An impressive weekend (13-15.04.)

Since we had decided to skip the Friday courses, our Japan discovery trips now start on Fridays, and this time we went to Kobe. Kobe is also part of the Kansai region and the journey there took about an hour and a half. We had very sunny weather, so it was very nice, especially at the harbor. It is very spacious there, and we discovered a gigantic fish sculpture, a ferris wheel, the red tower, which is Kobe's landmark, and an all-you-can-eat restaurant. The fact that we could hardly move afterwards was the lesser of two evils, as Kobe is not very big and we could recover from our food coma at the harbor before heading to the city and its Chinatown. I constantly have to remind myself that I am in Japan. That's why I also took a picture of the departing ship with the Japanese flag. And as if we hadn't already eaten enough, we also had fried sesame balls with red bean paste in the city, which were really delicious. In my opinion, Kobe is a bit more expensive than Osaka, but you can also go shopping here. Everywhere there are tiny passages with countless shops, as well as the larger streets and the small alleys with no less shops. In my opinion, you can only really get to know a city on foot and absorb the maximum number of impressions, since you usually find the most interesting places by chance anyway. For example, my buddy found a small view over Kobe when he was looking for a beer and thought there was a bar on the 5th floor of a building. In the end, we only found two surprised Japanese women whom we disturbed while they were eating. Well, then we'll have the beer later. In the evening, we went to the park with the large group from the dormitory for the long-awaited after-work beer.

On Saturday, we started at 10 o'clock to Himeji, where one of the most beautiful castles in Japan is said to stand. The journey here took over two hours, but since Himeji is not supposed to have much more to offer besides the castle, that was not a problem. As soon as we got off the train, we were hungry again and, as luck would have it, we found a ramen restaurant at the train station. I think I declare ramen (alongside okonomiyaki) as my favorite food here. On the way to the castle, we already found all kinds of ninja/samurai shops, where you could find umbrellas with sword handles (pretty cool), ninja weapons and pendants, and even ninja ice cream decorated with chocolate throwing knives and stars. We also immediately met the (as it could not be otherwise) very cute mascot of Himeji Castle, a kind of smiling white cloud with a castle roof, which sweetly smiled at us throughout the path. When we arrived at the castle, we quickly realized that it is really beautiful. I couldn't stop taking pictures. We walked around it once, got some of its history, and then went inside. Everything inside is made of wood and designed for really small people, even I (1.68m) had to watch my head. Back outside, we wanted to visit the shrine associated with it, which was relatively small but still nice to look at. Since it was raining a bit by now, there was no one else there except us, which was really pleasant because there were a lot of tourists walking around the castle who were annoying to all of us as they distorted the whole Japanese experience, but well, Himeji is a tourist place after all. After that, we met a Japanese man in a souvenir shop who had lived in Frankfurt for a while and spoke some German with us, and then we actually only arrived back at the dormitory at half past 9.

On Sunday, we started at 9 o'clock, it was pouring rain, but we are tough. And inventive. To avoid getting wet feet, I put breakfast bags over my socks, which made a crunching sound when walking, but really helped. We wanted to go to Kyoto again to join two Japanese guys whom one of my buddies met at the hostel, who like to speak English and want to show us their area. That was really nice of them, considering they are both over 50 as well. Without them, we probably wouldn't have found the beautiful hiking trail to one of the mountains, which offers a fabulous view of the city. Before starting the ascent, we visited the Imperial Palace and a campus of Kyoto University, and ate in their cafeteria until we headed up the mountain. I never thought Kyoto was so big! But the entire valley, surrounded by smaller mountains, is filled by the city. We were lucky that it almost completely cleared up and the sun came out when we reached the top, so we had a fantastic view. After the descent, we went to the garden of Ginkaku-ji Temple, where there were also many tourists, and then to a pagoda in the middle of small alleys with alternating souvenir and food shops, all leading up to the pagoda, which stands on a hill and thus forms a small center of these paths. By this time, we were already very tired from the weekend, so we thanked and said goodbye to them. By chance, we met another group from our dormitory on the train who had been to an owl cafe in Osaka and ate cake and petted owls there. I'm not sure what to think of such cafes. I admit that on the one hand, I would like to see it, but on the other hand, I consider it cruelty to animals and do not want to support it. But I am sure that I would not have wanted to exchange this day in Kyoto for an owl cafe, even though I was completely exhausted afterwards and on Monday I would be thrown into the first kanji quiz completely unprepared. But I can live with that.