Demachi Masugata Shotengai // My New Home ^_^

When I moved house almost 2 weeks ago I had no idea know what to expect from my new local area. I knew its location on the map, I knew that it was fairly central in Kyoto, and that was all that mattered to me. Turns out it was a wonderful choice for more than just the location. My favourite thing about living here has been a total surprise; the Demachi shopping arcade just outside my house. 

I think this place is an absolute gem in Kyoto. I pass through it every morning on my way to Kamogawa river, and it feels like I'm being transported back in time. Each shop has its speciality; fruit & veg, tofu, mochi, fish, tempura, beans, all sorts. Instead of heading to the nearest supermarket  for everything I need, I find myself dashing back and forth between the shops buying things one by one and slowly trying to make myself familiar with each one.

Actually, this is a much cheaper way to shop in Japan. For fruit & veg in particular, the supermarkets have unbelievably high standards and only buy/sell the very best products for crazy high prices. I think that this sucks for the farmers, the consumers and the environment. Demachi market on the other hand doesn't have to meet these standards and buys straight from the producers; life suddenly becomes much cheaper, you still get great food, and you're helping to keep the wonderful local community alive. Win win win. 

But aside from the cheaper cost, I just love the atmosphere in this street. The shop-owners are always popping out to chat to each other and recognise many of the faces that go past. I live in Brighton back in the UK which is known for being full of creativity and vibrancy, but I've never experienced anywhere with a community quite like here. I guess lots of places used to be like this, when we didn't have convenience and department stores at our disposal. It's awesome that Demachi market keeps doing what it's doing and I feel very happy to be a small part of it. 

Demachi Shotengai actually inspired the setting for a well-loved Japanese anime called Tamako Market. It follows the adventures of a girl whose family owns a mochi (rice cake) shop there. I'm 2 episodes in, and although it might be aimed at an audience a *little* bit younger than me, it's still really adorable and easy to watch. I love spotting parts which I recognise from real life - you can see below the flag bunting and the 100yen shop which are both real features. 

Anyway, rather than brushing off the anime as childish pop-culture the market seems to have embraced it - you can see little touches everywhere, in particular the hanging posters on the street. Fans of the anime come to the market to see the real-life setting, and in one of my favourite restaurants there's a guestbook with notes and drawings from the visitors. It has given the market a little bit of a celebrity status and the shop-owners seem happy to use that to their advantage.

Some of my favourite shops...

 

1) This fruit and veg shop. 

Anyone who has lived in Japan will know that 280yen for a big bunch of grapes, or 150yen for a bag of 10 carrots is amaaazing. If you haven't lived in Japan then that's really boring information for you, but it makes me very happy. 

2) The 100yen shop. 

100yen is roughly 75p, so it's like Poundland in the UK but even better. It sells stationary, kitchen equipment, household goods, food, decorations, anything you can think of. OK I know this is a huge chain in Japan and not exactly one of the quaint local shops I have been talking about, but as a broke student this place will always have a special place in my heart.

3) The okonomiyaki, takoyaki and taiyaki stands 

These don't 100% count as Demachi Shotengai since they're just outside, but I still consider them part of the street. Okonomiyaki is hard to describe, but it's kind of like a.. fried cabbage potato pancake. It used to be what poor people in Japan ate because it's just a mish-mash of easy ingredients - kind of like bubble and squeak in the UK (potato, cabbage & any other roast dinner leftovers fried together). But then they add things like squid or seaweed to make it more... Japan. Takoyaki is octopus fried in batter. Taiyaki is fish shaped pancakes, usually filled with red-bean paste or custard. I tend to avoid the takoyaki since I still can't get my head around octopus, but if I need a quick and cheap lunch then okonomiyaki and taiyaki do the job perfectly and are only 400 yen together (less than £3 and much better/more filling than a UK meal deal). 

So yes, as you can tell, I love my new area. Obviously my location in relation to Kyoto city was the main selling point but actually, I could stay within the 10 minute radius of my house and probably be happy for the rest of the year. 

This link has loads more information about the history of the market so I'm going to leave it here and come back to read it when I'm not drowning in work and to-do lists:

http://likeafishinwater.com/2014/04/18/demachi-masugata-shotengai/

Day Out in Arashiyama

Arashiyama is a district in the west of Kyoto which is hugely popular with tourists. Eager to see what all the fuss was about, me and my friend headed their on a day off from university. Our first stop was one of the most famous sights in Kyoto - the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Having seen tons of Instagrams and read countless blogs about how the bamboo grove 'feels like another world', I armed myself with my camera and expected to be instantly transported to a Ghibli-esque land. I have to say, I was a little bit disappointed. 

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. I love the sound of bamboo moving in the wind and how small you can feel stood in the middle of the towering trees. I haven't seen bamboo so densely packed or well looked after anywhere else. But... firstly, I was disappointed by how short the path was. It's only 500 metres, which at a normal pace would take like 5 minutes. Obviously, it's really beautiful so you want to take your time and soak up all the magic, but that's kind of hard to do with how busy it is. You have to be constantly alert for cyclists or rickshaws running past, and navigate your way carefully past all the selfies/photos. Hence I don't really have any photos of it to share, despite it being one of the most Instagrammable places in Japan (I also left my ISO setting on way too high so I am partly to blame..). I completely understand why it's recommended to come very early in the morning; I can imagine how at that time, with the light just coming through the trees and no other people about, it could feel otherworldly. But for me, it was more of a pleasant stroll than an event in itself. 

However!!! The rest of the day in Arashiyama more than made up for it. At the end of the bamboo grove we visited Jojakko-ji temple, which actually felt more magical with its mossy hills, lanterns and beautiful view of Kyoto. After that we headed down to explore the main street of Arashiyama. According to InsideKyoto, the main street is 'nothing but a tourist circus' and time would be better spent in the bamboo forest. I would disagree. There was such a lively buzz, a lot of really unique shops and tons of things to look at. My favourite shop was the 'craft museum of Arashiyama' which sold hanging mobiles and other handmade crafts that were an absolute treat for the eyes.

Next on the list was the Arashiyama Monkey Park on Iwatayama. So I actually wasn't sure how much I wanted to do this bit of the day. I know Japan doesn't always have the best treatment of animals so I thought it might make me sad, it was getting a bit late and cold, and it was a big old hike up the mountain to reach it. But it was only about 500yen so we went for it, and I am SO glad! Firstly, the monkeys (Japanese Macaques or snow monkeys) aren't confined at all. It seemed like a kind of similar set up to the deer in Nara, where they are reliant on the humans for food so choose to hang around but aren't forced to be there. There were no fences and no cages. I really enjoyed watching them... though from a safe distance, since they kept getting into fights and were definitely capable of getting quite aggressive. 

But the monkeys weren't the only attraction; the top of the mountain also had the best view of Kyoto I have seen yet. And that's saying something, because I already seem to have viewed Kyoto from about 20 different angles around the city. We were there at about 4.30pm so the light was just starting to fade and (sounding like a broken record here) it was really really magical. Once the sun had set it started to get super cold so we headed down, spent a little bit of time looking at the peaceful Togetsukyo bridge then headed back to the station. 

We hadn't really eaten all day so I finished off with a warm Chinese style dumpling to get me through the journey home. It was an exhausting day but so much fun and I definitely think that Arashiyama deserves all the hype it's got - though not for the place it's best known for. Unfortunately this visit was just before the leaves started changing so we didn't get to see any of the beautiful colours, but maybe I'll head back for sakura season and try to catch the bamboo at a better time of day.

Autumn at Hieizan

Whenever I used to get nervous about coming to Japan, the best way to relax myself was to go on Google images and look at pictures of Kyoto in autumn. It's fair to say I was pretty excited for the season to start. However, the most beautiful viewing spots in the city centre also come with the cost of being mad busy around this time of year. Luckily for me, a friend offered to drive to the (much quieter) top of Mount. Hiei 比叡山 to do some maple leaf exploring!

Hieizan lies North East of Kyoto, between Kyoto and Shiga prefecture. At the top of the mountain is Enryaku-ji, a huge Buddhist monastery which is the headquarters of the Tendai branch of Buddhism. It's location in the North East is important, since this direction is bad luck in Fusui (the Japanese version of Feng Shui) - building the monastery at the top of Mount Hiei thus protects Kyoto from all the bad vibes coming that way. 

Enryaku-ji was founded in 1788 by a monk called Saicho. At this time the 6 main schools of Buddhism, based in the old capital Nara, were becoming increasingly corrupt so the Emperor wanted to support and encourage new branches - Tendai became the main one (though this branch didn't remain free from corruption either..). Tendai Buddhism was more accessible to the general population than previous branches had been, and pretty much all of the Big Dog's in Japanese Buddhist history studied at Enryaku-ji monastery at some time or another. In more recent news - it faced a huge scandal in 2006 because it accepted a ton of money from the Yakuza (like the Japanese mafia) to host a ceremony for their former leaders. Not very Buddhist of them. A lot of temples are really struggling to find money these days, so I guess it was desperate times. So yes, it's a really important place if you're into Japanese religion/history. But even if you're not into any of that, it's still beautiful!

Enryaku-ji is made up of 3 large areas, which I think would be hard to fit into 1 day if you really want to enjoy it all. After an amazing drive up the mountain we started with the biggest area which is called Todo:

Lovely maples, lovely buildings, all good. However it was still a little busy so we wandered off the path for a while and came across a smaller closed-up temple called Honen-do. Honen is super important in Japanese Buddhism since he founded the popular Jodo-shu/Pure Land branch, so it was surprising to find that a temple where he studied was so quiet and inconspicuous. Even though it was closed, the old lady looking after it noticed us and invited us in which led to my favourite part of the day! She sat us down, explained the history of the temple to us and then made us tea. But making tea isn't a straight forward thing in Japan. First there was the green tea and biscuits, then there was matcha and red-bean wafer sweets, then some type of black tea. She said she wanted to make us lunch too but didn't have enough ingredients. I don't think I'll ever get over how welcome some Japanese people can make you feel. She also let us practice calligraphy! Since I can't even read kanji let alone write it, I assume mine was awful, but it was really fun and relaxing anyway. It was a completely random find but we ended up spending hours there - the best kind of day :D 

When we finally dragged ourselves away we were really hungry so got some soba noodles and more tea before moving on. 

The final part of the day... the lovely old lady recommended the Yokawa area of Enryaku-ji which is the least visited. She said it would be quieter, and that it had the best momiji (maple leaves) at that time. She was definitely right! It was so peaceful there and the colours were insane. By this point I was a bit history-d out so just wandered round enjoying the views instead of reading up on what everything was.

It was a really great day and I'm so glad the autumn leaves lived up to my hours of Googling imaging. Enryaku-ji is quite a hassle to get to (easiest by car but there are expensive tolls, alternatively you can get the bus or cable car) but I think it's worth it and can fill up at least a day. The old lady at Honen-do was very enthusiastic about seeing us again so I guess I'll have to return!