3. Heian Shrine

This day started in a pretty bad way. First, there was the language test that the university insisted I attended despite knowing that I didn't speak any Japanese... which they then sent anyone who didn't know any Japanese straight out of. That was followed by a welcome orientation conducted almost entirely in... Japanese. I'm really wishing that I had worked harder to learn the language before I came out here - everyone else seems to be miles ahead of me and I do feel quite out of my depth at the moment - but on the plus side I'm super motivated to work as hard as I can now.

We then spent a while in Kyoto trying to sort out my friends student Visa. This should have been a fairly straight forward process, but as we were quickly learning, there doesn't seem to be such thing as a straight forward process here. I was feeling quite dejected by this point, but my friends (who are luckily 1000x more knowledgeable about Kyoto than me) knew of a great shrine nearby and we headed there to end the day on a much happier note.

This is Heian Shrine (平安神宮). It was build in 1895 - very recent for Japanese history. Less than 30 years earlier, the capital had moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, and the people of Kyoto were very anxious about the city losing its importance in Japan. Projects like this were part of the 'Kyoto Revival' to help reinforce its status and signify a new, equally prosperous era for the city. Temples like Heian Shrine aren't just single buildings, they are entire... complexes. So much thought clearly goes into the placement of all the structures/gardens and you could easily spend a whole day wandering round finding new things. That photo of the water with leaning cups is a temizuya, they have them at every shrine and you use the cups to wash your hands/mouth to purify yourself before approaching. Aside from being a religious ritual, it's also super refreshing in Japanese humidity. Anyway, after looking at the buildings we paid 600yen to enter the gardens. This was my favourite part BY FAR:

These gardens really were amazing. I would walk through one section with a particular style (for example the first area was very dense, green and mossy), think I had finished the whole thing then come across a huge new section with a completely different aesthetic. It was like walking through a maze. At the end, we sat on the bridge which you can see in one of the photos overlooking a huge lake and spent a long time watching the koi fish and turtles swimming around. I'm really glad that I was with friends who seemed as happy as me to go round at a slow pace rather than getting bored and rushing through it. By the time we were out it was closing time, and I was feeling much more chilled than I had been a few hours earlier :p I'd like to visit again in Autumn when all the leaves are turning, and apparently Heian Shrine is also one of the best places in Kyoto for cherry blossom viewing in Spring. Although having said that, what I loved about visiting on this day was the quietness and stillness of it - something I don't think I'll experience again in the peak seasons.

I'm 3 weeks into life in Japan and there still seems to be no end to the problems we are having to deal with to get settled here. But despite everything that Japan is lacking, places like this make it so worth all the hassle!