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Konnichiwa :)
Today we have gotten a lot done, so we both feel really good. The day started with a trip to the Golden Temple, the burning down of which was the subject of Mishima's novel 'The Temple of the Golden Pavillion'. The top two floors (of three) are coated entirely in golden leaf, and there is a golden Chinese pheonix on the top. The whole thing is surrounded by a lake and trees, and it looks amazing.
We then moved on to Nijo-castle and its grounds, which was cool - we got to walk through the palace, which had 'Nightingale Floors' to alert the shogun's guards to any intruders that might be attempting to sneak around, secret compartments behind sliding doors, and beautiful wall paintings all over the place. The grounds were also very large and they had some nice trees :P
We also have now experienced a Japanese public bath (my second if you count the capsule hotel's one right at the start of the trip), which was scalding hot, but once you'd gotten used to it, it was really relaxing.
Funnily enough, we've realised today that we've been subjected to persistent racism! It started when some Japanese boys walked past us in a train station after the Gamba Osaka game and started shouting English words at us like "Good Afternoon!" and "How are you?". The next day, a Japanese shop assistant did all she could to not offer us a free sample, which can only be due to our whiteness and not the fact that we were clearly not going to buy anything. Today, the racism upscaled, with a woman refusing to sit next to us at the back of the bus, Japanese schoolgirls laughing near us and arguing over who was going to sit next to us (on a different bus), and a bunch of kids who got their dad to take a picture of us with them at the Golden Pavillion >:(
And so it's been a fun day. Later on, we're going down to the lounge to experience the Japanese rap sensation "DJ Cola" and some other stars of the J-Rap circuit. Then its up at 4am for our train to Fukuoka to catch a plane to Okinawa. Sand, surf, and sun - not a bad way to spend the week!
Ryan x
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