Another Japanese Temple. I visited the Kiyomizu Temple in Osaka. This temple is painted with a beautiful red color and surrounded by a garden full of cherry blossom trees. It supposedly houses a statue that they can’t expose to the public for another 30 years. It’s next due date is in 2030 sometime. The garden is very large, full of different types of trees, small lakes, and spiritual monuments. One important structure is the fountain of three… It is a structure that has three water fountains falling from a ridge into a small pond. They say that a lot of people in Japan come to this fountain to drink from the three different fountains. Each fountain has a different luck: longevity, health, and education. You can take a sip from one of each, but if you take more than one, you would be considered greedy and I don’t think it works after that point. I didn’t take a sip from either of these, the line was too long and I have done so many Japanese luck-related rituals that I figured my luck must be covered by this point.
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| Kiyomizu Temple Suicide Spot |
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| The Aokigahara Forest. Some of the other pictures were too morbid and gory to post. |
What to buy? Sometimes I wish I could steal. I think that it would make decisions so much easier to make sometimes. Going through the town market, there was so much I wanted to buy. But I gave myself a very strict budget, since this was just the beginning of my trip and Japan is the most expensive of all my travel destinations. But I wanted at least one trinket from Japan to commemorate my trip to Japan. But the inexpensive items were just cheap and the more appealing items were just too expensive. There wasn’t really anything in the middle. But I had my eyes fixed on a geisha-type hair stick. It has a similar function as a pencil used to hold up a woman’s hair except perhaps more elegant looking. But they were expensive. Most I found ranged from 60-300 USD. Some of them were made out of wood and some out of plastic. Some were detailed with real pearls and different gems and exotic stones. But I considered that I’ll be traveling for the next couple months so I shouldn’t be wearing anything that would make me stand out or make me seem rich. So I searched for something simpler. I had my eye one that was shiny and black. I didn’t know what material it was made out of but I liked it. After roaming through the shops for a little bit, I found one for about 30 USD. The most expensive hair accessory I’ve ever gotten but I figured its Japanese. I should really take a few tips from some of my clepto friends. Later on, I found out that the black and shiny material of the hair stick might have been turtle shell. I feel so bad. I’m just going to pretend that I just didn’t know.
Osaka. They say that people go to Osaka to eat food and thus go bankrupt. I can see this happening. There were numerous amounts of restaurants and food shops. The whole street was lit up with vibrant colors and flashing signs. There were a series of signs that advertise seafood, displaying large crab or octopus figures moving frantically on the front of their buildings and restaurant workers performing acts outside their shop while shouting their specials and good deals. Everything looked so good and I was tempted to go into many of the restaurants. One restaurant I was intrigued by was a restaurant that sold the pufferfish or blowfish. Blowfishes are considered a delicacy here but it’s a risk to eat. There are poisonous toxins in some of its organs and a well trained chef needs to cut the fish precisely in order to avoid those toxins from infecting the meat. As for the risk, you could never really know if the chef cut it properly since it all looks the same either way. The only way you would know is if after you eat it, you suddenly die. I really wanted to eat one. But I didn’t have anyone with me to do it with me and if I encountered any trouble in the restaurant, I would want someone to call the ambulance. When going alone, I don’t know if anyone would care enough to call. It was also too much money. Some blowfishes go for about 100 USDs. I just wanted a try a little bit. I didn’t want the whole plate of the fish meat.
I knew I still needed to eat but I only had a small amount of yen left. I needed to save my money for the last day of my trip. So I bought a crepe and a milk tea for dinner. I know, really awful. I had all these great Japanese food around me and I picked that. I think I was hoping to cut costs but later on I found out that there was a ramen restaurant nearby that cost less than my milk tea and crepe. I was pretty bummed. I never got to try ramen in Japan.
Anime Porn? I went exploring down the strip and roamed into a random building. As I went into the elevator, I saw that there was a comic room floor. I was excited because the Japanese are known for their anime or comics. I reached the floor and walked into the store. I started heading back into their library of comics until I was abruptly stopped by the store employee. She ran up to me and shook her head furiously and kept on saying the word no. I kept pointing to the back of the store and tried to gesture that I wanted to read. She gave me an awkward look, shrugged, and walked back to the store counter. She pulled out a book and pointed to some of the pages of the book. The pages in the book displayed rooms that I would have to purchase in order to see any of the comics. I was very confused. I didn’t know I had to pay for a room to see a comic book. After not communicated with her too well, she asked me to leave by pointing towards the front door. I gladly left. It looked too shady anyways. When taking the clear glass elevator down, I was actually able to peer into some of the floors. I was amazed by what I saw. I saw private rooms with large reclining couches and men in the boxer shorts (most of them anyways). I don’t know what goes on in those stores but all I know is Japan produces the most porn out of all the Asian countries (particularly anime porn). Don’t ask me how I know that.
I’m Getting Homesick! It’s starting to get to me. I’m getting homesick. I miss my family, friends, and Ruby. I know I shouldn’t be homesick since it’s been less than a week since I’ve left. But I am feeling lonely and when realizing that I have 6-7 more months of this type of feeling, it makes this feeling intensify a bit more. Getting a hold of people across seas isn’t only hard because of the time difference but because I haven’t been able to find Internet too much on my trip. I was very sad and I ended up crying. I’m not as strong as I thought I was. I kept thinking that maybe it didn’t matter that I left. Everyone continues on with their lives of course. The world doesn’t stop because of me. Why should it? But I feel like maybe I haven’t made a significant impact enough for people to care. Of course, I started overanalyzing and mentally and physically exhausting myself into tears. Then, finally, my phone rings. It was my mom. She found my hotel’s number surprisingly. I immediately cheered up and felt comforted. Just being able to talk to someone helped me kill these insecurities. And I was back in shape.
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