NOTE: ARTICLES ARE IN REVERSE ORDER (e.g., this is the last day of the trip)

Ginkakuji

Philosopher's Walk

Big dog in a little coat...

Getting Wedding Pictures

Ryozen

Geisha (maybe)

Howyoudoin'?

Sushi Boat!

You Gonna Eat Yer Whale?

Free Bikes!

On Saturday, we started by going to the northeastern corner of Kyoto to see Ginkakuji Temple, also called the Silver Pavilion. In 1482, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built his retirement villa here. A few years later, the Silver Pavilion, modeled after Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), was constructed. Today it is a Zen Temple. Unfortunately, they never got around to covering the Pavilion in Silver, but that was the plan at one time.

The main building here was under renovation, and under wraps, so we didn't get a good look at it. The Zen gardens and views of Kyoto made it worth the time anyway.

After Ginkakuji, we strode the Path of Philosophy, or Philosopher's walk, which is simply a a pleasant path besides an old canal that connects Ginkakuji with the vicinity of Nanzenji and lands you close to the Gion District (Geisha District).

Cherry trees are planted along most of the over one kilometer long path, making it one of Kyoto's most popular spots for cherry blossom viewing in spring. Today though, it was mostly just a popular spot for getting wet in the rain. There are a number of Temples and other historical structures along the walk, some we stopped at and some we just glanced at. We stopped at Eikando Temple for about 30 minutes and sat under a shrine because it was raining so hard. That didn't stop some other fellows and priests from holding a special service there though.

Past the end of that walk, we ran into some couples getting married at a Shinto Temple. One couple was taking their wedding photos in traditional garb, while another was 30 feet away getting married within the shrine. Didn't stick around long enough to see if they were moving couples through assembly line fashion... NEXT!

We made a quick stop at Ryozen which is a shrine to memorialize soldiers of all countries who died in the war. In talking to people in Japan and seeing some of their public pronouncements, their is a very obvious commitment to peace and not revisiting history here, and maybe a little shame at past actions as well. War is actually outlawed in their constitution. After that we wandered through some beautiful neighborhoods in the San-Zen area and ended our walk in Gion (the Geisha district)..

I think we saw one real Geisha near the Gion area, but we saw a lot of fakes. You see many fakes in this stretch of Kyoto during the day, as you can pay to be made up as one and walk around. A local could easily tell the difference, but a sure giveaway is probably how they walk in the awkward shoes.

Being a Geisha (also called Geiko) is a serious business in Kyoto. In fact, the word originated in the Kyoto dialect. It's not something that exists for the benefit of tourists. Geisha's are not prostitutes, nor are they the same thing as the "Geisha girls" who hung out with Allied servicemen during the occupation. They are professional entertainers. Of the five Geisha areas in Kyoto, only one is still a going concern and that is Gion, which has many functioning teahouses (where Geisha's work and that are sponsored by wealthy individuals) and a Geisha school (where Maikos learn the craft).

Geisha has been a declining profession. In the 1920's it was estimated that there were 80,000 Geisha, now there are perhaps 2,000. We walked through Gion area but it was daytime and nothing was going on at that time of the day. We made our way back to the hotel and cleaned up for dinner.

For dinner, we ate at a place that was our first choice on Saturday but was too busy for us. Sushi! Sushi boat! Good stuff. Cody also ordered a plate of whale sashimi... mixed pieces from five different parts of the body. Most pieces were very fatty and salty. One was a lot like eating raw bacon. The skin (the white piece with gray border) was very chewy. One Japanese guy got so hammered here that he couldn't even get up by himself. A couple guys had to carry him out... he kept his food down though, thankfully.

The next morning we had some time to kill before going to the airport. We were planning to go to the Kyoto Museum, but found out when we arrived that it's closed on Mondays. One thing I did photograph there was some rather unprotected bicycles. You see this all over Kyoto, even on main streets... unlocked bikes. What other city of 1.5 million people do you know of where you can leave an unlocked bike on the street and not worry about it being stolen?

With the Kyoto Museum closed, we made our way south a few blocks to the Nishiki Food Market, several blocks of covered vendors selling all sorts of vegetables, meat, candy, etc.

Finally, we were off to the airport, which was also very interesting because it was Kansai Airport. Maybe you've seen the Discovery Channel show on engineering marvels? Kansai Airport is located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay. Three mountains were excavated for 21 million cubic meters of landfill during the initial construction. In 2001, the airport was one of ten structures given the "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" award by the American Society of Civil Engineers, even though some people considered it a public engineering disaster after an initially under-estimated rate of sinking. More info here.

To tie things up, Kyoto is a excellent city to visit and one of the great cities of the world. In addition to having enough historic sites in town to keep you busy for quite some time, there is a surplus of cultural attractions as well. Thanks to the layout Kyoto is also one of those cities where you can walk to any of these places. The only other place I've seen that is so convenient and compact is Amsterdam.

Perhaps more importantly, Kyoto is a perfect headquarters for making day trips to other places in the area. Thanks to the efficient public transportation system, places like Osaka, Kobe, Himaji, Nara, and many more are roughly an hour away. If you're interested in Japan and it's history, but don't want to spend most of your trip in airports, Kyoto is the perfect place to spend a week.

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Big Pagoda at Toji Temple

Toji Temple

JB & Buffy at Fushimi

JB & Cody at Fushimi

Nijo Castle

Kinkaku-ji, JB & JHans's $10

Buffy, JB & Cody at dinner

JB & Cody at Dinner

For the weekend, the plan was to see as much of Kyoto as possible. I wanted to start off in the mornings with a couple major sites and then spend the rest of the day wandering. I left most of the Kyoto sightseeing for the weekend for a couple of reasons, 1) I figured there'd be fewer people at Nara and Himeji during the week, 2) my brother Cody was going to meet us for the weekend and I wanted his help using the buses to get around Kyoto as cheaply as possible,

Cody's been teaching English in Japan for a few months and has had enough free time to see most of the major cities a few times over. I think this was his 4th or 5th time in Kyoto. He took an overnight bus from Matsue and made it to the hotel sometime in the morning. The first thing I had to do was go down to the lobby, where he was sleeping in a hard back chair, and wake his ass up.

After leaving the Hotel we were headed to Toji Temple. Toji was founded in 794 when emperor Kanmu moved the capital from Nara to Kyoto, and was thus one of the earliest Buddhist temples. The temple grounds were modeled after the Chinese city of Changan (the Chinese Capitol at the time). Its five-tiered pagoda is 57m tall, making it the highest wooden tower in Japan. It was last rebuilt in 1643 after having burned five times. A third reason for waiting until Saturday to travel the city, was that the Kobo-san market is held at Toji Temple on the 21st of each month... perfect timing, and planned. The market was definitely a notch above, with plenty of food, quality antiques, clothes, furniture and even some racy books for sale. Quite a few priests were about, conducting services and such, as well.

The next stop was the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine. Fushimi Inari is the HEAD shrine of the more than 30,000 Inari Shinto shrines throughout Japan. Fushimi Inari enshrines the god of good harvests and good business. As Saddam might have said, it is "the mother of all Shinto shrines". There are probably a couple thousand Torii gates here, of various sizes. Torii gates are supposed to signify the entrance to another realm and purification. Many (most?) Torii are donated by private individuals and businesses to curry favor with the enshrined gods. Most also have the name of the donor written on them.

In addition to the major shrines, there are also a hundred or so smaller shrines here. Many of these are stacked with smaller Torii, and have the standard bell in front (the big shrines at Fushimi have many bells in front). The bells are there to get the spirit's attention. Typically, you would ring the bell and clap your hands a few times (process varies) to get the spirit's attention, and then bring up your business (say a prayer). Fushimi is a huge place, with a 3km walk to the top. We only went about half way since it was incredibly steamy and we still had a few stops to make. You seen one Torii...

The next stop was Nijo Castle which is smack dab in the middle of Kyoto. It's also a UNESCO Heritage site... shocker! Whereas Himeji was of primarily military value, Nijo had a more diplomatic purpose. It was built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the Shogun. It's a beautiful spot with low buildings and intricate gardens.

The final major stop of the day was Kinkaku-ji Temple (The Golden Pavilion). Kinkaku-ji's exterior is layered with actual gold leaf. It was originally built in 1397 as a villa for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), third Ashikaga Shogun. 11 years after his death, the villa was converted into a Buddhist temple. In addition to the temple and some other structures there are beautiful gardens here.

The Japanese take the whole garden thing rather seriously. The photos don't do them justice but most public gardens are probably better kept than most U.S. homes. The guys that take care of the temple grounds aren't tromping across the lawns with power blowers and leaf trimmers either. Their standing on ladders with a pair of scissors, cutting a couple leaves at a time or a small branch, checking it out, maybe cutting some more. These guys are artists.

After that we wandered around a bit more and saw another temple but we were pretty pooped having covered three corners of the city, so we hit the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. Once we hit the street again it was raining harder than ever, and I needed to get money... which was about five blocks away. I volunteered to do this alone while Buffy and Cody waited at the hotel. Bad idea. By the time I got back, I needed to change... drenched.

Our next problem was that we were determined not to take the easy route and eat at the same place for the third time. The rain had eased up just enough to make walking a couple blocks not seem like a completely stupid idea, and there were plenty of interesting food places around... BUT THEY WERE ALL FULL. You absolutely have to make a reservation on a Saturday night in Kyoto.

By the time we found a place that wasn't full, we had probably walked a mile in the rain and had killed an hour stopping at every interesting restaurant on the way and arguing with the staff. The place we finally stopped at was pretty good though, specializing in meat dishes (including a lot of raw beef), but having a little of everything. Little barbecues were built into the table. Raw beef was definitely the thing here though. Cody ordered a beef hand roll, and the beef was raw... kind of a surprise. Buffy ordered a salad and it was tossed with raw strips of beef... very much a surprise. She pulled the strips out, dressing and all, and cooked them on the BBQ. Cody just went for it. Nothing much bothers him... except hot oil rubs.

... AND LATER THAT NIGHT... we did go back to the same place for the third time... but just for drinks. They had a sake there that was incredible, so we had a nightcap.

More to come...

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Himeji Castle

Buffy, Himeji & JB

Himeji, JHans's $10 & JB

Ummm... Himeji?

Himeji!

Sushi!

Sushi!!

Sushi on wheels!!

Castle Himeji is arguably the best castle complex in Japan and its most visited. Its current form was complete in 1618. While the city of Himeji was shelled during WW2, the castle itself was left unharmed.

Himeji is a roughly hour and a half train ride from Kyoto. When we left Kyoto the weather was hot and humid as usual but the skies were unthreatening. Everything looked good on the train over... until the last couple miles into Himeji... then it came down in sheets. Fortunately there's a covered walk going all the way from the Himeji JR Train Station, through town, leading right up to the castle gates. The bad stuff died out by the time we arrived at the gates, but it continued to rain off and on. The rain combined with heat, humidity and walking through an un-air-conditioned old castle made for a long sweaty day but well worth it.

One of Himeji's most important defensive elements is a confusing maze of paths leading to the main keep. The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are designed to force an approaching enemies to travel in a spiral pattern around the castle on their way into the keep, facing many dead ends and confusion. This also allowed defenders to fire on them during their entire approach. However, Himeji was never attacked, so this system never faced the test.

There were also three rings of moats in Himeji. Within the first moat was the castle, the ruling district governor and administration officers. Between the first and second were Samurai. Between the second and third were merchants... and beyond that, everyone else.

The castle has been featured in Kurasawa's Ran, the Cruise movie Last Samurai, the Bond movie You Only Live Twice, and the miniseries Shogun. It was fun recognizing locations from Ran.

For lunch we stopped at a Udon noodle place in Himeji. The food was great and not all that expensive. Maybe $6 for a huge bowl of noodles with some meat & vegetables. As a westerner though, you have to take a look at the menu before sitting down at a restaurant in Japan, unless cost is no object. It can be very expensive to eat here, but as long as your patient and look around, it shouldn't cost you more than eating out in the U.S. I would definitely say that you'll find a higher quality meal for the same price.

On returning to the Kyoto JR station we walked through the humongous underground mall with a FRICKIN' HUGE food court. Football fields of good food. I especially liked the 300 feet or so of sushi vendors. Some of the rolls pictured would be $4.50-$6.00 in CA, only $2 here. The food options throughout Kyoto blow most places away.

For dinner, we went to a conveyor-belt style sushi place in Kyoto. The conveyor belt went all through the restaurant with various dishes that you would just pick up. At the end of the night they'd count the dishes to figure your bill. Many dishes (two pieces) were only a dollar. If food of questionable age was not your thing, you could also special order through a fancy electronic menu (seen in the photo). When you special ordered, the chefs would make it immediately and send it out on a special 'speed boat' to your station. I thought this place was great. Buffy didn't care for it. I got into a little trouble trying to use the electric menu. It was completely in Japanese, so I provided some entertainment for the staff when I made my 'best guess' as to what buttons were.

More to come...

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