Felicia Fredlund

Writer. Editor. Reader.

Kyoto

Picture of the Month: A Year in Japan #4

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Gion festival float in Kyoto
The Gion festival floats are very prettily illuminated.

In the middle of July, during the hottest time in Kyoto, there is a big festival, Gion Festival, across multiple days with two parades.

PARADES!

When the temperature is guaranteed to be 35C or more. I don’t get it.

Thankfully, the festival have some things happening in the evening when it is still way too hot (it doesn’t cool off except for a couple of degrees), but at least no sun beats down on my head.

So off I went with a friend.

The evening activity is something that happens the three nights leading up to each parade. The parade floats are set up and illuminated. Around this are food stall, souvenir stalls, and some shrine stalls.

I went during the days before the second parade, a much smaller event, with almost no food stalls and very few people. A huge point in its favor because leading up to the first/bigger parade, the evening events are usually packed.

And since it is summer, I cap this post with a picture of some really pretty ice cream that can be bought in the Kawaramachi area in Kyoto. I don’t know if the waffle cone is hand made, but the decorations are, and the soft ice cream (lemon flavored for me) was delicious.

It was so yummy.

Pretty and delicious ice cream in Kyoto
Prettiest ice cream I ever ate.

Picture of the Month: A Year in Japan #3

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Japanese Garden at Nijo Castle in Kyoto
Inside Nijo castle grounds: A beautiful Japanese garden right by a tea house with excellent matcha and sweets.

The time to visit Japan is not in summer. Trust me on this.

Kyoto during this year in Japan for me have been 30+ degrees Celsius from early June, and July and August stayed at a steady 35-38 degrees throughout. Plus humidity on top of that.

I haven’t minded the rain. I do like rain. The typhoons are a bit extreme though.

So as spring melted into summer, my sightseeing went from some (because settling takes time) to none in fairly short order. But I did get out for one thing in June.

Nijo castle in central Kyoto.

I could go look up all kinds of facts about this castle, but I didn’t learn them at the time, and didn’t need them to enjoy visiting it.

After getting inside and passing through a couple of walls, there is a big old building. Gorgeous really and inside are even more gorgeous things: wall paintings.

While Europe went more of paintings, Japan painted on their walls and on screens (and door screens). More gold meant richer, but they also went for white with ink, more in the style of Chinese ink drawing, although Japan developed some of their own techniques too in that area.

Although the inside was absolutely gorgeous and most everything was reproductions, we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Sorry, but you can probably find pictures online of what they would be like.

Some with flowers, made to different seasons. One had tigers. Those are just a couple I could remember of the top of my head.

Outside this main building were beautiful gardens and some ruins of older structures. There was also a big building under renovation that I have no idea what it looked like.

Since I’m more of a garden/park person when it comes to sightseeing, I truly enjoyed this part and had many pretty pictures, making it hard to only pick a couple.

To cap of my visit, about thirty minutes before closing and when I was just about to leave. It started pouring, like seriously pouring rain. Thankfully I happened to be inside the gift shop at the time.

Luckily for me, it slackened off about twenty minutes later so I didn’t have to bike for 20 minutes in pouring rain.

Moat at Nijo Castle in Kyoto
I really love moats. The mix of water and greenery, and often walls and bridges. This is also from Nijo castle.

Picture of the Month: A Year in Japan #2

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Kamogawa river in Kyoto at night
The Kamogawa river in Kyoto at night.

For the first time in my life, I would officially reside in another country, Japan. I have stayed up to three months in another country before (Ireland and Japan) so I was a temporary resident there, but more like a long stay tourist.

I’ve also stayed about two months in several more places.

This time, as noted in the first PotM: A Year in Japan edition, I had/have a one year (and three months) visa, provided I study Japanese during that time.

For the first two months or so, I had two goals in mind: see as many cherry blossom trees I could stand and settle into my new life in Kyoto (my new apartment and as a student).

And that is basically what I did through April and towards the end of May.

I live close to the Kamogawa river, and when the temperatures aren’t consistently above 25 degrees Celsius, I often go for a walk along it. It has beautiful cherry blossom trees, and I look forward to seeing it in autumn glory too.

I also took the opportunity to see some geisha/maiko dances that are mostly held in spring (with a couple at other times of the year), and I can highly recommend it. Beautiful shows.

It was also in May that I turned 30 years old. No more twenties for me.

Kamogawa river in Kyoto during the day
Same river as above, not the same place and not the same type of day. A lovely place to walk at.