Exploring Japan Part 3: Kyoto | Hospital | Fushimi Inari Taisha | Bamboo Forest

Here we are exploring the healthcare system in Japan as Lynn goes to a Japanese hospital!

Our travel guide (with costs!) to Japan:

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MUSIC ♪

Geotheory (Remix) by Ramzoid

Kagerou by Kaoru Wada
Ninja Scroll OST

Danse Morialta by Kevin MacLeod

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Kyoto Script:

JAPAN TRAINS AND JAPAN RAILWAY PASS:
No seriously, these things are shockingly punctual, we’re talking an average delay time of only 36 seconds punctual. The Shinkansen network of high speed trains has been operating in Japan for over half a century when the first line opened in 1964 connecting Tokyo and Osaka…Since then, the network has expanded into one of the most modern and reliable transportation systems in the world, with nearly 10 billion passengers served to date. Exactly 2 hrs and 17 mins after leaving Tokyo, we arrived at our destination, eager to explore… but of course murphy’s law had to kick in and mess everything up….

JAPANESE HEALTHCARE / HOSPITAL VISIT:
It was only 3 weeks ago that I found myself in a South Korean hospital with chest infection.. and now here I was again in Japan with a UTI… Annoying? Yes, but we were also lucky to have this happen in two of the best countries to get sick in as an uninsured foreigner. The whole ordeal only took about an hour and a half, which included a consultation, testing, and a prescription for antibiotics…

FUSHIMI INARI SHRINE:
About 10 mins outside of downtown kyoto at the base of Mount Inari sits the shinto shrine: Fushimi Inari Taisha. A site famous for hundreds of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails that lead you 4 km into a wooded forest. Once we got past the hordes of people all vying for that perfect shot of the torii gates, we found ourselves pretty much alone deep within the gardens and sub-shrines. Fushimi Inari was built to worship the shinto and buddhist deity named Inari, the God of rice and prosperity and his fleet of messenger foxes. In Japan, the fox is considered a powerful ally in warding off evil influences as they themselves are magical and tricky shape-shifters. We didn’t see any foxes roaming the shrine but from the looks of it, another tricky creature had taken their place….

ARASHIYAMA BAMBOO GROVE / BAMBOO FOREST:
On the outskirts of Kyoto lies another iconic and photogenic site “The bamboo forest of Arshiyama” – much like the Fushimi Inari shrine, this was another one of those super idyllic, desktop wallpaper type places that we’ve dreamt about visiting for years. Now, if you do an image search on this place, the results will come back with what looks like a magical and forgotten trail where you’ll be alone amongst the towering bamboo stalks. That was the expectation, but the reality was something more like this…

KYOTO THOUGHTS:
So what can I say about Kyoto? Am I thankful for my time here? Yes. Is it everything I thought it would be? Not really. Now in all fairness, the whole going to the hospital thing definitely had an impact on our momentum ,but if I had to sum it up in one thought, it would be that while we SAW things in Kyoto… we EXPERIENCED Tokyo. For us, our Kyoto visit served as a reminder that having a memorable trip isn’t defined by how many desktop wallpapers you check off the list. Rather, it’s about experiencing the place you’re in by interacting with your environment, and getting a sense of the local vibe. Less seeing, more doing. So with that in mind, we set out with our remaining time in Kyoto looking for a uniquely Japanese experience that we still hadn’t fully explored

IZAKAYA:
Ok so this is it, the most memorable part of our short stop in Kyoto was the food, now… our restaurant going experience was great, if a bit embarrassing at times due to our cluelessness, but things really got serious when we stumbled upon our first Izakaya
Think of an Izakaya as a small pub with tons of atmosphere and most importantly, some of the best food you’ve ever tasted. This is exactly the experience we were looking for.

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Watch: “Exploring an abandoned part of Zhangjiajie National Park in China”

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