10 Days in Kyoto
- kirklmiler
- Jul 7, 2019
- 3 min read
After my first 10 days in Kyoto, it would be difficult to narrow down my many experiences to one discovery of the week. It feels as though I have been here a month, when in reality I have been here just over a week. In that time, I have learned to navigate my immediate neighborhood (it's laid out like a maze, with extremely narrow streets and all signs in Japanese.)

I live in the the Kamigyo Ward which is close to the Imperial Palace on Shinmachi-dori ("dori" means street). I have learned my way around a traditional Japanese home, I have managed to do my laundry with all the instructions in Japanese, I have navigated a Japanese grocery store, cooked several meals at home (which I never did before), I have easily ridden my bike and walked 50 miles exploring Kyoto, I have paid utility bills at the local store (all in Japanese, $20 electric bill), I have figured out where to walk the trash and recycling and on which day and I have cleaned out a gutter to stop flooding. All that to say, I feel significantly more productive and useful every day than I ever did back home.

New Japanese word or phrase learned this week:
'Kudasai'
ださい
'Please'
New Food or Drink of the week:
"Sensha Tea"
Sencha (煎茶) is a type of Japanese ryokucha (緑茶, green tea) which is prepared by infusing the processed whole tea leaves in hot water. This is as opposed to matcha (抹茶), powdered Japanese green tea, where the green tea powder is mixed with hot water and therefore the leaf itself is included in the beverage. Read the post in "Discovering Kyoto" about my tea experience under "Monday Meditation."
What I am Listening to:
I am listening to the Audible version of "The Monk and the Lady: Four Seasons in Kyoto" by Pico Iyer. My house is quiet and the streets are silent in my neighborhood after dark. Listening to the account of how Pico Iyer fell in love with the ancient city of Japan while living here, just walking distance from the places he recounts has been an immeasurable experience.
"When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture today -- not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the lunar Japan that still lives on behind the rising sun of geopolitical power.
All this he did. And then he met Sachiko....." (from Goodreads)

What I am Reflecting on…..
I am reflecting with humility and gratitude at how I am now living this experience. How can it be possible that just over a week ago I was living in my quiet little zen space in Austin, Texas feeling rather isolated and cut off from the world and now I sit here writing these words from Kyoto, Japan, one of the most amazing and cultural cities in the world, from a little traditional Japanese house that I couldn't have better imagined for myself, all for half of what I paid back home? I am within walking distance to Buddhist Temples, Zen Gardens, a world-class bakery just steps from my door, eating all kinds of new food, mindfully sipping green tea in the rain overlooking Japanese Maples, taking morning walks around the Imperial Palace and Gardens of Kyoto. It seems impossible to believe. Each day when I wake, I am shocked that I am still here....in Japan.
For today, I simply sit quietly and reflect in gratitude.

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