1/5 Nara and Yamatokoriyama

We woke up bright and early at around 7 am today. Ritsu-tei and I were going to go to Nara, but Kim was going elsewhere. I went and ate breakfast at Matsuya.

We went to the station and took the train to the closes station to Nara Park. Despite being considered very rural, Nara is one of the foremost locations in the kansai area besides Osaka and Kyoto. A long time ago it was the capital of Japan, but now it is primarily known for its massive Buddhist temples and oceans of deer. Near the park, you could buy deer cookies (shika-senbei) that were specially made by the "Protect Nara Park Deer Association" and when the deer noticed you had them, they would come to mug you. I was surprised, those deer were very bold and scary!

After successfully evading the deer, and getting a selfie with one, we walked a couple minutes North to the famous Todaiji Buddhist Temple. It is a massive wooden structure, with a massive Buddha statue inside, and was originally built around 1200 years ago. It was funny, when I was inside the temple I video called my parents, who were at my Grandma Bev's house, and talked to them while I showed them around. 

Since we had time we went to the Nara National Museum. I don't remember too much, it was mainly Emperor and Buddhist things because that is what this area is known for. Ritsu-tei taught me how to tell what kind of god a Buddhist statue represented. I don't remember to much because we weren't really allowed to take pictures, but I bought some cool souvenirs.

After that we walked back to train station. Ritsu-dei and I took the train to Yamatokoriyama.

Why is Yamatokoriyama so important that I would put it in the title? You wonder. Well, when I began learning Japanese in middle school, my Japanese teacher taught us about the "Goldfish Town" in Japan. She talked about how everything there was goldfish, and I was very excited about it. So, one time after she came back from a trip, she gave me a folder that depicted a map of the entire area. Since then, I had always wanted to visit that town.

On the way there, I could tell we were getting significantly more rural than the already "rural" city of Nara. Buildings were becoming more spaced apart and the acreage of grassy fields was increasing. When we arrived, it felt like a very quiet town. There were few people around, and almost every store was closed due to the Hatsumoude holiday. I had already decided that the two of us were going to have lunch at the "Goldfish Cafe." I have followed their facebook account since middle school. As we walked down the narrow streets, we noticed more and more goldfish themed items. From cigarette ashtrays to live goldfish aquariums that lined the streets. When we arrived at the cafe, this place was by far the most decorated. Outside of their building they had a vending machine (which had ramune soda as the options) with LIVE goldfish swimming inside of it. We were impressed.

We went inside the cafe and said "two please." We were seated towards the back. Not that the building was large enough to really have a "back." As we walked through, we started noticing all of the goldfish tanks and decorations. They seemed to decorate the entire cafe for Summer. That meant bright red, white, and blue coloring with fans, goldfish, lanterns, and festival shirts lining the walls. Their menu looked pretty nice. I ordered a type of Summer or goldfish themed pasta, and a Goldfish soda. I'm not sure what my friend ordered.

As we waited, I walked around and looked at all of the fish and decorations, and took some videos which you can find below. I thought the food was good, and Ritsu-tei and I discussed why my drink was called "Goldfish Soda." It was probably because of the colorful "goldfish-looking" fruit. Despite the outside being miserably cold due to it being January, it was pleasantly warm inside of the cafe. It just really felt like Summer, y'know?

When we were done we went to talk to the owners about where we should go check out next. This is where I told them about why I had decided to go, and where we came from (Ehime). She told us to go check out a souvenir store named "Koraku-ya" which was all goldfish themed, a museum called "Hakomoto-kan," and a historic wagashi dessert shop named "Honke Kiku-ya."

We said thank you and headed out towards our first location, the souvenir store. It turned out, however, that it was also closed! So, we walked over to the museum. It was interesting. It depicted a way in which people in the area would use indigo dye to make blue tye-dye shirts. You could pay to try it, but that was about it. They also showed off some pottery. So, we went off to the last location. There, it was just an open-air shop with some elderly ladies who paid us no mind. We each bought one piece of wagashi, which was rather expensive, and I decided that we should go talk to the owner again.

We went back, I told them that it was closed, and asked if I could try their "kingyo-sukui" or "goldfish scooping" in English. This is a Summer festival game where you try to scoop goldfish into a cup using a paddle with a very thin sheet of paper over it. Whatever fish you scoop, you can take home, however this was just for fun. We each bought three paddles and went. I ended up scooping 23 fish! After that, I still wanted a souvenir, and decided that I would purchase one of their custom, hand-made goldfish mugs. 

We said our thank yous and goodbyes, and decided to try to go see the goldfish ponds. To get there, we had to go on a long walk through alleys and farms. But we made it. All of the stores were closed unfortunately, But we saw heaps of goldfish. We still had time, so we walked up to the ruins of Koriyama Castle. There was a good view, and no castle. Then we went back to the station, and back home all the way to Osaka.

When I got back, I checked Facebook and saw that the Goldfish Cafe owner made a post. She said the following:

"Today,

from Ehime,

was a middle schooler 8 years prior,

started studying Japanese in America!

The Japanese teacher,

introduced the Goldfish town.

"8 years ago, I followed the Kingyo Cafe Facebook.

I've always wanted to come" he said.

I heard that he is in the middle of studying abroad,

and he took advantage of the break to come to the store!

To receive a story so lovely,

I am so happy that tears come down.

Thank you so much!"