Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto…
Hi there! Still in Japan and really enjoying my time in this wonderful country. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I go muscle pain after the crazy day at Spocha, and still now I can feel my left arm muscles heavy after playing baseball. We are all laughing so much because we all knew I would get muscle pain from playing too much and I am happy with this kind of pain because it was so worth it. I had so much fun last Sunday. I am still so happy about the concert last week in Sapporo and analazing where I can improve and I am looking forward to keep working on my voice when I get back to Germany but for now I am enjoying this adventure.
On Monday we went to the impressive Osaka Expo 2025 and it was really impressive. We managed to go to different Pavillions and walk around the gigantic ring made out of wood, I think is the biggest wooden structure on the planet. It was really hot that day and we had to queue so long for going inside the Pavillions, specially the France, Japan and China ones, some others we just did not have the time to see. You cannot see all of them in one day, you need few times. We went with our friend Erichan and she has been like 3 times already and has not visited all of them yet. I wish I was living in Osaka to visit all of the Pavillions and go there often. It is really a massive place and it only runs I think until October, so I wont be seeing it again in my life. It was great to visit and some Pavillions were really amazing.
I went with Aki one last time to Nagoya where she gave some classes to young singers, all of them sopranos. We also met some friends. On 24th we went to have Yakiniku and saw by the river the big Tenjin Mazuri Festival beginning with so many street vendors of food, games, drinks, grilled meat, fish, sweets, etc. A very important celebration in Osaka, and many people were wearing Yukatas and it was really beautiful to see a very local celebration and thousands of people on the streets. Aki already left on Friday back to Germany where she will continue to rehearse Boheme for the summer production in Erfurt. I decided to stay few days longer in Japan so I bought my ticket to go back next week on 31st July. Actually I could stay longer, much longer here.
After Aki left, I took a train to Kyoto, where I am now writing from my hotel room. I think now I came to this city for the 4th time. Every time I come I try to see different Shrines and Temples, this place has hundreds of them. However, there is one I visit every time I am here and that is Kiyumizu-dera. This time I visited really early around 6 am when there is barely anyone, with the sunrise I got very nice shots with my camera, contrasting some of the roof tops getting illuminated by the sun and the dark part of the mountain and surroundings, and at the back, the city already lighted as well. Plus the atmosphere is really nice. I already visited Weekenders Coffee which I also always visit, plus new cafes like Fuku Coffee Roastery, Kurasu Ebisugawa, Kyoto Coffee, Hyakkei, Sentido, as well as the very retro Kissaten called Smart Coffee and their amazing Tamago Sando (really simple but tasty) plus their house blend coffee is really nice. The rest of the coffee places I mentioned are all specialty coffee and they all were really nice and the baristas really friendly. Next time I come to Kyoto I will continue my journey of discovering the coffee places I have already on my list but could not go this time. Kyoto is an incredible place, yes, lots of tourists but there are still plenty of areas you can go where there are not many and the energy here is really special. There are also great places to eat Ramen, Japanese sweets, Yuba, fish, etc... Tomorrow will be my last day and I want to wake up really early again and do still some sightseeing. This time I visited for the first time the Ryozen Kannon Temple and Kodaiji Temple. Walking around through Nishiki Market, Gion District, Pontocho area, Teramachi- dori and the many backstreets, has been so much fun and I really like this city full of History and Culture. The only challenge was the humidity and the incredible heat on these days, I took like 3 showers every day the last 2 days, because I spend the whole day walking outside and I was sweating so much.
I keep doing my daily reading and exercise routines. I also keep doing my morning pages. I hope you are well and see you next week, take care.
