Speed Tourism: A Beginner's Guide

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What is speed tourism? It's essentially trying to see as much as you can in a day solely for the sake of seeing how much you can possibly get to in one day. It's all about volume.

I can't take credit for it's invention, since it was Mitch that introduced us to it, but I can say that I tried it in Kyoto, and it was a good time.

I'll get to that, but first we had to get to Kyoto, which it turns out is very conducive to speed tourism.

After our failure to get to the fish market on a day when it was open, we decided that it was time to take a break from Tokyo. So the next most popular destination in Japan is Kyoto, and so that's where we went.

This was also our chance to take the famous Shinkansen (bullet train). It was a bit surprising how little English was spoken and written in the Tokyo train station, but we managed to overcome that barrier with little difficulty and got our tickets, and found the platform where our train was waiting for us. We waited for them to finish cleaning it, and boarded. It's very roomy inside, and even in second class there was more leg room than I've ever had on a train before.

It's also very fast! And since it runs right through urban areas, you really get a better sense of the speed.

And speaking of urban areas... they don't really ever seem to end. We were on the train for well over an hour, and I didn't know we'd ever gotten out of Tokyo until we stopped at the station in Nagoya, which is (allegedly) 350km from Tokyo. Wow. There are a lot of people here...

Arriving in Kyoto, we learned one thing right away: you're not allowed to be lost in Kyoto. You're not even allowed to look lost. You're not even allowed to look at a map for more than three seconds without someone asking you if you need directions. A man on a bike stopped us and gave us directions to our hostel. A woman in the train station stopped us when we were looking at the commuter train map and gave us directions. It's pretty unbelievable. There's little chance of figuring it out on your own because you'll be interrupted by someone trying to help you! The people of Japan are very friendly, and the people of Kyoto are just extraordinary.

At our sushi lunch, I paid Mitch the debt I owed him for the bet I lost. One plate of sushi. Jason Priestly was not in Dawson Creek. Not even close. I deserve to be down a plate of sushi on that one.

We headed out to the edge of Kyoto by train for a Christmas (they call it X-Mas here) light display. About five temples and shrines have been lit up for the evening, and the pathway between them has been lined with lanterns. It was pretty cool, especially the last temple which had images projected on it, and free hot apple cider. Yum. That was very helpful on this chilly evening.... But then we went and had green tea ice cream. So what?

The only concern we had was that most of the temples and shrines we past were charging around 500 yen just to go inside. This was maybe going to put a damper on our speed tourism effort planned for the next day if this holds out.

Oh, and we also saw a bad magician. Moving on.

Finally. Here we go. Speed Tourism.

Did you know that there are over 2000 temples and shrines in Kyoto and the surrounding area? This makes it ideal for speed tourism. Our mission was clear: how many temples and shrines could we possibly visit in a single day?

So we started the day with a map. We charted out our course for the day, based on the concentration of temples and shrines on the map (particularly free ones), and rented bicycles from the hostel. Bicycle is perhaps the most efficient way to get around when doing speed tourism.

The keys to our success were our speed, agility, and determination. However there were many roadblocks. Things were going ok at the beginning, and as we got further into the day we knew we'd pick up momentum. But there was no greater roadblock than the Buddhist monk we ran into in one of the larger temples. It was temple number 6 on the day, if I remember correctly. He was happy to give us an overview of the temple, Buddhism, and particularly his Buddhist sect and what makes it different. His initials were R.F., but I won't give his full name.

It started off great. Even though we were largely in it for the sheer numbers, when this learning opportunity came up, we were happy to take it. We're not monsters. We want to get something out of the day, and learn something.

R.F. was American born (which is why he spoke English and was quite eager to give English tours). He also used to be a graphic designer and worked for Disney as lead designer for the signage at Euro-Disney. He wanted more out of life so he became a Buddhist monk and moved to Japan because he did not feel that the Buddhism practiced in LA was faithful to the original doctrine of the sect. I know all of this about our dear friend R.F. because he talked to us for an HOUR STRAIGHT!!!

And we never had a chance to ask questions, interject, or even breathe. There was no opportunity to exit the conversation. We were trapped. There was no graceful escape. And when a couple of American travelers joined our lecture, R.F. STARTED OVER AGAIN FROM THE F****NG BEGINNING!!!

Finally, Mitch did what had to be done, and interrupted R.F. and told him we had to get going. I would bet the American girls are still stuck there, to this very day. They are now probably Buddhists, just for having that much patience.

I was happy to have the background and education (initially), as it was very informative and interesting (initially), but we all agreed that R.F. cost us 30 temples on the day.

Our day continued, and we made other mistakes. We biked for ten minutes to get to one outlying temple, only to have to bike back ten minutes to get back to a more concentrated area of temples and shrines. Our redemption came when we happened upon secret shrines and temples that were not marked on the map. Sneaky shrines.

We enjoyed a beer at our tenth shrine/temple. And by that I mean we had bought some beers at a convenience store and drank them out front of the shrine. This was not a licensed shrine. At least, I assume it wasn't, but we never bothered to go inside since we had to get moving. We had to get serious in the afternoon if we were going to make our pre-determined goal of 100 shrines/temples.

Hills are murder on three speed bikes. And Kyoto has a lot of hills around the edges. And they seem to like to build temples and shrines in the hills… It generally paid off. Some temples and shrines were most definitely worth walking around in, and taking some time. We even found a couple that we might return to on a non speed tourism day.

One of our biggest mistakes was a result of a giant concrete staircase going up into the trees that we spotted while cycling between temples. Faced with this mystery staircase, and surrounded by hills, our natural instinct was to climb them and surely get an amazing view of Kyoto and the surrounding area. There might even be an awesome shrine or temple at the top to add to our count. This incentive was enough to convince us to pay 50 yen to a very drunk man for the privilege. Mitch joked that we were probably going to learn karate at the top. That was bonus incentive.

Actually, there was nothing that said we would get a view of Kyoto, but presumably when one climbs to the top of a mountain, one gets a sweet view. And we must have paid 50 yen for some reason. And after a few hundred impressive stairs to the top, we were on top of a mountain, surrounded by trees…

We saw nothing. Even when we walked back into the trees there was no hint that things were going to open up for a view. All that was at the top of the stairs was a cemetery looking shrine type thing with stone sculptures. It was nothing to write home about (although that’s almost exactly what I’m doing now) but I’m sure it’s a meaningful religious site, so I don’t mean to diminish its value, but it’s definitely not what we were looking for at the top of those stairs.

On the plus side, we found a rake.

Then we took some memorable photos of ourselves doing fake karate. And we did learn something at the top of those stairs: Mike can drop kick a rake.

It almost made up for the time an energy we spent getting to the top of those stairs. But because it had nothing to do with seeing 100 temples/shrines in a day, and we had a lot of work left to do if we were going to have any chance of meeting our goal.

We made up numbers when we hit areas that we affectionately referred to as Shrine Alley, and Shrine-a-palooza. We sang songs like “This little shrine of mine, I’m gonna let it shrine”, and referred to ourselves as the Shriners. We often recounted the tale of R.F. and the Temple of Doom. Lest we forget.

Soon the temples and shrines were coming in droves, and we hit the part of town we probably should have started in. There are perhaps more shrines and temples in the western part of Kyoto than there are convenience stores. And in Japan, that is saying a lot.

Finally, the sun began to fade, and so did we. We easily biked 20-40km, or maybe more.

Our final temple and shrine tally: 53.

We believe firmly that 100 is easily within reach with the right planning, including sticking to areas of high concentration first, avoiding hills, and not going up stairs to nowhere. If you don't make the mistakes we did, and avoid talkative Buddhist monks, you can definitely do it. So there’s the challenge we issue to the world. 53 is the current record (presumably no one else has been stupid enough to do this before us), so it’s up to someone out there to beat us…

The embarrassing thing is that I still don't think I know the difference between a temple and a shrine. Shrines have the distinctive gates... but maybe not always. I don't know... And I don’t think I could pick a Buddhist temple from a Zen temple either… I go to box and feel shame.

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Photos

House in Kyoto
Much lower density than Tokyo, but still pretty dense