Farewell to Japan :')

Last post since I am now home ;,) I was very sad to leave but grateful to have made such nice memories and met so many wonderful people. This is a bit of a fat post so please enjoy a cookie while you peruse

Starting from Nov 21, had a nice burrito picnic by the river with my new friends Louis and Aki

This is just nice of some cohort folk and Liliko

Elevator

I dunno

Walking by the river

Yes they have pizza in Japan

And I did this really beautiful hike! Starting at Kokusaikaikan subway station and walking up to the peak of Mt Hiei and then over the top all the way to 

Lake Biwa! It ended up being like 11 miles I think

We had our final wrapup session for the Zazen class and Matsuyama sensei told me I had the best posture in the class for sutra copying so I was very proud of that

Zazen class in the pretty garden

fish friends

Then I took a little trip to see Mount Fuji! Ichigo (いちご) means strawberry so I took a picture with this sign in my strawberry hat

I met these people at my hostel and went on a hike with them! Luckily they did not abduct me but they did lead me through the bushes on the way down

Fujisan!!!

Photo skills credit to Fabian from the hostel

That evening I switched to my glamping site and was quite tired so I laid on this little hammock and just looked at Fujisan for awhile

The next day I woke up early for sunrise and it was so cloudy so it just looked like this and it was very cold but it was still nice

And I made this breakfast with the provided pie iron!!!

Then I went to Lake Kawaguchi and there were very beautiful momiji!!!! It was kinda crazy actually like sO red

Fuji with a little cloud hat

Went to the onsen in my hotel and wore this nice little hotel outfit thing

Next morning got a good sunrise!!!!

And went up the panoramic ropeway

And looked through the 100円 binoculars

And headed back to Kyoto!

Lots of the temples do little night light up event things for the momiji and honestly it wasn't my favorite thing but I did take this nice picture

Here's my face and some leaves

And I finally made it to Kiyomizu Dera which ended up being one of my favorite temples even though it's one of the very very crowded ones it was soooooooooo so pretty at sunset

Also Sandi made me this nice hood thing and hand warmers

Then we had to send off Chloe :( but we had a really fun time before she had to leave and some good cohort bonding

Noh theater experience...

And weekend trip with Liliko to Shirakawago! For some reason I thought it was super close to Kyoto like maybe 2 hours but it was farther than that BUT well worth it I thought

We found one restaurant open when we arrived even though there were literally no lights around and had this super delish meal

The next day it snowed!

And we got very delicious gyuman which is a steamed beef bun thank you cows

Here's us being cute

And this is what Shirakawago actually is it's like an old little town with thatched-roof houses

When I went back to Kyoto I also FINALLY went to the Kasagiyama Momiji Park and hiked around

Very pretty view and the hike was a very short loop so I did it three times

Look at this!!!

Here's a hack if you ever go to Kyoto cos this is NOT at Arashiyama (which is the really famous and crowded Bamboo Forest)!!! Well it kinda is but if you just walk further and go to Adashino Nenbutsuji it has its own little bamboo lane and there is almost no one there and you can take a nice picture like this one all by yourself

And also see these cool guys at Otagi Nembutsuji

Went to Kobe for beef!!! I'll spare you the images because I know someeee people like vegetarians don't need to see that sort of thing but if you want to see it just text me and I'll send it to you. We didn't eat it raw but we cooked it ourselves so all the pictures are of it before it was cooked because once we cooked it we ate it immediately :p

Kobe friends!

And here is a picture from when I got thai food with Aki and they showed me this movie poster they got which is apparently very good. This was I think the first time I hung out with someone and only spoke Japanese for multiple hours so I was really happy about that

And Kayson and I went to Hokkaido to ski! There was basically no snow but still it was fun I stayed at a good hostel and met some nice Australians because freaking everyone in Niseko is Australian and that's no joke

Mt Youtei not to be confused with yotei which means schedule

Bar Gyu which means Bar Cow with a cool fridge door where we also met some more Australians

And it did snow a bit!

Back in Kyoto did this really wonderful mini foods making workshop with Mike and Emiliano. I made the shrimp tempura one!!! I'm very proud of it

And decided to go crazy with my hair cos why not

This is how it turned out!

Had our last little BOSP sponsored meal :,) Sandi and Emiliano organized superlatives for everyone which was very very funny and cute. I got "Down for Anything" which I thought was a good one

Emiliano and I rented kimono! I know some of you are going to think this is cultural appropriation so let's talk about it

Very comfy actually and the shrine we went to Heian Jingu was super beautiful and empty

You can't tell in the picture but this torii gate behind me is massive

Said goodbye to my Pilates teacher Vanessa :,) so glad I found her studio it was really wonderful

And had our last farewell with CASK

Bye to Aki :(

And last meal in Japan in the Itami airport which was actually soooo delicious! 

One last wave to Fujisan and off home ;')

So that's a wrap on my time in Japan! Once again I was very sad to leave but that's just a sign that I had a good time and met nice people that I was sad to say goodbye to. And hopefully I'll be back someday soon...

Miss this guy already... my corn soup!!! Actually I don't think I ever used this vending machine but it's symbolic you know

 Anyway, thanks for following along with my adventures! Cheers and happppyyyy holidays xxx