Temples, Markets, and Gelatinous Food

What a day. We started off taking the subway to a monastery complex. Within the compound, there are maybe a dozen different temples for the various sects of Buddhism. We went in three. There were beautiful rock gardens, amazing architecture, and treasures (like the oldest gun in Japan). It rained off and on while we were there which made the experience all the more interesting; the colors were supersaturated, it quieted surrounding city noise, and the rain on the temple roofs was very Zen (ha). Instead of having the gutters run completely to the ground, they stop about two inches up so a pool forms underneath, and the water drips into it making a soothing noise.

And then we went to a mall. A bright, neon, fish-head on ice, high-top shoe-selling, covered mall. Well, not really, it's more like a street in Kyoto that's been covered with a roof, so there were tons of storefronts and shops for probably 10 blocks on two parallel streets. I guess a covered market would be the right term. So from Zen to consumerism. From there, we walked by the river, explored a building (the Time's [sic] building by Tadao Ando) on the river, and then headed to dinner. We had a traditional meal served in courses, and we made our own tofu at the table. It was, needless to say, an experience. Here's a video of Jeremy trying to pick up this clear, gelatinous, blob piece of food with chopsticks that was a part of the first course.



I ate the same thing, and this is the face I made... it was sick. I really tried to hold it together, I really did. And don't worry, there was no one other than our group in this room, so I didn't embarrass America by being a child about gross food.