May 17

Today we traveled from Nara to Koyasan. It was a cute little town up in the mountains. You would think it wouldn’t be popular among tourists, but that would be incorrect. I’m pretty sure I saw more tourists than Japanese people. Aside from that, we stayed at a temple. Thankfully we were able to check in right when we got there. This place is the most traditional place we’re staying at for the whole trip I believe. Of course, with the tatami mats, there were no shoes allowed in the temple. While the hotel in Kii Katsura had traditional rooms, they were simply a modern take on the traditional rooms. What made these different is that all the “walls” could be opened, so you could hear everything everyone was doing basically. So I knew the night would be interesting (spoiler: I was right. I heard snorers two rooms down).

Although the town was a little overrun by tourists, it’s still so cool to see the amount of people that have done their research to come to this town. It’s an old style town, and seeing people from all over the world visit such a traditional place is most definitely a great example of the intersection of tradition and modernity. We are in an age where traveling is an experience that is much more common. We are also in an age where traveling and exploring different cultures and religions is a way to keep an open mind and gain knowledge about things that you aren’t familiar with.

After we checked in and settled in, we were free to go off and eat lunch. We went to this cute restaurant/cafe run by this sweet lady and it was delicious. I got curry with some iced coffee. After we ate, we walked around the town for a little bit and took some pictures. We got back before 4:30 so some of our classmates could attend the meditation. While that was going on, a couple classmates and I decided to go in the public bath. It was very similar to the onsen, and it was a good choice on our part! It was a nice way to relax before dinner.

For dinner, we had a traditional Japanese meal. There were a lot of things I didn’t know of, but I tried them regardless. I ended up only liking about half the things I ate, but I’m still glad I tried the food. After dinner, we waited for the sun to set so we could go on the cemetery night tour. I’ve never been to a cemetery that’s set up the way this one was. I also think it was neat how the cemetery path lead up to a temple. There were no pictures on the temple grounds, but I saw quite a few people still taking some regardless. With so many tourists that visit these shrines in this day and age, ignorance is something that comes with the modernization of Japan. That’s a discussion for another time, but what I said stands. I’ve seen too many people taking pictures when they shouldn’t be and that is something that makes visiting these places less special.