Kyoto - Big In Japan

We departed Osaka on Sunday 23rd Sep and caught the Express train to Kyoto. The train service here is superb and really cheap - it cost 400 yen (about £1.70) each for a journey which took over an hour. This way of travelling gives a great view into how people live in Japan as you pass through towns and villages and what the countryside \ housing is like etc. The carriages were really busy as it was (another) public holiday and being the gentleman that I am, I gave up my seat so an elderly Japanese couple could sit down (if I’m honest, this was only part of the reason as I wanted to keep my eye on our cases behind us as well). They were extremely grateful and several bows were exchanged; as we neared our station, they insisted on giving Angela a lucky charm as a token of their thanks.

Normally when we move locations it’s pretty much a full day of a job when taxi’s, flights, airport waiting time etc is taken into consideration so this short hop was a pleasant change. Kyoto itself is an incredible place. It’s completely enclosed by forest covered mountains and was the capital of Japan for over 1000 years. It still is considered the religious and cultural centre of the country and, therefore, there were many more tourists than in Osaka. It has a population of 1.4m and is obviously most famous outside Japan for the famous climate change treaty agreed here back in 1997.

Like most places we’ve seen here, the city keeps moving well due to excellent public transport and the fact that every other person seems to ride a bike. Everywhere you look there are racks of the things and it’s interesting to note that none are locked up and, quite often, items are left in the baskets on the handle bars - couldn’t do that back home............ The only drawback seems to be that it doesn’t appear you’re allowed to ride bikes on the road, therefore they share the pavements with pedestrians. This can lead to some excitement when walking round corners etc. It never becomes an issue though as a) as I’ve remarked previously they seem to be a very polite and gentle culture and b) they’re such a small race I tower over just about everyone here (hence the tenuous link to the title of this blog entry - the words “bottom”, “barrel” and “scraped” spring to mind).

Our hotel, the APA, was the only one located in the buzzing Gion district; this is where most of the restaurants and bars are located. The room was quite small as space is at such a premium and the bathroom was a capsule like a tardis (I can report it did have another of the interactive toilet seats first experienced in Osaka - I think these will become a prerequisite of any future bookings made). We were up on the seventh floor which, in a very low rise city, afforded us some great views out across Kyoto and to the mountains beyond.

We got our bearings on the first night and I counted down the minutes to midnight when the United match against Chelsea kicked off. For some reason, Angela preferred to go to sleep, but I watched the game until it’s conclusion at 2am on a great internet connection on the laptop. It was such a good picture that, even I as a biased red thought there were one or two tough decision for Chelsea. You have to feel sorry for them, don’t you? No, really.............................ha!!

The next few days were spent exploring Kyoto, almost exclusively on foot. One of its main features is that its historic temples and shrines are knitted in closely with the city and this makes sightseeing very easy. I must admit that the thought of walking round 20 plus temples - as many people do when they come here - just didn’t appeal but we did explore four. The word “temple” really doesn’t do them justice as they are made up of huge, traditionally built buildings (many dating back to the seventh century) spread over many acres and have the most beautiful gardens (god, I must be getting old if gardens are now appealing to me!!). You’re free to wander around as you please but need to be careful to take your shoes off at certain places. Quite often there will be a service or ritual taking place and this interesting to watch even if you haven’t got a clue what’s going on.

The truth is that it’s difficult to get any kind of real understanding of the Buddhist religion as it seems so complicated. Even when you take the time to read the leaflets \ information provided it’s a bit like trying to make sense of a book ten times more complicated than The Da Vinci code, with character names totally unfamiliar to you and starting reading 20 pages from the end; the fact there aren’t guides available doesn’t help, either. It is worth doing though, if for nothing else than the beauty and serenity of the places; it’s clear the Japanese have a deep and unique culture. (Incidentally, I’ve never attempted to read The Da Vinci Code as I fear it will be too complex for me).

For the record, the temples we visited were Ginkakuji \ Toji \ Eikando and Nishi Hongwanji. In addition we strolled down The Philosophers Walk (a tree lined riverside path) and went to the 15th century Nijo Fort in the heart of the city. Unfortunately, heavy rain curtailed our time here as we were unprepared for it; not so the locals who are even more dangerous than their normal random directional selves when armed with pointy umbrellas galore. Indeed, many seem to carry umbrellas most of the time to shelter from sunshine if not the rain - quite bizarre.

We’ve found that learning a few words in each language whilst we travel pays off (please \ thank you \ hello \ goodbye is about my limit). It always breaks the ice and brings a smile to the locals’ faces - I hope they’re laughing with us not AT us!! Angela did put this to the test though when we were trying to book the Airport Shuttle bus for our next transfer. We’d been phoning their number for a couple of days and it was constantly engaged; not believing this to be right for such a popular business we went to Reception to ask for their assistance.

The young man who tried to help us didn’t appear to be a candidate for Japanese Mastermind and had very limited English. You’ve no doubt experienced that feeling when you realise you’ve asked for help from the wrong person (driving directions for example) and this was definitely the case here. He certainly didn’t understand the phrase “constantly engaged” and I don’t think Angela clarified matters when, out of the blue, she started to go “beeeep, beeeep, beeeep” over and over again by way of an explanation of the noise we’d been getting from the phone; if you looked up the word “blank” in the dictionary I’m sure you’ll find a picture of our erstwhile helper. I’m unclear as to how long she would have carried on “beeping” but I could sense no progress was going to be made so I dragged her off by her elbow to the bar for a beer and a game of darts. Yes, I know how to treat a girl but this dart board was a bit special as it automatically registered where the dart hit and updated the score accordingly; they have all the best stuff over here.

That evening we wandered into Gion and found a restaurant serving a traditional Japanese meal called Shabu shabu. This is great fun as it provides a completely different experience. First off, you have to leave your shoes outside and sit on cushions on the floor at a very low table with a huge gas burner built into the middle of it. A large pot of water is then brought to the boil on the burner and various vegetables (mushrooms \ Japanese cabbage etc) along with noodles and rice cakes are thrown in to cook. We each got a plateful of thinly sliced raw beef which you cook for a few seconds in the water and then eat along with the now cooked vegetables, some rice, some Japanese pickles and a delicious Soy sauce based dip. Believe me, the combination is delicious and really healthy; it’s no wonder they are such a slim race (except, obviously sumo’s - not sure what they eat but I bet they’d unbalance an elephant properly; must let that one go.......................).

On our last day we went on a professionally guided walking tour with a gentleman called Johnny Hillwalker (almost certainly not his real name - http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/h-s-love/ ). He’s famous in these parts and, three times a week at 10.15, he starts at JR Kyoto station and wanders through the back streets and local sights to explain a bit more about Japanese life to tourists (the ancient art of fan making for example). I reckon he’s in his seventies but he’s got a real business going on here. There were 36 of us on this particular day and at 400 yen a pop (about £9) that’s not a bad income if you’re doing this about 13 times a month.

It’s quite comical as he’s obviously got a rigid routine which involves him lining everyone up against a wall and collecting the money to ensure no-one has a free walk. You also definitely go at his pace (we accidentally overtook him several times and we weren’t walking fast) and only cover about 3km in 5 hours. Still, it was worth doing (if a bit overpriced) and he does buy you some vegetarian sushi, green tea and a cake in the price.

And with that, we bid farewell to Japan. I’ve been mightily impressed with both the country and the way of life. I’ve never met such polite, friendly and helpful people and there’s so much more to their food, culture and traditions that I’d have ever believed possible. I guess this is one of the (many) benefits that this year out is having but, having now visited once, this is definitely a country we’d love to come back and see more of.

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