A month in Kyoto – homestay
DeaOctober 2020

(view from in front of my homestay house)
I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive going into my homestay in Kyoto, given thecurrent situation, and I imagined spending my whole time there hiding at home (which iswhat I’d done for the previous 6 months). However, in retrospect I consider myself
incredibly lucky. I got to see something that could only be seen in this moment in time. Yes.
Kyoto without the tourists. And I got to spend a month with a wonderful and welcoming
family, whom I will never forget.
Spending time in Kyoto without the tourists left a deep impression on me. It made mereflect on the value of tourism, and on what we collectively are doing with some of theworld’s most beautiful historic cities. Kyoto, Japan’s old capital, is an old soul. The amountof tradition, if it were a measurable quantity, is nothing short of impressive. There seems tobe a shrine dedicated to every kami imaginable. I found myself one afternoon sitting on aやさかじんじゃ

bench at Yasaka Shrine (⼋坂神社) almost moved to tears by the beauty of the place, andthe sound of peace. For a month I lived in a Kyoto almost entirely inhabited only by its own

はなびresidents. Almost every night I saw or heard students lighting sparklers (花⽕) by the riverand laughing until late into the night, on the background of (extremely loud and sleepぎおん

disturbing) cicadas. I walked the streets of Gion (祇園)– the old geisha district now full ofbeautiful traditional houses with shops and restaurants and tea places – almost empty. Ithink I got to see Kyoto.
(Left to right: top – Kinkaku-ji, Gion; bottom – Yasaka Shrine, residential street in Kyoto)

I’m not saying all of this to make you jealous. It was not all perfect. There was a lingering
おぼんsadness over the missing of the Obon (お盆 - a Japanese Buddhist custom to honour theまつり

spirits of one's ancestors) celebrations, the cancellation of all the summer matsuri ( 祭 festival). But it made me wish that a place like Kyoto would be able to survive on a revival ofits beautiful old crafts, and not on gift shops. But anyway, I’m sure you’d rather read more
about my actual experience and the wonderful family that put up with me for a month : ).
I find myself unable to choose what to focus on in this blog post. There were too many
places that I visited, or experiences that I had which will stay in my heart. I was right tochoose Kansai for my homestay, and I would have loved to stay there longer. It is a uniqueplace, from the beautiful little historic towns, to the diverse and colourful Osaka.

But, first things first. My homestay family was,well, nothing like my own family. I’m an only
child with somewhat workaholic parents (that didimprove with age). My Kyoto family was a familyof 5, with 3 daughters aged 12, 18 and 21, a stayat home mum and a dad who worked as aforester about 4 days a week. We gathered every
night for dinner, which was very often a culinary
feast. After a month of my host mum’s cooking, I
had a bit of a shock going back to Tokyo and to
my old.. culinary creations. The meals weredifferent each night, and she took great care to
take my various preferences and such into
account.
Towards
the end ofmy stay,they evengot atakoyaki
makerand we consumed the most ridiculous amount oftakoyaki in one go. Then there was the house. Abeautiful old Japanese style house, basically exactly
かもがわon Kamo River (鴨川). This was my favourite part. Large bodies of water make me happy.
The house overlooks the river and on most days I could see the brilliant blue sky, thebeautiful river with all the children playing in/around it, people going for a walk, or to paintor play an instrument. It was so peaceful. I miss my daily walks by the river, they were sucha simple joy.

Luckily, I quickly made friends with the eldest daughter, a 3rd year university student, and aself-proclaimed “not very typical Japanese”. Maybe she is right. She really spoke her mind,and I appreciate it, as it led to so many interesting conversations. Anything from discussing
the future, to Japanese dialects, to why they don’t teach much about WW2 in Japaneseschools. She was also enthusiastically up for anything, and very keen to show me places. We
had a great day trip to Osaka and to Uji, both of which I will remember for... the food. Iちゃwould not describe myself as a foodie, but the Osaka takoyaki and the Uji cha soba (茶そば- green tea soba) are heavenly. I also managed to consume copious amounts of wagashi
わがし(和菓⼦- Japanese sweets) basically on a daily basis. One does not just go to Kyoto and noteat wagashi on a daily basis.
(Top row: Osaka; Bottom row: Uji)We also went to Nara but… the story about Nara deer being polite and bowing to you for a
せんべいsenbei (煎餠 - type of cracker – there is a special one that the Nara deer love) is a lie. Assoon as I bought a pack of senbei, I found myself surrounded by all the deer in the vicinity,
head-bumping me and trying to eat me alive. One of them did manage to get through mydress, at which point I left the senbei on the ground and made a run for it… (Sidenote: they
are probably better-behaved when there are enough tourists around to feed them theirprecious senbei).
One day trip that left a deep impression on me was
あらしやまto Arashiyama ( 嵐 ⼭ ) – a mountain and a region ofKyoto by the same name, which was simply breathtaking. If you ever find yourself in Kyoto, take theSagano Romantic Train, known to the locals asと ろ っ こ れ っ し ゃ

Torokko Train (トロッコ列⾞), up Arashiyama, forthe beautiful views, and make sure to leave plentyof time for strolling by the river and soaking in theatmosphere of the area, full of little shops andrestaurants.

If you are reading this, I assume you
know a thing or two about Japan andJapanese people. I also did. Whatsurprised me during my homestay wasthat, well, these things were actually
true! It was fascinating to experience
first-hand the little things like saying“itadakimasu” (いただきます) before
each meal, or going to the shower inorder (and using the bath, which I didnot do), or the school bento boxes andぶかつ

the after school activities (部活). I was
lucky in that my family was local to
Kyoto and also very involved in theircommunity, so I heard stories every day – about regional food differences, local festivals or
kami, local history and matsuri. They were incredibly generous with their knowledge and injust one month, I felt like I had lived in Kyoto for years. Granted, there were many things
that we couldn’t do this year, but all
the things they did do for me, I am so
grateful for. We played a monopolylike game about forestry that they
made as a family (because the dad isa forester), we went to a local
izakaya that they have been going tofor over 20 years, we drove to theMountain Kami of the Kamo River,
we had a BBQ (or if I have to bespecific they had Jingisukan (ジンギスカン, "Genghis Khan"). Can you
guess what that is? It’s grilledmutton…)
Most importantly, they took me in and really made me feel welcome and I felt their genuine
hospitality. When I was leaving, I received a whole bunch of sweets to take home, because
my host mum knew how much I liked them. It’s true that it sometimes got a bit
overwhelming being with so many people all the time. And while I do love Kansai ben, theirs
was very much the real deal and it was hard to keep up sometimes. It was challenging attimes, but also such a unique and wonderful experience.
I hope this was fun to read and gave you a little insight into the beautiful Kansai area ofJapan. I will sign off with a small collection of the wagashi that I had : )- Dea