Before we entered Nijo castle we were asked for a picture by a group of students. By now we were used to getting interviewed and photographed by students, it felt like we celebrities or something.
It is allowed to walk around inside the castle, but with your shoes off. This castle is very different from the one in Osaka though, which had many floors (so was very tall) and was colorful. Nijo castle only has one floor, but has more ground surface. And it is mostly colored white with wood details, so it is sober. The big and lush garden makes a big contrast with the plain building. One interesting detail really stuck with me; when you walk around inside the building the floor makes squeaky sounds. This was a defense mechanism against intruders. It was really funny to hear the creaking footsteps of all the tourist. Other than some beautiful wall paintings there wasn't much to see inside the castle. The garden is much more interesting. It is the prime example of a lush Japanese garden. It took a while for us to walk through the whole garden (and find our way back) and at the end our feet ached. But it was worth the visit, since it was our first visit to a real Japanese garden.
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| Castle Moat |
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| I just couldn't get a nice picture of the gate |
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| The castle |
We had to head back to our hotel to drop off our stuff and go to Osaka for a concert. On the way we stopped at Circle K for some food. While we were there they were having a special promotion for the new album of Super Junior. My friend and I were both big fans of them at the time so we ecstatic. All the drinks included a sticker of Super Junior, there were even cakes and other foods packed in Super Junior packages and if you bought a certain amount of products you could get file maps with their picture on it. There was even a Super Junior surprise bag; the bag (also with super junior pictures on it) contained some Japanese candies and some other stuff I can't remember. Anyway, if you are a fan of k-pop, keep your eye out for promotions in Japan :) I will also write about Shin Okubo, Korea town in Tokyo in one of my later posts for the k-pop fans.
So later that day we were reunited with lovely Osaka city again. Our destination was Hyogo Performing Arts Centre for a concert by Mika Nakashima. Initially we bought tickets for a Namie Amuro concert, but it was cancelled so we opted for Mika Nakashima instead whom we both like but don't know very well. So we didn't really know what to expect. Anyway, before the concert we needed to wait for about two hours so we sat outside and looked at the people there. I don't whether if it is a thing Japan, but there were a lot of people juggling, playing with the diabolo, dancing and such outside of the Performing Arts Centre.
The concert itself was more in a theatre kind of place where you would normally watch an opera, so it was quite an unusual setting for a j-pop concert. But it turned out that it wasn't your typical j-pop concert as Mika Nakashima doesn't really do all those cute dances witch cutesy songs and weird costumes and there weren't ten thousand fans waving with lightsticks. It was more of a down to earth concert in a small venue and her voice sounded awesome in that theatre like venue. Her voice is just as good as on her CDs. Too bad the instruments were a bit too loud to hear her well. The fans were still your typical Japanese fans with their lightsticks and little chants to the songs. It is nice to experience it because that is something you definitely don't see in European concerts. At the end of the concert she couldn't stop thanking her fans and she was even crying. You could tell she is a very genuine person which is really nice. We had a positive experience at this concert.
Late in the evening we finally arrived in Kyoto and hadn't even had dinner yet. So when we walked by the Baskins Robbins we just had to eat some ice-cream. We had heard a lot about Baskins Robbins so we had been eyeing the ice-cream shop since yesterday. And we were on vacations, so why not eat ice-cream for dinner right? There was a promotion where you'd get the third scoop for free, so we each got three flavors. I can say that hype about Baskin Robbins is a valid one. It id quite expensive, but just as Ben & Jerry's the ice-cream is stuffed with delicious things and there are many yummy flavors to choose from. Plus the ice-cream pies are so cute! We didn't try them or take photos of them, but I did make photos of them when I was in Korea (Baskin Robbins is a Korean store), so I will show them in the foreseeable future.
We finished our day with some cup noodles. Ice-cream doesn't keep you full for long after a day like that. Or maybe we just wanted to eat noodles, whatever. Which reminds me, we didn't even eat any really ramen during our trip!
- There are still a considerable number of traditional houses in Kyoto, calles Kyo-machiya. There were several near our hotel, nice! Sidenote, I love machiya and am almost a machiya-specialist haha.
- The squeaky sounds at Nijo castle are cute
- Lightsticks and fans chants are really funny and kind of weird when your are not used to them
- A Japanese concert is a nice experience
- The concerts are well organized and usually you have a seat number; they even put chairs with numbers in the standing areas.
- Even though it was rainy season we barely had rainy days. It was just cloudy and usually there was a gray sky. It was still hot and humid though.
- Baskin Robbins is yummy!
- Late night noodles are a-okay, even on vacation
- K-pop fans will be able to get their k-pop fix in Japan if you put some effort in it. Think store promotions, concerts and festivals, Korea town in Tokyo, big music stores, and the likes.
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