Visiting family - 15/2/'14
The day started dry with the sun shining. To ensure that some people do not get homesick today we went to visit their relatives in Arashiyama in Kyoto. There we visited the Iwatatyama Monkey Park. On the way to the park we saw a stray monkey in the city. His name was Freddy Grunneweg and he came also from Enschede. He is doing his internship here in Japan. But today he joins us.
The Iwatayama Monkey Park is on the mountain Arashiyama. It is inhabited by a troop of over 170 Japanese macaque monkeys. The animals are living the wild here. After buying the tickets we walked up to the top of the mountain. On the way to the top we saw a lot of monkeys playing in the trees. They also walked between us on the path. It was not allowed to look the monkeys straight into their eyes because then they can become very aggressive. On the top there was a hut with wire fence covering the windows. Here you can buy food to give to the monkeys. They took the piece of food from your hand and eat it. It was very nice to see all the monkeys eating and running around the mountain. Also you had a nice view over Arashiyama on the mountain.
After lunch time we went to Fushimi-ku to visit the head shrine of Inari. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain with the name Inari. At the entry of the shrine you see two foxes with a key in their mouth. They are regarded as the messengers. On the path to the top there are a lot of wooden torii's. A torii is a traditional Japanese gate. It symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. Each of the torii at Fushimi Inari Taisha is donated by a Japanese business. It was a very nice walk.
In the evening I went with two other people to a restaurant where they have a lot have ice creams. Even though it was a cold day we eat an ice cream after dinner.
By: Karim Kok