Kyoto: Heaven with Temples and Pig Cafes

Greetings, readers from The Kyoto Personage Library, in Kyoto, Japan!

Studying abroad has been an exhilarating, life-changing experience, just as everyone said. Yet nothing I was told could have prepared me for the soul renovation I find myself in. Not a single part of my being remains untouched by Kyoto, Japan. Japan is changing how I view the world and how I understand the parts of me inside my own world.

Kyoto's sites are in constant change from day to night. I visited Yasaka Shrine in sun rise lighting and again when dark to see the lanterns. I ask Kyoto, "How do I see all of you with your constant change?" and Kyoto asks back,"Is my constant change any different than your own?" Living abroad has challenged me know myself.

My Trip Begins

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Touchdown in Osaka was thrilling. All weariness from 19 hours of travel was erased when I saw the oversized airplane on top of the bean-shaped island, on the airplane maps. I could barely believe the meaning of the map. It clicked that all the memories I would soon be making were taking place in a part of the world that I had only traced my finger over. Southern California was in the literal past, as I sat on the Kansaid International runway, comprehending that I had entered Japan, the land of my new future.

The students who landed together in Osaka took an hour bus ride to Kyoto. I blinked maybe once. Everything was novel, including the highway, as it looked like a mini freeway, as busy as America's but a third the size. Car's license plates had four numbers, sometimes only one. The front of cars, their “faces,” looked softer, somehow less angry than American cars. While driving out of Osaka, we passed over a network of rivers and streams, and I soon came to find out the Osaka airport is, in fact, sinking and every year undergoes construction to bring it back up.

Taken minutes before arriving at our hotel, the cute cars, small balconies, and bear trees were my first pictures of Kyoto.

On February 15th, as we entered Kyoto, I felt intimidated. The streets were complex, and I couldn’t read the signs. The snow-dusted mountain ridges of Mount Hiei looked like the back of a sleeping Godzilla, and the streets were lined with trees that had no blossoms, like skeletal hands reaching up from cement. Winter's chilling presence felt like a dare against us Santa Barbarians. Would the enchantment of this new place become a monster or fairy tale? Upon arriving at our hotel and meeting my roommate, I knew I’d have the help of a great new friend to live out a happy tale. My roommate and I instantly got along, sharing a mindset of awe and gratitude at our luck of living in Kyoto, Japan. With her help, my feelings of intimidation became pure ambition to know the city.

By February 16th, I was already convinced I had found my heaven. On that day, I wrote in my journal, “I am in love with life. I have entered the Kingdom of Heaven. No joke. The airplane went further up than anyone realized…” While this is a dramatic statement, I was already understanding a truth I continue to discover daily. Kyoto encourages me as it is precisely the place for who I strive to be.

Kyoto’s Character

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The city is introverted, as am I. People carry out life without imposing on others, yet no one is blind to their neighbor. Everyone is in tune with those around them and the effects of their actions. I find this neighborly awareness especially demonstrated on city buses.

The first time I took the city bus, I should have made it on one bus. Instead it took me three. After, I was able to laugh about this with my parents. They told me you must get lost when in a foreign country, it is all part of it.

I am a spiritual person, and Kyoto’s famous sights are deeply spiritual. Walk a block, and you’ll find a shrine or temple. The Higashiyama Jisho-ji temple has been my favorite so far. The temple gardens include a Zen garden, a path overlooking Kyoto, and vibrant plants cut into shapes, making a playground for the eyes. After reading “Listen, Think, Accept, Practice, Believe” on a plaque at the Honen-ji Temple that day, I walked through Higashiyama Jisho-ji, repeating the mantra and concentrating on listening. The beauty and peace moved me to prayer. My thoughts could not make sense of my good fortune. In such a spectacular place, at such a pivotal time in my life, I was brought to a feeling of divine presence. I can best describe my experience at the temple as an encounter with heaven.

The Zen Garden at the Higashiyama Jisho-ji temple.

The view of Kyoto from the Higashiyama Jisho-ji temple.

A plaque at Honen-ji Temple.

In Kyoto, the serenity of these temples can certainly be pivoted from. Enter the Teramachi Market to immerse yourself in “cool Japan.” The whirlwind of vendors selling Japanese clothes, stationery, and anime merchandise, are all too “kawaii” to walk past. In the market the best place I found was the MiPig Cafe. In this café, miniature pigs run loose, all adorable and pink with strong personalities. Some of them are cuddly, while others bully their fellow piglets for attention. This experience was straight out of my childhood dreams. Now, the only souvenir I really care for is a micro pig.

Piggies rule the room at the MiPig Cafe in Kyoto. At one point while in the cafe I had three pigs resting in my arms. This experience helped with how much I have been missing my dog.

In Conclusion

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Daily life has never been so appealing. As I walked street 32 on March 3rd, I scrambled to the notes app to type out a thought: “I have never been so constantly alive. There is no detail I already know or think myself above. There is no noise I wish to tune out. Every normalcy for the people here is a spectacle for me. I am the stranger stopping to examine sewage drains and staircases. I have never looked this closely at life, and I will continue to forever .”

Kyoto is opening my eyes to a life of neighborly awareness, spirituality, and new culture. I have a hard time walking in Kyoto without breaking into a goofy, toothy grin, because I am truly happy. I am having the time of my life and my time will continue to richen. Thank you for reading.

Until the next one,

Olivia