#3: Fushimi-Inari Taisha

Yesterday we took the train back to Kyoto for a second time to visit the Fushimi-Inari shrine complex.  The shrine is located at the base of a mountain also named Inari, the side of which is criss-crossed with trails.  The site is well-known for the thousands of red torii that line many of the trails, as well as the stone fox statues representing the animal considered to be Inari’s messenger (aka kitsune).

The shrine and all of the torii make for a pretty strinking sight.  Unfortunately the day we went it rained and snowed intermittently all afternoon, which definitely cut short the amount of time we spent on the mountain trails.  Alas…we’re already planning on coming back later  in the spring.

That night we ate Yakiniku, which basically means you grill your own pieces of meat on this little grill at the middle of the table.  You pay about 2,000 yen to eat as much as you can in 90 minutes.  It’s intense.

Misc. notes: The washing machine in my dorm makes a hideous screeching noise (was I doing something wrong?).   Most ice cream sundaes here seem to include a layer of corn flakes.   And in other news, mayonnaise and corn pizza is not half as bad as it sounds.