JUST IN KYOTO!

So im just sending another update from Japan! Im in the old capital of Japan, Kyoto! Its such an amazing place! Im so glad to be over here in spring! its just so beautifuL!

I went over to the Kinkaku-ji or the golden pavillion. Which i have pictured. Kinkaku-ji is a zen temple. The top two levels of the pavillion are covered in gold leaf. Kinkaku was known as Rokuonji and it was a retirement home for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu until he died in 1408. He had in his will that he wanted it to be a Zen temple. The temple was built over a large pond. The structure has burnt down many times but most recently it has been rebuilt in 1955 after it was burned down in 1950. The temple is the last building left on the property that used to be a retirement village. I threw a coin at the coin toss statues, so hopefully now i will have good luck! This was the most amazing place i have ever seen!
When i was at the Golden pavilion i had tea in the japanese tea house known as sekka-tei. it wasn't a traditional tea or tea ceremony but i got to have a frothy green tea accompanied by a traditional tea ceremony sweet. The sweet was accented with gold to show the love for the Kinkaku-ji. I have it pictured for you here !

I also went to a place called Osaka on my way to Hiroshima. In Osaka i went to the annual cherry blossom festival. It was so amazing to see, the traditional dancing and the lighting of the lanterns. I went to the Osakajo Nishinomaru Garden which is part of the Osaka Castle Park. It was so cool to see a traditional japanese ceremony, as well as those amazing pink blossoms ! 

so right now im on my way to Hiroshima, i've been practicing making my paper cranes to place at the hiroshima peace park! 

Blog 3

grace xxx

SPENDING A COUPLE DAYS IN JAPAN!

Konichiwa, watashiwa grace desu! that means hello, my name is Grace! Im learning something new every day over here! So how's everyone going in Australia?!  I do wish you were all here! the other night we went out for dinner to a traditional Japanese Restaurant and got some lovely Tempura Vegetables! They were delicious! Tempura is a light batter made out of egg, flour and water. you can dip vegetables and seafood in the batter which is then fried :) as im not a seafood eating person i stuck with vegetables which mmmmm were yummy! 



The next day I went to the Spring Festival and the Meiji Shrine :) This Shrine i have learned was made to honour Emperor Meiji who died in 1912, and his wife Empress Shoken who died in 1914. This shrine is used for many festivals including the spring festival! The major events at the Spring festival are:
   - Bugaku 
   - Japanese classical music and dancing 

   - Satsuma biwa
   - Japanese-style archery meet 

   - Noh and KyogenIt was a really fun festival to go to and i really enjoyed myself! We had beautiful spring weather for the festival which was about 27 degrees ! which in spring is a typical day in Japan :)


DID YOU KNOW?: Japans population is 127,560,000!


On the way to the train station I had some Miso soup! Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup. It is made of a dashi stock and can have many different ingredients in it, depending on where you are and the season. I had miso soup with tofu pieces and seaweed, it had a very nice flavour. 


Late that night I caught a bullet train which in japan is called a Shinkansen. It was extremely fast and extremely cool! I traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto, the place i was most looking forward to visiting! 


Ill update you in a couple days of how amazing Kyoto is! From what I've seen already, It is so beautiful, Sayonara! or in english goodbye! 


Blog 2! 
grace xx <3

THE FIRST COUPLE DAYS IN JAPAN!

HEY GUYS! So I got to Tokyo, Japan really early in the morning! I am so tired from the flight but i went and changed over my dollars to some yen! Now i can buy whatever i want ! Including some delicious Japanese food!

 At the airport i saw maccas ! i was pumped as but then i thought, hey! why not have some yummy japanese food so i ended up buying some gyoza dumpings. I must tell you it was delicious! Gyoza are dumplings that can either be deep fried, steamed, boiled or pan fried. I did get mine pan-fried which is the most common way of eating them! the dumplings have a filling inside which can vary with who makes them, but mine had some ground pork and cabbage. i was told that they originated in china but were brought into japan in the 17th century. 

After we got picked up by our tour guide we got taken to our hotel. It was so great to lie down on a bed! i had a bit of a nap before we went on our first shopping trip in Japan! Lucky i knew some Japanese which is the language that they speak in Japan because it was really helpful! I went shopping in the Hello Kitty Shop! It was so cool! As you can see in the picture it was big! I didnt know there was so much hello kitty stuff in the world! I saw a Hello Kitty toaster! it toasts the hello kitty logo on your toast! HOW COOL! Hello Kitty originated in Japan in 1974 which is 36 years ago! Hello Kitty was originally made to bring out the preteen girl in every girl. It was first made on a plastic coin purse ! See i am learning a lot while i am over here ! 

For Lunch after our shopping trip we went to a little sushi bar we found. It was the most amazing sushi i think i had ever eaten! For those of you who do not know, sushi is seaweed rice some salads and most of the time a some sort of meat or fish. As we know i DO NOT like fish i was a little worried because it is most commonly filled with seafood. Luckily i had some sushi that was filled with chicken teriyaki, it was  very tasty indeed. On the outside of the sushi was the seaweed witch had rice around it in the middle, then inside that was some cucumber along with other vegetables. 

So now im back at the hotel blogging about my awesome day! but i think i best start getting ready for tonight and tomorrow ! We are going out for tea tonight and i really hope i get some Miso Soup or some Tempura vegetables! I have heard they are great ! I'll keep you posted ! 

Blog number 1!

Grace <3 xxx