Where Tradition is Stored

Kyoto is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Japan. For that reason, I've booked 5 nights at the Kyoto Hostel (sister hostel of the one I stayed at in Tokyo). I've been told over and over that if there's any one place that I need to visit in Japan, its Kyoto. Its kind of a downer that the sky is crying my first day there - I barely leave the hostel all day and wander for just a couple hours in the streets not far away. I found a park and a little temple before hunkering down again in the lounge for the night.

It was supposed to rain for a few days, so the next day I decided to make my day trip out to Osaka. Originally I had planned to visit Kyoto and Osaka separately, but I discovered that they are only 40 minutes apart on the train and that finding budget accommodations in Osaka was nearly impossible. So I took the train out in the morning and went to the aquarium. The aquarium in Osaka is the largest in the world and houses otters, seals, dolphins, penguins, an unusual array of fish and coral, and the most exciting attraction that no other aquarium has ever been able to match - two 4.5 metre long whale sharks. Now of course these aren't huge whale sharks, by whale shark standards, but it is a pretty amazing sight none the less. It didn't surprise me at all that the lines were long and the crowds were thick when I got there. I spent the better part of the day there before taking a stroll through the city and then taking the train back into Kyoto.

The weather was nicer my third day in Kyoto, but still not really great. I walked through Nishiki Market, the covered food market, though buying nothing because I really couldn't identify anything. What I wanted to visit today was the International Manga Museum. Manga is the Japanese style animation, but in print form; its counter-part would be anime, but that term is used for the animations in their moving form, such as television and film. The museum turned out to basically be a giant library with the world's most extensive collection of manga comics. Unfortunately for me most of them were in Japanese, but they did have some English ones, so I sat and read a few. From there I went to the Imperial Palace Park Gardens to see if some of the trees were in bloom. And they were! I saw some of my first proper cherry blossoms, and they were beautiful. It was a great way to wind down my day.

My final full day in Kyoto I followed a walk through Southern Higashimaya, the main sight-seeing district in Kyoto, as mapped out by the Lonely Planet guide book. The walk starts in the south end of Gion and works its way north. The first temple on the walk is Kiyomizu-dera, which is special because of the dominating veranda stretching out from one side and supported by 401 wooden poles. I walked down Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka, two traditional streets with historic houses, tea shops, and restaurants. After a short walk I reached Kodai-ji, a gorgeous temple at the top of a steep flight of stairs. Just a little farther down the street from there is Maruyama-koen, the main blossom viewing park in Kyoto and home of the largest cherry tree in the city. Just past the park is Chion-in, one of the largest and most sprawling temples of them all. It stretches far up a hill and among the trees. It was my last stop for the day.

I had a ticket for my last day to take the night bus back to Tokyo. I had time to see one last sight and decided that I wanted to visit the Fushimi-Inari temple in the south end of the city. Inari is easily recognizable by the covered alleys and their orange arches. The weather was beautiful and the temple was fantastic. Kyoto definitely did not let me down.

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Part of trip: My 6 Month Adventure!

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