Sightseeing, the Right Way:

Kyoto was the 2nd capital of Japan before it was moved to Tokyo. It is an older city with way too many shrines, temples and monuments. The day we went was incredibly rainy which made the sightseeing a little difficult. We hopped a bus and went to start the sightseeing. We went to Nishi-Huganji and watched this really bizarre Buddhist ceremony. We also got to see Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion), the Gion District where all the Geisha houses are, and Nijo Castle which offered a beautiful view of an entire piece of property that was once the castle of the shogun. (Rumor is parts of the Last Samurai were filmed there) Now just sightseeing can start to resemble family vacations when your father made you walk the perimeter of Gettysburg battle field in the scorching heat when all you wanted to do was shop. I admit, it wasn’t the most stimulating thing although it was pretty amazing to see some of the architecture. Just when I was starting to lose enthusiasm, Kate Sam and I boarded a city bus and soon after were in the company of four 15year old Japanese school students. This was a long bus ride and we noticed the one girl would rest her head in her hands and just stare at the three of us. When we would look over at her, she would giggle and look away. After 15 minutes of this I looked her in the eyes and said hello. They all got so worked up! We spent the next 20 minutes talking about everything from school to Britney Spears’ new baby. At the same instant, the little girl and I both took out our cameras and took a group picture. They were so excited, she dug through her bag and pulled out three little paper cranes she had made. Kate had a few American $1 bills in her bag so she gave each of them one. Then we gave them some American gum and they gave us some Japanese candies. The best part was that we knew we would leave the bus to tell everyone we encountered about the amazing Japanese children we met. We knew at the same time, all the children would go home and tell their parents and spend the whole next day talking about their new American friends.