"It's Like the Gates, But Better"

So said Deena when we walked through Fushimi Inari Taisha.

But I have bad news. My ID card does say kenkyuusei.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. It was so small that I didn't even notice. The clerk at AU (cell phone shop) pointed it out to me. However, I can peel off the laminate that covers my ID card, so I have to find a way to cover it upto get the student discount.

Anyways.

After the AU disaster, Deena and I trekked on over to Fushimi Inari Taisha. It was quite funny to try and get the one-day pass at the subway station - I was trying in vain to read the Kanji and figure out which one was the best card to get. Luckily, this nice guy helped us out.

So we went to the shrine - it was rather surreal with all the torii, one right after the other:



I never say The Gates in Central Park. because that was when I was in London. The closest thing that I came to seeing The Gates was a piece of fabric that Mel cut off one of the gates.

We didn't go through the whole thing because we had other things to see as well. On the way back down, I got a few Shinto charms: one for Cat because I promised her a Shinto charm to hang from her rearview mirror (and incidentally, I got her the one to protect her while she is driving), one for my sister to help her in her schoolwork, and two for me - the same one for my sister, and one to protect me while I ride my bike (when I get it) to get to school. I also got a cell phone charm as well; since I don't have a cell yet, I put it on my camera.

We had to get back to Kyoto Station to go to Kinkakuji, so we walked around a bit and had lunch. Went to a tonkatsu (breaded cutlet) restaurant. Yum! For about $13, I had pork cutlet, cabbage, rice and miso soup with the free tea that restaurants always have. And, you get free refills of the cabbage, miso and rice - but seriously, I get full now ever since I came here, so I don't eat so much.

So off to Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavillion.



Talk about a retirement home. It was built by one of the shoguns (I know I should know this, so apologies to Profs L and M), but a shogun before the Tokugawa period, as his retreat when he was done with his duties as a shogun. (If I am getting this wrong, please correct!)

Apparently, sometime this fall they are going to open the pavillion to the public - it's only done once every three years in order to preserve the items that are housed inside.

We went back to my house so I can get the location of the lecture on gas lamps. So that I do not bore you, let's just say that on a broader thematic element (namely bumei kaika, or civilization and englihtenment) it was a pretty good idea of me to go to that lecture. It did the job - I got rid of my writer's block that I had all summer since I felt like I was being too wishy-washy on my project. Also, I met up with Professor Smith, whom I met at Columbia and spoke to him last year about grad schools and whatnot. I thought I saw Professor Duus (he is from Stanford, I think) because I heard his name being called and I heard someone respond to it, but I have never seen his picture so I wasn't sure what he looked like. Professor Smith was nice enough to invite me to dinner with other people (he pointed out to a student of his that was at the lecture as well), but I didn't want to leave Deena behind, or drag her to another thing. So we trekked onto Gion.