It’s our fourth day in Japan with Adventures by Disney and our last day and night in Kyoto. Since we had a late night yesterday in Hiroshima, today’s gathering began at 9:00 am in the lobby where we boarded our bus for Honpō-ji Temple. On the way there, our Adventure Guides James and Tomomi told us some fun facts about taiko drumming, which we had all seen before at Epcot. These are the types of drums heard at the beginning of Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. We also learned some history of the temple, which is hundreds of years old and a national treasure. We removed our shoes to enter a tatami mat room where there were enough Taiko Drums for each of us to double up on one.
Our instructor led us as a group and it reminded me of elementary school music class. He gave us rhythmic phrases that would help us keep in time with the beat and by the end of the hour, we were playing a complete song together. It was a lot of fun and quite a workout as proper stance is with bent knees and your full arms are used, lifting the bachi sticks high above your head. Our group was divided into thirds and we got to perform for each other. At the end, our instructor honored us with a private performance of an original composition. After leaving, Tomomi told us that he recently did a public performance that sold out.
Returning to our bus, we next went to a cooking studio called Cooking Sun where we learned how to make rolled egg and teriyaki chicken from scratch. We were given bento boxes to keep and we used Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh themed molds to make pressed rice and cheese slices that were Disney-themed. The seaweed accents were precut for us but we had to place them ourselves. At the end, we enjoyed our own creations.
The end of the bento box experience is when our pin of the day was passed out. It says “Bento Momento” and features bento box versions of Mickey, Pluto, Daisy, and Chip. It’s my favorite pin of the trip so far and I can’t imagine they will be able to top it, but we’ll see.
After lunch, we returned to the bus for a true adventure as we traveled to Kameoka to sail down the Hozugawa River back to Kyoto. The 90-minute voyage allowed us to see almost 10 miles of the region along the riverbanks. The river was once used to transport food and building materials from the mountains to the growing city of Kyoto. Today, it is mostly used as a scenic attraction. The boats are the same size as they were hundreds of years ago, but now made of fiberglass. It takes three men to pilot the boat and they rotate between rowing, steering, and a punter (a long pole that hits the bottom of the river as the punter runs along the side). Our three captains were hilarious, answering questions and making jokes as our Adventure Guide James translated.
The region was gorgeous, with several railroads alongside and crossing overhead on bridges. We were lucky to see on stop at a station on a bridge, which is rare to see from the river. Some parts of the mountain sustained a lot of damage during a typhoon last year and the river flooded. We could see the water line from where the water line was. We also passed by the remnants of the foundation from what was once an ancient samurai’s home along the river. The river brought us back to Arashiyama, which we explored on Day 2.
We returned to our hotel after the river ride and Adventurers had two options: an evening on your own in Kyoto or an optional excursion to Osaka’s famous Dotonbori district, full of shops and restaurants and flashy signage. The bus ride took almost an hour each way and our Adventure Guides walked the group down the street, pointing out their recommendations for dining and shopping, particularly where to find rare flavors of Kit-Kat.
Off the beaten path was a moss covered Buddha statue at a small but busy temple. It’s the only one of its kind and legend has it that a young girl who was sick and dying doused the statue in water before praying to live. Her prayers were answered and moss began to grow. The temple decided not to wash it off and now visitors can make an offering and use a ladle to pour water on the Buddha as they make a prayer of their own.
One last stop before disbanding was the Glico running man sign. Glico is famous for making Poky and this sign is known to change, particularly if there are sporting events going on. The running man was wearing a Japanese jersey on our visit.
On our own, Fanboy and I made a pilgrimage to the nearby Disney Store, which had a different design than the one in Kyoto. A train boarded the downstairs full of Disney characters. Upstairs, we found a Tokyo Disneyland ticket desk and they even sold some music from the park, which we picked up in anticipation of our visit at the end of the trip.
For dinner, we chose a restaurant called Bikkuri Donkey famous for “Hamburger steak,” which is similar to Salisbury Steak for Westerners. I had one with pineapple on it and ordered a “Western Set” as a side, which included radish salad, a bowl of rice, and corn pottage (Japanese corn soup). I’m not sure what about it was Western, but it was delicious.
Next we explored an arcade full of gashapon machines (capsule prizes) and crane games with lots of Disney character prizes.
Another food recommendation was melon buns and we got ours with vanilla ice cream. It was like a giant cream puff, but better. I wish we could get these back home.
On our sleepy bus ride back, our Adventure Guides gave us instructions for the morning. We will be checking out and leaving Kyoto and Adventures by Disney will handle all of our luggage. It’s going to be an early morning, but we have lots of sights to see on our way to the Japanese Alps.