Week 2

It’s been a while since my last post – work has been a bit of a maelstrom; I was in Tokyo all last weekend for training, and as of this week we’ve been one teacher short, so I’ve had a bunch of new classes to cover. But, to spare this blog from becoming completely confusing and unchronological, I’ll continue detailing from my second week in Japan… And what a week!

As I was still adjusting to my new (and challenging) job, I was also inhabiting my apartment in a large way. Possibly my best purchase ever, I bought a beanbag:



Zenkoji Temple is, in essence, the symbol of Nagano, so it only made sense that this was one of the first places I visited. Michie offered to take me, because the gardens of Zenkoji allow dogs, so she could take her Siberian Husky, Hawk. We parked partway up the same mountain from the previous week, and I took some more photos of Nagano. Then we headed down the mountain; it was about a 20 minute walk to the temple. But we’d just arrived when it started raining. Michie opted to turn back and retrieve the car while I explored the temple grounds for half an hour. It was the start of the cherry blossom season, too, which made everything even more beautiful.

I’ll tell you what, when I was inside Zenkoji Temple, I felt really weird. Actually, it took me a few moments after entering to realise that I wasn’t feeling right. Maybe it was the extreme religious significance of the temple, or its incredible historic importance. To me, it felt like more than that. I don’t understand what made me feel that way, but something about being inside that temple seriously creeped me out. It was amazing. (Note: I didn’t take any photos of inside the temple, as it’s disrespectful.)

See slideshow.

There were all sorts of buildings around the temple. At one point, I entered an office-like building. It was strange, because I was the only person in there. Anyway, I walked through these corridors until I found a hallway of glass. Beyond the glass walls was an absolutely beautiful garden, enclosed by buildings. The hallway wasn’t very long, and at the end of it was a door with a big sign on it. It goes without saying that I couldn’t read what the sign said. So, purposefully ignoring the English sign I’d read upon first entering Zenkoji Gardens about not entering restricted zones, I opened the door and entered a new hallway.

I still have no idea whether or not that was a restricted zone, but I was the only person there… and as I crept down the hallway silently, I could hear someone with a vacuum cleaner just around the corner… so I didn’t hang around long to find out! But what I’d entered was another glass hallway, just like the one I’d left, looking out into the same garden but from a different (and superior) view. And from here I could see a blue hose snaking around the leg of a red torii gate… which doesn’t seem like something they’d just leave out for public viewing. (See photo in slideshow.)

What’s even stranger about the mysterious glass hallway I found is that a few weeks later, when I returned to the same office-like building, I wasn’t allowed inside. Perhaps the whole building was off-limits. Who knows?

It’s also worth mentioning that that night I went to a katsu restaraunt with Michie and had the best katsu-don I’ve ever eaten in my life. It was so damn tasty that I had to take a photo of it.