#Japan16 Arashiyama and the Cat Cafe

I had been planning an early start today, but, I suppose unsurprisingly, I overslept. In the shower I had the dilemma that epitomised my trip. I wanted to soak and relax, after all I was on holiday, but also there was an amazing place out there calling to me! I hurried to the station, and got a JR local train to Arashiyama. The day was overcast and gloomy. The problem with capsule hotels is that there is no daylight: You have no idea what the weather is doing outside, so it was only by chance that I had brought a raincoat!

From the station, I walked directly to Arashiyama monkey park. I had looked for Monkeys in Minoo in Osaka, up Mount Misen in Miyajima, and now this was my last chance to see some of Japan's famous snow monkeys!

I paid 550y admission and trekked up the mountain. It wasn't a tough climb, but as ever the footpaths left something to be desired, and I regretted taking my comfy slip on shoes instead of hiking boots. As I neared the top, I finally saw my first monkey, and there were half a dozen of them sitting in a tree! Their thick fluffy fur matched the bark almost exactly, and as they turned to watch me I saw their ugly pink faces. I was under strict instructions from the visitor centre not too stare, but I was enchanted!

Creepy red eyed monkey (I think it just had its eyes closed)

I arrived at the viewing platform just in time for a feed, where two park rangers sprinkled monkey nuts (of course) and about thirty or forty monkeys descended from the sakura trees, nonchalantly waving their pink backsides in the air as they scooped up nuts, peeled them, and stuffed them into their mouths. The view alone made the climb worth it. With a misty panorama of Kyoto, I again found myself resenting my visit to the sky tower, the atmosphere here was much better. I got some great photos of monkeys perched on the rope fence with Kyoto spread out between the hills behind them. Some of the monkeys got very close and I even saw a couple of babies!

I didn't linger too long however, as the weather had finally broken and it had began to rain. I was worried for my backpack, and skidded back down the mountain in my inappropriate shoes.

Just as in Hakone, the rain did lend a fantastic atmosphere to the place. I got some romantic photos of river boats waiting under dripping Sakura trees, a wedding couple sat on a bench overlooking the misty river, and even a woman painted up as a Meika - trainee geisha sheltering under a decorative umbrella. I actually thought she looked quite unattractive, but I suppose all that face paint is a difficult look to pull off.

The bride mourning her soggy wedding dress

The boat trips were not selling well that day

Apprentice Geisha

I wandered into a Unesco World Heritage site temple gardens, searching for Arashiyama's famous bamboo grove. The gardens were beautiful, Zen gardens like those at the silver temple and honen-in yesterday, with carefully raked stones and mossy mounds topped with crooked Japanese fir trees. There was also a feast of Sakura blossom here, and the dim lighting and drizzling rain really made the colours contrast.

Zen garden in the rain

Finally I entered the bamboo grove. I had read about a majesty and grandeur here which couldn't be conveyed in photos, and though I did enjoy it and the bamboo was spectacular, and absolutely enormous, it was too crowded to really feel spiritual, besides I was concerned about all my essentials in my (now thoroughly soggy) backpack. I was underwhelmed. I hope that at least some of my photos do it some justice. A lot of them came out blurry because it was so dark I had to use a slow shutter speed, but so damp and crowded I didn't have the liberty to take my time. I would still recommend a visit though - it was in anticipation of these crowds that I had tried to get up early!

Arashiyama Bamboo Garden

I decided that under such conditions I was unlikely to get much pleasure from the 'romance car' scenic railway, river cruise or water gardens which I had planned, and so left Arashiyama shortly after midday.

I returned to the hostel and finally had a really long hot shower, before returning to the under-cover shopping centre for a leisurely wander. I purchased the most adorable donut/doughnut that looked like a little cat, before visiting one of Japan's famous cat cafés. This was a Bengal cat cafe (the first in the world apparently, and I don't doubt that!) and the cafe involved no food (hence my doughnut), but guests were invited into a small jungle themed room in small groups, whereupon we paid 600y each to play with these tiny leopard patterned cats for half an hour.

Cat donut, followed by cat cafe! I definitely
felt I needed some cheering up after my rainy morning!

Sat on the floor, three young Japanese couples cooed over tiny cats, most of whom had fallen asleep in their attendee's lap. I was given a small cat who let me stroke it for maybe 40 seconds before scurrying off, much to the amusement of the nearest couple. There seemed to be a big (relatively speaking) daddy cat who watched over proceedings from a perch up in the man-made tree (a series of real branches stapled together and decorated with fake ivy) and I took a few photos of him before a couple took pity on me and invited me to join them stroking the tiny feline curled up in the girls lap. It was so soft and quite adorable, its eyes rolled back in its head as she rubbed its chin, and I could see how this could be therapeutic. When the couples' time ran out, they passed me the sleeping creature, who found an uncomfortable looking position in my lap. They took a photo of me on mh phone, they were very kind, but they had been gone about two minutes when the cat woke up and ran away from me.

I realised cat cafés were a lost cause for me. That kitten was like it'd been drugged. If I'd managed to repel him, I had no chance of finding another, so I left a little before my time was up. It was still a good and interesting experience though, I was glad I tried it!

I seemed out my favourite vegetarian cafe for the third day in a row, but to my dismay it had closed down! The tables had been pushed up against the windows and the board which had previously said 'open' or 'closed' outside had now gone altogether. I went to Starbucks and spent the previous day's voucher on a scone and a hot chocolate, toying with the idea of visiting one last temple at dusk as I knew it was illuminated well and looked out over the city. Ultimately though I was too intimidated by the maze of streets (unable to find my way to the appropriate bus stop), and decided to continue shopping and get an early night.
Lush, one of my favourite shops back home, had a cool store on the main outdoor shopping street (a fancy street, that plays elevator music to you as you walk along) so I visited there. I was caught off guard by a very friendly shop assistant with near-perfect English, and when she asked what I was looking for, I said a massage bar, as it was the first thing to come into my head. She showed me the display, and out of awkwardness, I asked what was her favourite product. She seemed quite taken aback by my question and showed me a massage bar called 'shades of earl grey'. I was a little fazed by the connotations but she was so sweet, asking me about how hot it was in Scotland (she was the second Japanese person I had met this trip who thought Scotland was a hot country!) so I bought it. She was hugely complimented that I had chosen based on her advice and thanked me many, many times. It was cuter than the cat cafe and the doughnut put together!

Next I stopped off at the Kyoto Pokemon Center (this one IN Kyoto as opposed to Osaka!) where I sent one of my friends back home about a dozen photos of all the different variations of pikachu (and then, by request, charmander) and bought some special edition Kyoto Pikach stickers for my car. I was on a spending spree it seemed, but at least managed not to buy anything from the Kyoto Disney Store!
It was approaching 8pm when I returned to the hotel again. I spent just under an hour packing and repacking my backpack to make all my new purchases and the booklets and tickets I had picked up along the way fit. After three days of having the luxury of two backpacks, I was now struggling to downsize. Luckily I had lost a hoodie along the way (I think I left it in Osaka) so I managed to pack down to just my Pokemon Store
shopping bag and my backpack, hoping that would be little enough to sneak onto the plane.

I dressed in my complimentary prison-uniform nightshirt for the last time, and fell asleep in my capsule by half past nine.

#Japan16 Osaka etcetera

Waking ag 7.30, I realised I had missed my alarm (it was a buzz from my FitBit) but I had packed the night before so as not to wake the other girls when I left. I put on the like of clothes I had prepared and grabbed my day pack for the short walk to Osaka Castle. The morning was bright and cold, perfect for photography.

Osaka Castle in all its restored glory.

I was gratified to see that the 'Sakura' was much more populous here, and I wandered around the large, star shaped castle grounds, snapping photos of the castle and buildings with cherry blossoms in the foreground. I came across a small monument, where the Priest Rennyo laid his clothes.
Many years before Osaka's first castle, Rennyo was the head priest of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism. He started a small temple on this site, and over the years it grew and grew. Rennyo hung his clothes on a tree by the temple as a token, to help his temple grow. There is now no trace of the temple, and a cat was curled in the roots of the stump that was all that was left of the tree.
Osaka castle itself is now in its third iteration. The first was burnt down by a war. The second was burnt down when struck by lightening. This one has only ever been a tourist attraction, and apparently has escalators inside. (and hopefully fire extinguishers!)

I returned to the hostel, collected my backpack and checked out. Next stop was Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the largest in the world, which is particularly proud of its pacific ring of fire exhibit, which features two fully grown whale sharks.

The aquarium was more humane than Ueno zoo. I saw one small dead fish, and an obese seal, but seals are fat anyway so maybe it was supposed to look like that! The whale sharks were even more impressive than I'd hoped, one coming right against the glass as I stood there. There was an adorable sea otter and a number of cute fighting river otters in a separate enclosure, but perhaps my favourite exhibit was the jellyfish, which were absolutely spectacular as they pulsed against the side of their tanks, stunningly delicate and yet probably pretty dangerous - I was reminded of the movie Seven Pounds.

  

Osaka aquarium also gave me lots of stamps! At one stamp point, a Japanese boy was playing with the stamper, he seemed confused by it, so I let him stamp my book, which made him very happy. His mother thanked me and smiled.

 I walked from the aquarium to the Tenzopan Ferris Wheel, another 'one of the worlds largest...' Large clouds had come in whilst I was in the aquarium, but as my Ferris car rose from the platform, the clouds broke and I was able to get some photos of the city in sunshine. It was a nice relaxing break, and (because it's Japan) I had an uncomfortably upbeat musical accompaniment the whole way around. I had the car to myself, in fact I may have been the only person on the whole wheel, I couldn't understand it!

The impressive view from the wheel, looking back toward Osaka city.

From the wheel I spied a vegetarian cafe, so after a quick stop in a shop for 'kawaii' where I bought presents for my sisters, I treated myself to a vegetarian lunch buffet. The staff all welcomed me as I entered which was nice. They spoke no English but the sign said Y850 all you can eat. That's about £5, and I ate my fill for once! I was pleased to find Osaka living up to its reputation for good food.

After bowing my way out of the vegetarian cafe, I took a subway back to Umeda (quite different in daylight) and rode up to the thirteenth floor of a department store for Kyoto(?!) Pokemon Center! I was very excited. The store was a lot like Debenhams or John Lewis, so I felt a bit silly in my backpack, but I considered this a pilgrimage! I was disappointed however, to find it was just a merchandise shop, but I bought a few more gifts, and hurried downstairs to the station, for my train to Koya San.

My Pokemon Center shopping bag. Pikachu looking even more Japanese than usual!

I asked a lady queuing on the platform if it was going to the station I needed (there were three trains between Osaka and Koya San). The lady told me I was fine, and asked me where I was from, and how I was liking Japan. Japanese people speak very quietly so at times it was hard to hear her, but we chatted on the train all the way to my station. She had lived in Australia for a year, and was now on her way to meet her mother to go shopping. I was sad to say goodbye, but went into the station and purchased my (non rail-pass eligible) ticket to Koya San, for Y1200.
On the way, I realised I had got my dates out by one day, and as I hadn't turned up the previous night, the temple had cancelled my entire booking.

To cut a long story short, I booked the Wakayama 'Dormy Inn' hotel, because it was the nearest hotel with rooms for that evening, and boarded the train for Wakayama. As the train chugged through rural landscapes highlighted in the late afternoon sun, I was approached by a Japanese High School student. he was sat next to me and asked me about my travels. We spoke about Japan, Scotland, Scottish food (I tried and, I think, failed to explain what a haggis was!), and British vs American English (I told him that yes, we can understand each other!) he told me he was a fan of Glee!

Presently he left the train, and I eventually arrived in Wakayama. I was surprised to see lots of signs in English - more so than Osaka. I found out later this was because being a port and airport town, Wakayama sees a lot of tourists coming from Shikoku to Koya San to complete the 88-temple buddhist pilgrimage.

The Dormy Inn hotel was bizarrely smart and well ordered compared to the kooky hostels and run-down Ryokan I was used to. There were two onsen for each gender, and when I got to my room on the seventh floor, I almost cried with happiness. It had all the mod-cons. A bathroom to myself, a double bed, a TV, and pajamas included! I had to tear myself away to photograph Wakayama castle at sunset.

I had the castle to myself, and it was surrounded by cherry blossom. I took close up photos of it and of the (uninspiring) cityscape under the colourful sky. I smugly felt that this hiccup had worked out for the best.

You wait all week for a castle, and then two come in one day!

 All of the eateries in town had no room for one person, so instead I went back to the hotel to console myself in the Onsen.

The onsen here was on the second floor. It was not cloudy, and lacked the mineral scent of Hakone. I doubted it was a hot spring at all, but it was none the less soothingly hot. Presently a Japanese lady and her daughter entered the room and washed themselves (onsen procedure is to clean and rinse yourself before you get in). The daughter got into the same onsen as me, but her mother went outside, so she left too. I felt a bit put out, as part of the onsen experience is that it's communal. I moved to the Sauna, and then to the cold bath (not as bad as I expected) and then, as I left, they moved to the bath I was in originally. I decided not to take it personally!

I used the facilities to wash and dry my clothes, pre-packed my bag as I had the night before, and bought and drank a strange fruit juice-cum-milkshake from an over-engineered vending machine before returning to the Onsen again! This time it was absolutely packed. This was it! Group naked bathing time! ...I know it's weird. I didn't actually feel self conscious at all, and it was nice for us all to calmly soak together. Afterwards I treated myself to a foot massage that included my legs. It was nice, and I felt very relaxed.