Fushimi Inari

My stop was the Fushimi Inari station down in southern Kyoto. The first impression of this train stop was awe. I thought that I would be stuck with a boring stop since I randomly picked my train stop but I found it to be very amazing. The first thing I noticed that stood out was the numerous amounts of orange poles in the station. This really made the station stand out because I’d never seen any other station with special additions like that.  My friends and I followed the crowd and close by we came to the entrance of some type of shrine which is called Fushimi Inari Taisha. Lucky for us we came on a day that a matsuri was taking place. The name of the matsuri was called the Ko-In matsuri. 

In the city, there are a number of variety shops and also many interesting sights. The main attraction at my stop is the many torii gates everywhere. There are torii and shrines that lead up the side of the mountain up to the top. That hike is exhausting! But very much worth it. The shrines are dedicated to the Shinto God of rice, Inari. There are many fox statues at the shrines, meant to be the messengers of Inari. 

It took us about 35 minutes from Hirakata to Fushimi Inari. The way I got to Fushimi Inari was by taking the Keihan-Main line, limited express then transferring in Tamababashi onto the Keihan-Main/ Nakanoshima local line. You could also take the Nara JR line.

The photos I took are self-explanatory of how to best describe the city and station. The stop is the city that has thousands of torii leading up to the top of the mountain. It’s an amazing sight and I would recommend anyone who is willing to hike for about 3 hours to go. I learned that I should explore more. I saw a beautiful place on sheer luck and I want to see more of what’s out there. 










http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3915.html

Miyu

This is my friend and roommate Miyu Muto. I didn't choose her just because she's my roommate but because she and I really bond. We spend most nights staying up talking to each other about the most random things and tell one another stories. She’s such a fan girl (as you can tell from the picture). She asks questions about America and how to say certain words in English and I do the same, asking her about Japan. We help each other. We just click.

The reason I chose to write about her is because she and I share many things in common. Her goals are set high and I love that about her. When I met her I asked her what her major was and she said it was English. I then asked her what she wanted to do as a career and she said flight attendant, but that she is too short to be one. We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. I feel that she is a very brave person. She signed up to live with a complete stranger that’s from a different country that shows their emotions in a very different way than the Japanese do for the sake of learning English. She shows a lot of dedication towards her studies.

We once had a serious conversation about how American’s and Japanese express themselves differently. Americans show a lot of sarcasm in their everyday life, while the Japanese don’t really have any and are very reserved. I think she understands and she’s ready to face the challenges that are to come and I know she will overcome them.

She represents Japan in various ways. She’s shy, reserved, but most of all she is kind and humble. I have found most of these traits in most of the Japanese I have met. Even though she has these traits she is willing to be open to change in order to be able to study abroad and travel around the world.