Lots of Pictures!

For this blog I am going to just dump a bunch of photos and provide a little bit of context to them! 

Arashiyama:

Arashiyama is a very popular tourist attraction in Kyoto. It is known for the bamboo forest, however I found that the surrounding mountains and rivers were way prettier and less crowded. My friends and I went on a little bit of a hike to see a scenic outlook of Kyoto. Arashiyama is a bit more in the mountainous area of Kyoto, so the views were breathtaking. 

View of Kyoto

Photos from the short hike to the outlook

Bamboo Forest

The River

Cafes!

  I love riding my bike to different cafes in Kyoto and studying there. Here are some photos of cafes I've gone to recently:

Cafe Kosci

Cafe Cherish

Also Cafe Cherish 

Hatoba Cafe

Thai food with my friend from Thailand!

Going Thrifting:

One of my favorite things to do in Japan with my friends is going thrifting. There are so many amazing cheap, good quality thrift stores here. It is also often really amusing for me to look at Japan's perception of American culture, and the shirts that have poorly translated quotes in English. Here are some of my favorite funny finds:

America Core:

American Culture is seen as "cool" here so here is some things sold in thrift stores that are supposed to represent America:

Here are two of my favorite poorly translated shirts and sweatshirts:

Hike! 

I went on a hike with two friends a week or two ago. Before we hiked the mountain, we walked around the gorgeous Ginkau-Ji at the base of the mountain. The hike is pretty short, only about 400 meters up and then 400 meters down, however it was very steep. After we went on a hike, we got lunch at a cute restaurant that was bear themed. 

Ginkaku-Ji temple

 Actual Hike:

Bear Themed Restaurant:

Ritsumeikan School Festival 

Every November, Ritsumeikan has a school festival. I didn't really understand how big of a deal it was until I actually got on campus that day. The Japanese people LOVE having festivals, which are always organized so well, and almost overwhelming with the amount of things to do. Our school festival attracted people and their families from our local area and the surrounding areas. Here are some highlights:

My friend Ruby is in photo club and had her first photo display at the festival!

 The crazy amount of food stalls with students running them to raise money for their club

Rainbow!

Here are some videos of the performances:

(I'm not really sure if these videos are good quality or were even uploaded correctly so sorry in advance)

To finish off the blog post here are some photos of sunsets!