By: Ken Navallasca
Japan is one of the few countries who keep its old traditions alive, and Kyoto, the former capital and the center of cultural tradition of Japan is one of the most popular tourist destination of the country. Kyoto is also a city with a rich and long history. Surrounded with mountains at the west side of Japan, the city never ceases to disappoint its tourists with a beautiful scenery to offer, may it be in spring, summer, autumn, or winter. These four seasons play an important role in the city’s art, history, and culture.
In promoting the city’s highlights, and even education, the Kyoto Study Program, sponsored by the Kyoto Government and a few universities around the city, offers foreigners, specifically foreign students, to a two-week summer program in Kyoto, offering whatever the city can offer in two-weeks’ time.
Visits during the program includes the Ryoan-ji, and Kinkaku-ji. Ryoan-ji is the most famous rock temple in Japan with 15 rocks laid out in small groups. It is famous for its rocks because there is almost always one rock hidden from any point of view from the temple, and they say whenever one finds all 15 rocks, which is quite rare, that person will have luck in its way.
Not only is the place famous for its rocks, but it is also famous with its spacious park area with a pond that gives off a tranquil and relaxed feeling. Near Ryoan-ji, is Kinkaku-ji or famously known as the Golden Temple. Just as what the name offers, Kinkaku-ji is a golden temple. The temple is in the middle of a pond so that tourists can appreciate the beauty of it from all sides. It’s a 15 to 30-minute walk around the temple grounds, with a beautiful greenery to offer.
The program also includes visits with historical museums and even a manga museum as part of Japan’s popular culture. Also an exclusive visit to a traditional Japanese house, the machiya. Just entering a machiya already reminds you of the culture and history of Japan. Its design, the interior, and even the exterior of the house represents Japanese history. One can only imagine how the Japanese people in the past spent their days in that kind of house. Fortunately, some local organizations in Kyoto preserves the beauty of these houses.
Tours and visits are not the only things offered by the Kyoto Study Program, there are classroom lectures, too. Lectures about the history of Kyoto, the influence of the West to the city, the art, design and architecture, food culture and education, and many other aspects related to the city. Participants also experienced first-hand proper sushi-making and zen Buddhism. The program also includes visits to some of the universities in Kyoto like the Kyoto Gaikoku Daigaku, Otani Daigaku, and Ritsumeikan University.
Tours, classes, and temple visits are not enough to completely absorb the culture of the city, thus, the participants are assigned to Japanese volunteering students from different universities where they can interact with you, and gladly help and accommodate you outside classes, lectures, visits and tours. They will even bring you to more places not included in the program, so having a student buddy is definitely an advantage. Also, their hospitality and patience is a plus factor.
By the end of the program, every participant should show what they have learned throughout the program that lets them investigate the diverse aspects of the Japanese society and culture while staying in Kyoto. Kyoto is known not only as a tourist destination, but also a “major student one in Japan”, which means that Kyoto accommodates around 50 universities and colleges with over 140, 000 students accounting for 10% of the city’s population, and just recently the city climbed up of the rank as one of the “QS Best Student Cities 2015”, indicating that Kyoto is not only a beautiful city but also a city with a great learning environment.
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