial Palace to the Hei’an Shrine.
It’s one of the three major festivals in Kyoto and falls on October 22 yearly. The parade is to celebrate the move of Japan’s capital from Kyoto to Tokyo way way back. (You know what Wikipedia is for.)
I arranged our Kansai trip so that we will be able to watch the parade. Our hostel receptionist advised us to take the subway since some roads are blocked.
When we reached the subway station nearest to the starting point of the festival, there were a lot of people. Following not very clear road signs, we found ourselves next to the stoney path of the Old Imperial Palace.
There are paid seats but we didn’t get those so we sat on the stones along with the old uncles and aunties.
Rocky pavement
Mom waited at our “seats” while I went off to take pictures of the performers.
Some people also brought their dogs along.
It took a while of waiting before the event started. The two obasan (aunties) in front passed us coffee candy while we waited. That was sweet of them.
The announcement of the start of the parade came and I waited excitedly.
Some ladies had a banner congratulation Kyoto’s 1300th birthday as a capital.
And a man carried a flag announcing JIDAI MATSURI.
The parade started with the Meiji period when the country was westernized. Then the more fun costumes followed.
The women of Jidai Matsuri
I’ve always been fascinated by famous women in history because fewer women than men are recorded in history. I want to know how they overcome gender inequality to have a place in history books.
I want to know what sort of power they have over the men and their children. How can this power translate to our modern world?
It seems to me that Japanese history has many wonderfully romanticized female figures–some arepoets, writers, great beauties or wives of famous men.
Murasaki Shikibu, author of The Tale of GenjiPrincess KazuDaughter of Ki no TsurayukiOno no KomachiKudara-O-Myoshin
Reflections of Jidai Matsuri
The procession was oddly solemn. No one cheered, not even when the popular historical characters like Sakamoto Ryoma stroll by.
I wanted to stand up, clap and holler “BRAVO!” but didn’t because everyone else was quiet. The only time when the audience was lively was when a band comes along playing music.
Also, I regret not having internet to google every character that I do not recognize because of my very shallow knowledge of Japan history. It would be more exciting to know who that man in blue pants is.
Tips for viewing Jidai Matsuri
Take the subway to the location: Some roads are closed for the procession so your best bet is the underground.
Bring a stool or something to put your butt on: If you are in the rocky grounds at start of the parade, a stool would help your butt from being too painful.
Bring food and drinks and an umbrella
Have you been to any celebrations with period costumes? How was it?
Week 27 of the Indie Travel Challenge is all about celebrating: There are many reasons to travel and many moments make traveling special. Have you ever traveled to another country during a new [to you] holiday? If so, what was special about it?
The store is located in a pedestrian lane, far enough from the main street for us to enjoy the quietness.
The store front was plain–a display fridge, two round tables outside. There were two bins by the wall, telling customers to recycle its glass bottle and plastic cap and spoon.
The pudding, like its name, tasted silky and the caramel tasted slightly burnt. I’m not sure if it’s deliberately like that to contrast the sweetness of the custard or if it was fluke.
Anyway, mom and I polished the glass bottles clean. Yum!
Here’s a Google Map of the place if you happen to be in Asakusa.
Long answer: like rubber when raw but like silk when cooked.
I happened to have the chance to eat fugu during my trip to Japan. Before I tried it out, I imagined them to taste like salmon–melt in your mouth and smooth with OMEGA 3 fat.
So I decided during our Japan trip last October (has it been that long?!) that my mom and I will try fugu and hopefully not die from it.
We went to a shop in Osaka, a recommendation from a my super awesome Hong Kong-published guidebook which I borrowed from the library. (Yes, I’m not an anti-guidebook traveller because sometimes it saves time and energy.)
When travelling, I usually buy tacky souvenirs for friends at home. (Sorry!) But for myself, there is only one type of souvenir–which unfortunately has multiple product categories–I need.
Regular cute souvenirs
My Achilles heel is not a killer pair of shoes nor a nice dress, but toiletries.
I dislike how the airlines limit how much liquids we can carry. But I’m secretly happy that this will give me an excuse to buy toiletries in a foreign land.
Here’s why you should buy toiletries as souvenirs (for your friends or yourself)
During my 10-day trip to Japan last October, my mom and I spent 6 days in the Kansai region and visited Kyoto, Fushimi-Inari shrine, Uji, Nara and Osaka.
Since we wanted to see many sites in Kyoto as well as the Jidai Matsuri, we used Kyoto as a base and took day trips to the other Kansai cities. But if you are more of a city person, you’d probably like staying in Osaka better than Kyoto.
Our itinerary was like this:
Day 1: Arrive in Kyoto
Day 2: Kyoto – Fushimi Inari – Uji – Nara – Kyoto [Kansai Thru Pass]
Day 3: Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto – Osaka – Kyoto [Kansai Thru Pass]
Day 5: Kyoto – Nara -Kyoto [JR]
Day 6: Kyoto (Jidai matsuri)
My mom and I are temple, old building lovers so three days in Kyoto was fine. (Although we did spend a large part of our last day napping in the public bus.)
During my first trip to Japan in 2008, I bought a 7-Day Japan Rail Pass–JR Pass which currently costs 28,300 yen/US$ 367.90–and took the Shinkansen from Fukuoka to Tokyo, stopping in the Kansai region for sightseeing.
While the Shinkansen was speedy and comfortable, I decided not to buy the JR Pass during my last trip to Japan in October for four reasons
JR Pass is really expensive even for one person, imagine splurging for two.
We were in Japan for a 10-day trip and the JR Pass came in only 7-Day, 14-Day and 21-Day form so it wasn’t economically wise.
We only planned to visit the Kansai region. If we were travelling a lot farther, I might have gotten the JR Pass or flew.
By travelling by bus at night, I could save on accomodation but still get to my destination. My cheapest accomodation during the trip was my Tokyo stay at 5,300yen a night while Kyoto’s was 7,980 yen.
I like to blame my lack of travel journalling on Facebook. I mean, come on, it’s much easier to upload a photo and one sentence than make the effort to type out 3 paragraphs of the day’s journey.
Also, my friend are more likely to comment on a Facebook post than a TL;DR post.
That’s why I am experimenting with “My Facebook travel journal”.
Recently we asked our Twitter followers the question: which destinations have you (or will you) visit primarily for the food? As you would expect, hundreds of foodies replied with their favourite places to get their fill. The clear winner? Italy.
1. Italy
2. Thailand
3. Malaysia
4. Singapore
5. Japan
6. India
7. Spain
8. Vietnam
9. China
10. France
Guess what, I’ve been to 7 out of the Top 10. I’ll head over to Italy, Thailand and India soon (fingers crossed).
I love food and I live to eat.
Here are some of my favorite food I’ve nommed during my trips.
2011 has been a very eventful year in terms of travelling. I was formally afflicted by dromomania.
I’ve also started on my Visit Malaysia project, visited Europe for the first time and went back to China and Japan since the last time I went as a student.
Here are the locations I went and the photos I took. Yes, I am also using this as my bragging wall. Thanks!
January
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia [HOME] Reflection of Mt Kinabalu
YQtravelling 