A Trip To Kyoto
Since today is our closing day of shows in Seoul (thank goodness) I might not have internet for a week until we get to Malaysia. Because of this, I've decided to write about my weekend in Kyoto (back when I was in Osaka) so you all have something fun to read.
Once upon a time, I traveled to Osaka with The Sound of Music. We had a few days before we opened (so that the crew could load in the scenery and stuff) and we decided to use those days to go to the amazing city of Kyoto, Japan. All we had with us was a guidebook, and backpacks full of pjs and some snacks, when we hopped on a train. We rode the bullet train into Osaka, but decided that since a regular train was cheaper, we'd try that this time. The train line we took is basically part of the subway, but it's a privately owned line (like if Coca-Cola bought the 1/9 red line in NY) so it's very swank. We left at nine... am, do you believe it... and were in Osaka by ten fifteen. We went straight to our ryokan to drop off our stuff. Two days before we had gone to the hotel's concierge to get him to help us make hotel reservations. We knew we wanted to stay in an authentic Japanese hotel (called a ryokan) and we had some in our guidebook that we wanted to try. After about an hour of us talking, he not really understanding English, the people at the ryokan not at all speaking English, and us speaking our shitty Japanese... we had reservations. We went straight there to unload, and make sure that we had these reservations.
Our group consisted of six girls: my, my good friend Maria (who plays Sister Sophia and understudies Maria), adorable Jessica (Sister Margaretta), crazy Nicole (Frau Schmidt), and Lisa (Louisa) and her mom Connie. We arrived at the ryokan and were met by a tiny old Japanese lady who didn't speak any English, but understood who we were and that we wanted to drop our backpacks before sightseeing. We got to take them back into our rooms, and we got a quick tour of the ryokan.
The way our ryokan was set up, there was a front reception area where you would leave your shoes, and pick up slippers to wear while in the house. To the right of reception was the kitchen, where breakfast was served every morning. If you followed the hallway straight you would come to the communal sinks and mirrors, where all your teeth brushing and hair drying would take place. To the left of the sinks were the group bath, showers, and toilets. If you would keep going straight through the sink area, you would hit the stairs to take you to the bedrooms. The bedrooms were the classic Japanese setup with tatami mats on the floor (no slippers allowed), a bunch of blankets to make a bed out of, and a small garden outside the window where you could meditate. It was awesome! So we dropped our stuff and headed out to sightsee.
We followed a frommer's walking tour that took us to some amazing places. We saw the longest standing wooden building in the world, which was filled with thousands of gold buddha statues. We found the Kyoto national museum, famous for it's lacquered boxes and Japanese art. We toured the house of one of Japan's most famous potters... getting to walk through his studio and kiln. We also climbed a huge mountain to visit a temple that was built entirely without nails. We shopped and stopped for lunch along the way, and ended the day by taking a cab to the "entertainment district" of Kyoto, where we heard the geishas hung out.
Now anyone who's read "Memoirs of a Geisha" has found it fascinating, and we were all in that boat. We arrived in the Gion district as dark was falling, and the geishas were heading out to their parties for the night. After only seeing one or two for thirty minutes, we found a bunch of paparazzi standing on the street outside a large building. After making friends with a photographer we learned that this was a geisha house, where the girls and their madam lived! We watched for a while and got to see girls coming home between parties, being picked up by fancy cars to go out again, and the madam instructing them on what to do. It was fascinating! Luckily the photographer we met, Robert (they all give us fake English names because they think we can't say their real name), was a geisha addict, and taught us a lot.
In Kyoto today, there are approximately 100 geiko and 100 meiko alive. Geisha is actually a derogatory term that is not used today. Since gei means art, and sha means person, the word means literally 'art person' as opposed to geiko (art lady) and meiko (dance lady) which implies a lady rather than a person (slut). Does that make sense? Anyway, meiko are the dancers who are aged 15-20, and then geiko are the 21-infinity year olds. The older ladies are skilled in the arts, meaning dance, visual arts, singing, or playing the shamisen. Once you are a geiko you are one for life, and the oldest living geiko today is 94. Meiko can become geiko if they are promoted when they reach the right age. You can tell the difference between meiko and geiko by the length of the sleeves of their kimonos and the length of the bows on their backs (meiko's are longer).
We learned all of this from Robert as we took pictures, and even more when we invited him to dinner. We all sat on tatami mats and ate Japanese tempura while looking out at the river that divides Kyoto... it was so cool. We left him after dinner to go back to our ryokan, but promised to stay in touch. For the record, he actually came to see our show in Osaka twice, and brought us barrelfulls of presents. When we got home, we turned on our tiny tvs and caught Bill Hemmer on American Morning (my fave). Jessica, Maria, and I were sneaking to the front hall to get some beer out of the vending machine when we were stopped by our tiny host, Mrs. Hayashi (Hayashi-san as she's called in Japan). She took our beer and led us into the kitchen, where she proceeded to sit us down and make us tea. She didn't speak any English, but she would tell stories in Japanese and we could kind of understand them! She talked about all the people who had stayed in her ryokan, and by the souvenirs on the wall we learned about the Disney animator, the journalists, the Australian tourists, and the geiko on vacation. We stayed up with her for an hour just talking and laughing. Eventually we headed to bed.
The next morning we woke up early to discover it had snowed during the night (a real treat for Lisa, from Texas). We took turns showering in the shower room and looking out for the men who might try to come in. We set out, leaving our stuff for later. We went first to one of the most famous sights in Kyoto, the golden temple. It is seriously a temple in the middle of a lake, covered with gold leaf. With the snow and the early sunshine, it was one of the most beautiful sights ever. We also went to the Nijo Castle, an example of the ancient Japanese system with original architecture from the 1500s. The coolest part of that was the Nightingale floors that squeaked to warn about intruders. At lunch time we headed back to our ryokan to grab our stuff and get back to Osaka to rest up for rehearsal the next day.
Overall, we found Kyoto to be the most amazing thing we did in Japan. It was such an authentic city, with its own energy that was very unique. All the historical sights we saw were fascinating, and the geiko and meiko up close were stunning. If this were reading rainbow and Kyoto were a book I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
Once upon a time, I traveled to Osaka with The Sound of Music. We had a few days before we opened (so that the crew could load in the scenery and stuff) and we decided to use those days to go to the amazing city of Kyoto, Japan. All we had with us was a guidebook, and backpacks full of pjs and some snacks, when we hopped on a train. We rode the bullet train into Osaka, but decided that since a regular train was cheaper, we'd try that this time. The train line we took is basically part of the subway, but it's a privately owned line (like if Coca-Cola bought the 1/9 red line in NY) so it's very swank. We left at nine... am, do you believe it... and were in Osaka by ten fifteen. We went straight to our ryokan to drop off our stuff. Two days before we had gone to the hotel's concierge to get him to help us make hotel reservations. We knew we wanted to stay in an authentic Japanese hotel (called a ryokan) and we had some in our guidebook that we wanted to try. After about an hour of us talking, he not really understanding English, the people at the ryokan not at all speaking English, and us speaking our shitty Japanese... we had reservations. We went straight there to unload, and make sure that we had these reservations.
Our group consisted of six girls: my, my good friend Maria (who plays Sister Sophia and understudies Maria), adorable Jessica (Sister Margaretta), crazy Nicole (Frau Schmidt), and Lisa (Louisa) and her mom Connie. We arrived at the ryokan and were met by a tiny old Japanese lady who didn't speak any English, but understood who we were and that we wanted to drop our backpacks before sightseeing. We got to take them back into our rooms, and we got a quick tour of the ryokan.
The way our ryokan was set up, there was a front reception area where you would leave your shoes, and pick up slippers to wear while in the house. To the right of reception was the kitchen, where breakfast was served every morning. If you followed the hallway straight you would come to the communal sinks and mirrors, where all your teeth brushing and hair drying would take place. To the left of the sinks were the group bath, showers, and toilets. If you would keep going straight through the sink area, you would hit the stairs to take you to the bedrooms. The bedrooms were the classic Japanese setup with tatami mats on the floor (no slippers allowed), a bunch of blankets to make a bed out of, and a small garden outside the window where you could meditate. It was awesome! So we dropped our stuff and headed out to sightsee.
We followed a frommer's walking tour that took us to some amazing places. We saw the longest standing wooden building in the world, which was filled with thousands of gold buddha statues. We found the Kyoto national museum, famous for it's lacquered boxes and Japanese art. We toured the house of one of Japan's most famous potters... getting to walk through his studio and kiln. We also climbed a huge mountain to visit a temple that was built entirely without nails. We shopped and stopped for lunch along the way, and ended the day by taking a cab to the "entertainment district" of Kyoto, where we heard the geishas hung out.
Now anyone who's read "Memoirs of a Geisha" has found it fascinating, and we were all in that boat. We arrived in the Gion district as dark was falling, and the geishas were heading out to their parties for the night. After only seeing one or two for thirty minutes, we found a bunch of paparazzi standing on the street outside a large building. After making friends with a photographer we learned that this was a geisha house, where the girls and their madam lived! We watched for a while and got to see girls coming home between parties, being picked up by fancy cars to go out again, and the madam instructing them on what to do. It was fascinating! Luckily the photographer we met, Robert (they all give us fake English names because they think we can't say their real name), was a geisha addict, and taught us a lot.
In Kyoto today, there are approximately 100 geiko and 100 meiko alive. Geisha is actually a derogatory term that is not used today. Since gei means art, and sha means person, the word means literally 'art person' as opposed to geiko (art lady) and meiko (dance lady) which implies a lady rather than a person (slut). Does that make sense? Anyway, meiko are the dancers who are aged 15-20, and then geiko are the 21-infinity year olds. The older ladies are skilled in the arts, meaning dance, visual arts, singing, or playing the shamisen. Once you are a geiko you are one for life, and the oldest living geiko today is 94. Meiko can become geiko if they are promoted when they reach the right age. You can tell the difference between meiko and geiko by the length of the sleeves of their kimonos and the length of the bows on their backs (meiko's are longer).
We learned all of this from Robert as we took pictures, and even more when we invited him to dinner. We all sat on tatami mats and ate Japanese tempura while looking out at the river that divides Kyoto... it was so cool. We left him after dinner to go back to our ryokan, but promised to stay in touch. For the record, he actually came to see our show in Osaka twice, and brought us barrelfulls of presents. When we got home, we turned on our tiny tvs and caught Bill Hemmer on American Morning (my fave). Jessica, Maria, and I were sneaking to the front hall to get some beer out of the vending machine when we were stopped by our tiny host, Mrs. Hayashi (Hayashi-san as she's called in Japan). She took our beer and led us into the kitchen, where she proceeded to sit us down and make us tea. She didn't speak any English, but she would tell stories in Japanese and we could kind of understand them! She talked about all the people who had stayed in her ryokan, and by the souvenirs on the wall we learned about the Disney animator, the journalists, the Australian tourists, and the geiko on vacation. We stayed up with her for an hour just talking and laughing. Eventually we headed to bed.
The next morning we woke up early to discover it had snowed during the night (a real treat for Lisa, from Texas). We took turns showering in the shower room and looking out for the men who might try to come in. We set out, leaving our stuff for later. We went first to one of the most famous sights in Kyoto, the golden temple. It is seriously a temple in the middle of a lake, covered with gold leaf. With the snow and the early sunshine, it was one of the most beautiful sights ever. We also went to the Nijo Castle, an example of the ancient Japanese system with original architecture from the 1500s. The coolest part of that was the Nightingale floors that squeaked to warn about intruders. At lunch time we headed back to our ryokan to grab our stuff and get back to Osaka to rest up for rehearsal the next day.
Overall, we found Kyoto to be the most amazing thing we did in Japan. It was such an authentic city, with its own energy that was very unique. All the historical sights we saw were fascinating, and the geiko and meiko up close were stunning. If this were reading rainbow and Kyoto were a book I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.
posted by Beth at 10:32 PM
3 Comments:
Beth! Who said you couldn't blog?? AWESOME. I knew you would slowly be sucked in...miss you lots!
Awesome blog - we are enjoying it!
DLADK
Dear Beth, You're giving us a whole new slant on the Far East. We like it. Thanks for becoming a blogger.
Love, Grandpa & Gretchen
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