Living Japan

KYOTO What's going on everybody? Welcome back to the second installment of Choosing Your Perfect City the Kyoto edition. Where we will be talking about the cost of living in various cities throughout Japan and what it is going to look like according to your budget. Today we are going to talk much in the same way that we did last time about choosing the perfect city for you to live in. This time however, instead of focusing on the sprawling and bustling metropolis that is Tokyo, we are going to be going in a different direction and talk about Kyoto. Kyoto is by far one of my favorite cities in Japan. I have taken many trips to the city and spent many hours walking around and exploring everything that the city has to offer. Kyoto just has it's own aura about it, making it seem like another country within this already fascinating country. Once you step foot off of the train at Kyoto Station, you may not notice that the city is anything different from anywhere else...

Yes it is that time of year, at least according to the old Chinese calendar. Spring is almost here and it is time for the people of Japan to purge the bad spirits of the previous year and invite in the good energy that is to come with the new year. What I am talking about of course, is Setsubun. Every year on February 3rd, the people of Japan enjoy dressing up as demons so that they can scare the crap out of their children while having roasted soy beans thrown at them to drive away the evil "demon". This practice mainly takes place in the home where the father will dress up and act as the "demon", however, many temples across Japan hold their own ceremonies where you can partake in the event. (For a price of course) This yeah was actually the first time that I had the day off of work on the holiday, so I made my way downtown to one of the local hot-spots, Osu Kannon Shrine, and spend the day watching the event. While it was not the most exciting thing to s...