Japan, Day 8: Shinkansen and Geisha Hunting

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay~  We've been back-posting, so please read these first if you're interested:

Food, Part 3 (day 5 food)

Japan Day 6

Food, Part 4 (day 6 food)

Japan Day 7

We tried to wake up this morning for the sunrise... at 5 AM.  But the sun looked like it beat us to waking up =__=;  (So much for watching the sunrise from the outdoor hot springs bath.)  So we just went  back to sleep XD

When we woke up around 6, we decided to do our 3rd bath :3  We went to the outdoor bath for a little while, used some of the products, and then headed to breakfast.  (By the way, keep track of where you go in the onsen, because sometimes they switch male and female sides from one day to the next.  So actually, when we walked into the women's previously men's side this morning, it kind of smelled like man.  In a bad way.) yeah...it was a little disturbing. good thing we were lathering all these random products on our faces :P

Breakfast was buffet-style similar to the first day, and Tiffy and I tried everything again, of course.  We ended up sitting with Mike, one of the people from our tour group.  He's very nice and travelling on his own for the summer.  He works as a middle school history teacher in Irvine, teaching world and U.S. history.  He's also a coach and apparently likes to travel a lot :)

Then we got ready and went to try the internet connection center... which doesn't work =w=  For some reason the cables hate us or something, so no interwebz QQ yeah we ended up singing in the alcoves until we had to check out of the hotel lol


today, we took the bullet train (shinkansen) to Kyoto, Japan's cultural hub.  The bullet train is absolutely amazing, reaching up to almost 200 miles per hour, even though it doesn't feel that way once you're inside.  Whenever we can, Christine and I will upload a video to show you all :D It took us 2 hours to travel the 300 or so miles from Tokyo to Kyoto.  During that time, a train conductor made his way down to check tickets and a lady pushed down a candy cart---kind of reminded me of Harry Potter :P

Oh we saw a cute old man who looked like the KFC man :3

Ate donburi (rice bowl) for lunch at the station and left for Nijo Castle--a former hotel for the shogun during Japan's Feudal period.  no pics from inside...sorry! and no pics from the garden either since it rained :( boooo

My favorite part of the castle was definitely the nightingale wood floor.  Used as a security measure, the nightingale floor squeaks when people try to walk slowly or sneak onto the floor.  It operates by compressing a small layer of air between the boards of the floor.  pretty cool :D sounded like birds as we made our way through the building.


Gion next---the geisha district.  We visited Yasaka Shrine and the teahouse alley, where many of Gion's geisha houses/teahouses are concentrated.  We even managed to see a couple of them!  Here's a picture of a maiko (apprentice geisha) and geiko (experienced geisha).  You can tell the difference in the shoes that they wear.  Maiko wear more elaborate kimonos and very tall sandals.  Since they lack the talent/experience of geikos, their outfits make up for the rest lol

Geiko

Teahouses

 

Maiko

What was kind of funny to me was that we specifically went geiko/maiko scouting, but it was past their commuting time by the time we got to the street.  (Usually they commute around 5:30 to 6:00 PM.)  So Tiffy and I were just wandering the street taking pictures, when suddenly the maiko came out of the tea house.  Tiffy and I looked at each other, and then we started running after the maiko to take pictures XD;;  It was actually kind of hard.  You'd be surprised at how fast they can walk in those things; she was walking pretty fast.

Several things to note about geishas:

-Geisha can be deemed as an offensive term (i'm using it here because i'm not exactly sure what the real title is)

-Geishas are professional entertainers and artists, not prostitutes.  They are well versed in japanese tradition, etiquette and elegance

-Don't get in their way.  Take pictures from afar but don't stop them or ask to pose with them.  They have somewhere to go

- And don't touch them.  It's considered very rude.

After geisha hunting, Christine and I explored Kyoto a bit by strolling the arcades and visiting the shops.  Ate unagi for dinner (since it's in season) and now we're dead tired lol tomorrow we are heading out to nature? lol not exactly sure but another hot spring hotel tomorrow :D