Day two of the bullet train experience, Kyoto!

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The JR bullet train pass is great. I can go on almost any train in Japan including local and some subway trains. There are so many places I want to see in Japan, so much food I want to savour and so many insights I want to gain into the culture.



However, after yesterday I’ve decided I need to slow down a bit. For each city I visit I need to first of all find the correct bullet train (there are four different types that go to the same place all at different paces, some I cannot get on,) I then need to find the correct platform (in some stations there are 50 platforms all in the same area of the station,) on the local streetcars (old trams) I need to find out the fare, find when and who to pay it to, find my destination in the maze of maps written in Japanese, find how to get to the place I want to see from the station. There are some coins which do not have a value written on them such as 50 yen coin, and a while I wasn’t sure it was currency, I thought maybe it had superpowers. I really had no clue what it did so I couldn’t spend it.



Doing all of this more than twice a day is hard work but rewarding. I’m never lost for more than 5 minutes before a Japanese person comes over to ask me if they can help, and no matter what job they are doing at the time they go out of their way to escort me to the place or pass me to somebody who can help me. By the end of the day I feel mighty but exhausted like I have fought hard and won a thousand wars. I think if it hadn’t been for staying with Susan at the beginning of my trip to Thailand I would have also felt extremely exhausted after each day. It takes a lot of mental energy to do this alone, but it is definetly worth it.



Restaurants and toilets make for another battle. I definetly feel like a soldier of high regiment after using these! Toilets have touch sensors when you want to flush them, seats are warmed before you sit on them, in most toilets as soon as you sit on the toilet, the toilet makes the sound of a fountain so nobody can hear that you are going to the toilet. Every different function has a different button to press, and really you need to be able to read Japanese to work it out. In restaurants sometimes you need to pay for the food by machine before you order it and often I literally the waitress has to come over and use the machine for me and once I’ve ordered my meal I have to work out the cutlery I will need (chopsticks for noodles and rice, spoon for soup) and the real challenge is using it. On the bright side, I don’t even realise I;m using chopsticks as I’m so used to using them and every day I’m getting better.



Kyoto was easy to navigate, there was a tourist information desk and I was given a map in English by an English-speaking official and I was given perfect instructions in English on how to use the local trains. First, I visited Fushimiinari taisya Shrine, near Inari station. It is dedicated to Inari, the god of rice, sake and prosperity. It was beautiful to walk around, was a Shinto shrine (Shinto is the main religion in Japan) and set in red torri. There were lots of statues of foxes (fox represent Inari on earth), little temples, wood carvings. As it was a Sunday lots of people came here to pray and have fun with the family. It was a very happy place, surrounded by nature, best described by the photos I’ve taken. I was blown away by its beauty and its modesty, and even more so today because it is snowing and snowflakes are calmly falling as if to reflect the serenity and gentleness of the place.



My favourite photo is one of a horse in the temple where people brought carrots and lay it outside the temple. Anybody can pray at these temples whether you believe in Shinto or not, you just ring the bell, leave a donation and pray for a few seconds. I don’t know as much about the Shinto religion as I now do about Buddhism, but I think this the first time I have seen religion make a society progress, give respect to animals and humans and generally make for a happier group of people. I think Shinto and Buddhism both allow this. In Buddhism for example you are allowed to have other beliefs and being educated about life is very important, which is one of the reasons why Thai people are so forward thinking and open to new ideas.



I left the shrine, got back on the local train and stopped at a random stop. I found a local restaurant where I had to take my shoes off when I entered and sit cross-legged or kneel on a cushion on the floor as the tables are close to the floor (every restaurant has its peculiar etiquette). I was given an entire jug of complimentary creamy green tea and I ordered edible natural vegetables which came as a soup with noodles and spring onions, mushrooms and green beans. I was also given a bite size chocolate bar.



I then went to Nijojo castle in the Nijo district of Kyoto. I wanted to see one castle in Japan and learn a bit about Samurai. Most of the castles have either been bombed or have been destroyed during earthquakes (like most old buildings in Japan.) In this castle the Shogun lived with servants under him, and in the castle you see the various rooms. Inside it was very modest, and decorated in light versions of green, brown and gold and very natural colours. It was very different from English castles and nothing like I’ve seen before. The gardens outside were beautiful and peaceful, like Japan itself.

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