I was always excited to face another morning in Japan, I woke up without any hesitation and even before the alarm rang. I checked my blister from yesterday snow storm, and it got better. Suddenly, i remembered yesterday was a blizzard, so i also checked out the street from my window. it was decorated with snow!!! (the kid inside me is literally screaming).
(snow piled up)
We had breakfast at Lawson to save up some time today, my pick was onigiri set and Sakura latte with crushed strawberry from Starbucks. It was dope!! out of the nice line of foods galore, i chose the onigiri set, why? it was convenient and cheaper than one onigiri (lol).
(there are 2 lawsons nearby my hotel)
(powerful breakfast with Onigiri set for 2)
(contains: 2 onigiris, tamago or egg roll, salmon, Hijiki or brown vegetable)
(Starbucks' Sakura Latte edition with crushed strawberry)
With full tummies we went to Kyoto Station (which is only 5 minutes walk from my hotel) to buy the one day pass bus for Kyoto area. It's only for 500 yen and we could take as many bus as we want in one day. In Kyoto, it’s cheaper to ride bus with daily pass than take the various railways company. JR's railways itself only cover 3 lines (Sagano, Tokaido and Nara). Kyoto bus is using a flat rate 230 yen to go to anywhere within the inner Kyoto zone (almost all attractions are covered). So, if you take 3 bus, your deposit is all paid off.
How to take bus in Kyoto with daily passes
(Kyoto Station: one of the biggest and expensive station in Japan)
(Kyoto Railway system)
After we had bought the bus ticket, we took JR train to Inari Station for seeing the No 1 most famous attraction in Japan: Fushimi Inari Taisha/shrine. The train service is every 5 minutes and very on time. The journey itself only took less than 5 minutes to arrive the Inari Station. As soon as we had arrived Inari Station, the shrine was just 1 minute away from the JR Inari (you can literally see the gate from outside the station). The earlier you get there, the fewer crowds you will see.
(Fushimi Inari Taisha's entrance just after getting out the station)
(2 big toriis for entrances)
Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is an important Shinto Shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto God of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.
( main entrances)
(selfie with 2 kitsunes)
(fox or kitsune)
(main hall)
At the very back of the shrine's main grounds is the entrance to the torii gate covered hiking trail, which starts with two dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates"). The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate. The hike to the summit of the mountain and back takes about 2-3 hours. There are also a few restaurants along the way, which offer locally themed dishes such as Inari Sushi and Kitsune Udon ("Fox Udon"), both featuring pieces of aburaage (fried tofu), said to be a favorite food of foxes.
(Gate for Hiking trail)
(thousands of vermilion gates or torii)
(thousands of vermilion gates or torii)
Inside the Inari, we only went up until the second base. I bought some fox-shaped omamori from this fox shrine (it’s famous for the fox, of course).
(2 fox shaped omamoris)
I spent almost 2 hours inside Fushimi (of course without climbing) and back to Inari Station to catch train and bus to Yasaka Shrine.follow me in my Instagram
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