Shinkansen, Geishas, & Maiko Makeover! (Day 3)

Riding the Shinkansen Hikari to Kyoto! All smiles.

Me as a maiko

In front of Yasaka no toh

Tamika in Gion

In front of Yasaka no toh

Today we traveled to Kyoto (about 3 hours away) on the world famous shinkansen (bullet train). Japan is known for their uber efficient transit system, and the ride was comfortable. Kyoto is the former capital of Japan, and home of the Geisha district (Gion). Our hope was to catch a glimpse of a real live geisha, but unfortunately, we saw a tourist dressed as a geisha. Most importantly, our primary reason for visiting Kyoto and Gion was so that I could get a maiko makeover. A maiko is an apprentice geisha, or person of the performing arts. If you haven't seen Memoirs of a Geisha, check it out to get a feel for what I'm saying.

After the makeover

Looking darling

After the makeover, we had plans to see the famous Golden Pavilion and a few other sites in Kyoto; but alas, AnJuan called and informed us that it was snowing in Tokyo. We quickly got back to the subway, hopped on the shinkansen, and made the journey back to Tokyo. Fortunately, Juan came and scooped us up after he got his car out of the snow! We then went and got some fried chicken curry from Coco's, which was tasty. I had to buy some boots for 1,000 yen (USD $10-$11...yay! yall know I'm frugal) from Seiyo, Tokyo's Walmart, because my New Balance shoes have mesh at the top and were completely soaked (socks included!).

It's snowing!

Fried Chicken Curry-yum!

Maybe we'll trek back to Kyoto to see what we missed...