Kyoto, Japan- Photos

Golden Pavilion in Kyoto.

Lanterns in Kyoto.

Just a sign on a fence in front of a rice field.

Kyoto, Japan -October 2007

I was surprised to find that there was no hint of the speed we were traveling once we were on the shankisan. It didn’t feel any faster than Amtrak, but I know it was. The train was comfortable and gave me time to read up on Kyoto and do some serious people watching.

I was surprised at how incredibly fashionable everyone is in Japan. All the women looked like they belonged in a fashion magazine and even the men were well dressed with great shoes. Perhaps it was the lack of flip flops (which abound in Thailand) and Birkenstocks (which popped up everywhere in Oregon) which gave me this impression. The train speeds through some interesting but very suburban areas of Japan giving me plenty of time for watching and reading.

We arrived late afternoon then settled into the Ryokan Kyoraku where we would spend the next three nights. It was good to have one location for a few days. We ended up in Western beds with our own bathroom because the traditional rooms were full but the place was nice and the folks very friendly. It is a newer ryokan in the Welcome Inns listing (which is probably why they had a vacancy when no one else did) close to the Kyoto JR station.

We saw the city on bikes the first day, subway the second day and on the morning of the third we squeezed in a few more sites before we left for Nara. I think we could have spent a week here and still not seen everything.

Here are the things we saw:

• Kyoto Train Station: Opened in 1997, this place was highly underrated in our books. You can take escalators all the way to the 15^th floor observation level. Inside a building an escalator to the 15^th floor isn’t that big of a deal. But this is an outdoor atrium and it was lovely at night.
• Kiyomizu Temple: This temple is not for anyone with a fear of crowds! It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was full of tourists from Japan and beyond. The grounds have some spots which are a little off the beaten track if your agoraphobia kicks in somewhere around the “love stone.”
• Kennin-Ji:The oldest Zen temple in Kyoto was one of my favorite places in the city. You have to abandon your shoes at the entrance and pad your way through many lovely little rooms, over rock gardens and through moss gardens (they provide you with little rubber clogs for this part of the journey). This place was so peaceful and lovely. Be sure to check out the dragon paintings on the ceiling created for the temple’s 800^th anniversary.
• The old streets around Gion Corner. This is a good place particularly if you’re traveling with an architect or anyone interested in traditional Japanese arts. I think there are approximately 200 photos of this street on my husband’s computer now.
• Nishijin TextileCenter: This place was a tourist trap. I expected a museum but it’s really exhibits surrounding salespeople. I wouldn’t have wasted my time if I’d known.
• Kinkaku-ji: The golden pavilion is picture perfect and full of about 1000 Japanese school children on any given day. This is one of the “must sees” in Kyoto and when you’re there you do see everyone.
• Ryoan-ji: This is a temple famed for its rock garden. It was lovely and (when we were there) full of fat American tourists with a fascination for the inane. We overheard one guy asking his tour guide what this car with writing on the side was. Her answer, “That’s a taxi.” Wear ear plugs and try to enjoy the peaceful surroundings.
• Konchin Temple: We didn’t get to see much of this except for the aqueducts. The place was lovely but be careful on the slippery gravel walkway path when going downhill. Particularly when you’re tired. I’ll heal.
• Nijo Castle: This place was interesting to visit but, honestly, the best part was the “nightingale floors” which the Shogun had installed to protect him from sneak attacks. We expected the floors to creak or squeak like the wooden floors in our old New York City apartment but instead it was like hearing tiny birds chirp at every step.
• Area around the Museum of Modern Art: There is a tiny park near the Museum with art installations that was very quirky and fun. Everyone needs to have seen a 10 foot long duck made out of tissue paper complete with fairy wings and buxom breasts at least once in their life.
• Covered markets in the Nishiki area: Shopping and food. A great place to people watch. Be sure to try the Takoyaki if you eat octopus.

and the places we ate:

• Kane-yo: This place is listed in the Lonely Planet so I feared a tourist Mecca. Instead, we found a local tea house frequented by mainly older Japanese couple serving only delicious grilled unagi (eel) on rice. This place is highly recommended for all those unagi lovers out there! Alas, the barrels of live eels were gone.
• Misoka-An Kawamichiya: These folks have been making noodles for 300 years. I think they may have figured out how to do it right by now... Delicious! Had some fantastic sake here too.
• We stopped at a little cafe in the Gion area because a lady outside lured us in with a free sample of sweet Yatsuhashi (which were delicious!). The food was good and the price wasn’t bad but I didn’t catch the name.

Narita, Japan- October 2007

In late September/early October, we flew back to the US for a whirlwind trip through the Carolinas and Oregon. We’re moving back to the US soon and we’re kind of in the market for a new hometown. For a variety of reasons, we’ve selected the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina. On the way back to Thailand, we were connecting through Japan so we thought we would stop in and see a bit of the country. I was in Japan many years ago with my parents but that was a very brief trip and I only saw the airport town of Narita. This time, my husband and I figured we would see a bit more. Our travel itinerary this time included Narita, Kyoto and Nara. Because we did so much during our one week, I will blog each city separately. This one is for Narita. I know the photo isn't really what you expect for a blog on Japan. But I took it in Narita and loved the way it turned out.

We arrived in Narita in the afternoon and headed for the Kirinoya Ryokan in Narita for our one night in this little airport town. In many places, the airport is built in locations to avoid bothering locals and in areas without a real town to speak of. This doesn’t seem to be the case in Narita. Narita is a lovely little suburb of Tokyo with a great rail system and good downtown area. I would happily stay here and commute into Tokyo to avoid the expense and hectic feeling of th big city. Indeed, our innkeeper (Mr. Katsumata) was happy to tell us about all of the Olympic (and near Olympic) athletes that came from the local high school and his own family.

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn usually with a communal bathroom, tatami floors, hard pillows and cozy floor futons. We stayed almost exclusively in ryokans during our travels. They are usually cheaper and more comfortable than western hotels or business flop houses---according to our sources.

Mr. Katsumata settled us into our room with a tray of green tea and rice snacks. After tea, cleaning up a bit and airing out our clothes for the next day, we headed out to dinner. We selected a little sushi restaurant walking distance from the downtown. We love our sushi restaurants in New York City, but the spectacle of watching sushi plates riding around on a conveyor belt as sushi chefs took orders for specialty items is one that really shouldn’t be missed. It wasn't until two nights later we had sushi that was better than what we had in Brooklyn, but this was cheap, good and a fun experience. After our dinner, we walked back to our ryokan buzzing with too much green tea and sushi.

We both awoke before sunrise and stayed in our futons reading until a decent hour to get up and bump around without waking our innkeeper. The Japanese bath is an interesting experience but I have to say I was a bit too freaked out by the water from the tub that is never drained so I just took a normal shower and left the boards over the tub intact. We dressed and ate breakfast downstairs then walked up the hillside behind the high school to a lovely overlook and then back down to the Narita temple complex. By the end of our week long trip, we were getting a little “templed-out” but this was our first temple in Japan so we delighted in the sloping rooftop, the serene duck pond and the lanterns lining the forest paths. We then spent the rest of the early morning trying to work out our train tickets to and accommodations in Kyoto.

Let me now provide three pieces of advice I wish we had listened to in our book Japan by Rail (that we picked up at Powell Books in Portland).

1. Buy a Japan Rail pass BEFORE you leave for Japan so that you can travel cheaply. These passes are not available inside Japan and will make rail travel affordable and easier.
   
2. Book your ryokans via the Welcome Inn book or website. It includes all the same places as Lonely Planet (and more) but they’re easier to book because the information is complete and correct.
   
3. Book your hotels well in advance if traveling during the popular leaf-peeping season of October. This last piece was more difficult for us because of the way we were traveling to Japan, but if you can book well in advance, I recommend you do it. October is a fantastic time to travel in Japan with great weather and lovely autumn colors. Many Japanese families know this and are booking in the same ryokans you are.

We eventually worked out our next leg of travel and headed out on the noon shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto.