Golden Week - Kyoto

Golden Week is a time when most Japanese go home for 4 days and spend time recovering from a year of over the top hardwork. I spent it travelling to the south of Japan with a mate in his car. This was unbelievably cheap to do, and has got me interested in travelling around a bit more Japan by car.

There are a lot of temples in Kyoto. Large parts of it are the same as they were 400 years ago. This temple is called Ginkakuji (the silver temple). As you can see there is no silver so its also called the black temple. Its a world heritage site and just walking around it I really wondered why?






















Kyoto is a really small city, and is really easy to get around by bike. This pictures from an area called Gion which is a restored traditional Japanese street.
















The river in Kyoto is a really nice place to hang out and chill. I met a mate of mine down there and we had a few drinks. As we were sat there on the opposite bank a man was jogging along with what looked like abseiling gear on. He stopped turned and started doing bizarre stretches. You see this kind of thing all the time in Japan.

















Right where we were staying was a large temple complex. On the second day we had a look around and found this. Its a traditional bamboo garden and was a real difference from the hustle and bustle outside.
















On the second day we headed over to the westside of the city. This is by far the most spectacular temple, its called Kinkakuj (golden temple) and there were hordes of Japanese saying the same thing again and again (sugoi - great and kire - beautiful) like bleating sheep. It was a nice place to go to though.






































I think pagodas are a Chinese thing, but there were a few in Kyoto. This one is one of the tallest.





















I was cycling around the city, but my mate was skateboarding. I was behind him most of the time, and it was hilarious to see the japanese turn and stare... very funny.


















I visited a proper bamboo forest. Literally five minutes from the city centre.















I'll let you guess the cryptic meaning of this sign.















Arashiyama on the west side of the city was my favourite place to visit. It was a really nice rural area not far from the city. Somewhere to definately go back to.

One day in Matsumoto and a car crash!

This was a very sad day for me, my really nice sports car, the Nissan Skyline, died. I went down to Matsumoto with my mate to have a look around and buy some stuff. On the way back I was driving the way I came. I looked away from the road for about a second, and then I looked back, realised I was driving too fast and slammed into the car in front, then that hit the car infront of it.

This would be the beginning of an entirely new set of problems at my school. When I went in on the Monday, I told the woman at my school who is my "caretaker" that is someone who deals with my shit. I told her what had happened, and my old boss came steaming over shouting "We don't care, we don't want to know! This is your fault." She never actually asked about the situation, but because I didnt speak Japanese, I was more or less powerless to do anything. I had to rely on the school. So this began a long process of talking to the "victims" ( I had been driving at around 30kph about 19mph - hardly fast). However because Id done this I now had to return to Matsumoto and make a statement to the police. My boss told me "You will be fined, you will have to go to court, and you will either be jailed or deported."

When I went to Matsumoto I took a friend of mine who has a Phd in law, and was a car dealer. Needless to say what happened seems incredible and is a fine example of how the Japanese make something out of nothing. We returned to the "scene of the crime" and the police started taking measurements of the road, trying to work out stopping distances etc. I saw the woman in the car in front for the first time since and she was doing her best to look in pain. (The women in the second car, where there was no damage, both went to hospital for a full body checkup!)

I then had to give my statement. The police asked me sets of relevant questions pertaining to the crash. "Do you have any brothers or sisters? When you first came to Japan, did you stay in Tokyo?"

Anyway at the end of the interview, they told me I had been one of the most innocent persons they'd met. And that was it. No court hearing, no deportation. I really truly think that my boss said those things to provoke a reaction in me.

After this, I was brought into the principal and vice principals office for a talk. They began to tell me that it is a tradition in Japan, when there is a car accident, you must go to that persons house, take some traditional Japanese cake and apologise. As they were telling me this I was thinking "There is no way that this is going to happen." I can just imagine this where you all sit in the persons living room in silence for a while, reflecting. Either way I did not do it. Such a giant waste of time that I have now been told is a redundant tradition that no one follows.

In the end I really feel that the process was blown up to such epic proportions because I am not Japanese. Take a look at this website and see what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Japan


So long term implications? My principal told me I could no longer drive my car. The school would no longer support me in any way. I just bought one anyway and things seem to be going okay. But driving in Japan in one of the most stressful experiences something Id like to show you when you get here.