Kyoto, Japan

Saturday was another full day of travel. We left our Seoul hotel about 6:30 AM for the bus ride to the airport. We had worked our Korean currency down to the point where after paying for the bus, there was only about 7 cents worth of Korean Won left. Fortunately, Burger King at the airport takes Visa.

Our Japan Airlines 767 was comfortable but nothing fancy. We arrived at Tokyo’s Narita airport late afternoon and had bit of a hassle to find an ATM that accepts foreign cash cards. Up and down, back and forth to and fro until finally, I found a machine that would take my US cash card. We were soon to discover, that it’s like this all over Japan. However, you’d think that an international airport the size of this one would be bulging with ATMs eager to dispense Japanese Yen to tourists.

We found that this was a recurring pattern in Kyoto and Tokyo. Although, I had gotten enough Yen to start with, many Americans, Canadians, Europeans, etc. seemed to be scrambling for ATM help in both the cities we visited.

This points to a general lack of tourist-friendliness in Japan. At least that seemed to be true for foreigners. Signage in English is very rare, people don’t speak much English and those who do won’t really try if there pronunciation is not up to their standards. Even in restaurants, the best we could do in most cases was when we pointed at a dish and asked about the most we heard back was “Poke” (pork) or “Biff” (beef) or something like that.

We finally had local money, we stored Big Blue (remember our errant suitcase) and boarded the “Narita Express” train for Tokyo Station, a one hour ride away. We had 14 minutes between the scheduled arrival time in the subway (basement) level and the second floor track where we would board the Shinkansen (bullet train) bound for Kyoto.

Our Japan Rail Pass tickets gave us reserved seats on both trains and the timeliness gave us plenty of time to make our connection. It was dark by the time we left the airport, but we could see enough from streetlight to tell that there is no break in the development along that 60 mile corridor. We passed through Kawasaki and Yokahama on the way into town and we couldn’t tell where one city leaves off and the next one picks up. This is one densely-populated country!

Our train arrived in Kyoto about 10:30 PM and our next task was to find the hotel. I had directions printed from the internet that led me to believe that the hotel is right next door to the train station. It was late at night, no one speaks English and we are wandering around the front of the train station trying to read neon sighs with the hope of seeing our hotel’s name. No such luck!

After several unsuccessful attempts to get directions we could follow, I tried the concierge desk at a hotel right across the street. They couldn’t (or wouldn’t) speak much English but he did produce a giveaway map that he marked with “this hotel” and drew arrows so we could follow the map (all lettering was in Japanese) to where I think he said was “that hotel” about three blocks away. We followed his directions and presto, we were there.

We were pleasantly surprised by the hotel after our experience in Seoul. This one was a bit newer, had a few more amenities and the room was larger - both of us could stand on the floor at the same time. It was your standard sanitary business-type hotel. It reminds us a lot of the Ibis Hotels we stayed at in Europe a couple of years ago, right down to the modular pre-fab bathroom. It’s clean, efficient, tidy and no atmosphere whatsoever.Just what we needed after 70 plus days on the road.

Next morning, it was up and out the door for a sel-guided tour of Kyoto’s Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, parks and the Imperial Palace. We were able to buy an all-day bus pass on city busses for a mere 500Yen (about $5.60). The local Tourist Information office was able to clue us in as to how to use the busses and we’re off!

First stop was Nijo Castle, home to the Shoguns of 16th to 19th century Japan. The Shogun was the top dog of the Samurai (warrior) class in those days. The Shogun had all the power and the Emperor was only a figure head. The country was ruled by a series of feudal lords. They all paid taxes to the Shogun and pledged their allegiance to him. If they didn’t - er, well let’s just say that their health would be compromised.

Nijo Castle has all the amenities you would expect from 16th century Japan - sliding paper doors, tatami mats on the floors, painted ceilings and walls even two moats. The best part of the whole castle tour is that the main hall is built so that as one walks on the wooden floors the squeaks sound like nightingales. This served the dual purpose of sounding pretty and warning the Shogun that someone was approaching.

The gardens outside and the other buildings are lovely as well. We could walk and people watch and take in the beautiful surroundings. We even got to notice a few kimono-clad ladies strolling through the grounds. Kimonos are used in touristy ceremonies and these days are used by women who want to dress up for a special occasion. I guess seeing the American Tourists qualifies as a special occasion.

We toured several other sites such as a 5-level pagoda at one temple and the Golden Pavilion at another. The entire city is one big tourist attraction. It’s too bad that the city is not more tourist friendly for foreigners.

Our final full day in Kyoto we joined a walking tour: Walk in Kyoto, Talk in English. The tour is run by 79 year-old Johnnie Hillwalker (also known as Mr. Hajime Hirooka). Johnnie runs his tour three days a week for 5 hours over 3 kilometers (1.9 miles). That is every day except our day. He was busy and asked an associate who runs a much larger tour agency to step in for him (yes, the pun was intended).

The walking tour took us to the back street views of Kyoto. We saw the underpinnings of a temple under renovation, we stopped in several workshops in small private business that made Japanese fans (actually just some of the components), Buddhist rosaries, tatami mats and pottery. Not the usual sort of tourist attractions, eh?

We stopped in a parking lot and the guide went to the shop a half block away to bring us a pan of sushi. Shortly thereafter, we stopped at a Japanese bakery for tea and a pastry. Starbucks it ain’t.

We pretty well wrapped up with a sit down at a community center where our guide explained about geisha areas and the nearby Yakusa headquarters. The Yakusa are the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia and their headquarters is just steps away from the community center. He warned us not to take pictures of the guys in the dark suits guarding the Lexus, Mercedes, etc. at the lower level. Then he took us two blocks to Nin Ten Do Playing Cards Company that got its start by supplying gambling cards to the Yakusa in the early days. It was pretty spooky.

All in all, we walked our feet off and after a few more sights, like the Imperial Palace grounds, we headed to the comfort of our hotel and prepared for our 6:45 AM train to Tokyo.

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