Blogs from Gion, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, Asia - page 2

For Penny it was "The Blue Door". For myself, Richard Flanagan's 2014 Man Booker prize winning masterpiece "The Long Road to the Deep North". It would be easy to join the long queue ready to condemn Japan after reading either of those 2 books. While both are beacons of reference, they were equally counterproductive as a prequel to visiting Japan with the mind open. The atrocities committed during WWII have been extensively documented. I recall quotes from eloquent returned POWs who could "NEVER forgive the Japanese". You can hardly blame them. So how do you equate the Japan of that period with that of today? In a few short generations contemporary Japan is now the absolute antithesis of those anecdotes. After 3 brief weeks I hardly qualify as all things erudite on this nation but if ... read more

The final days of my voyage in a strange land. What can I say? Japan: It's like an Asian version of Europe: Old... yet sophisticated and classy like a fine gentleman... Ahem. It took me a bit over 2 hours to get from Tokyo to the old capital city of Kyoto, 250 miles away. The Shinkansen (bullet train) is truly marvelous. I stretched out and watched the houses I would never know and the towns I would never visit as we traveled over 300 km per hour to our destination. In Kyoto I got out and had udon; a delicious Japanese noodle soup dish, a staple of the asian lunch diet. I then went to the old Geisha district and found my bearings, hotel and checked out the super old tiny streets and Geishas. That evening ... read more

An early start on the rapid express train to Fushimi Inari to see the many tori gates. We estimated 5,000 gates lining the hill . From the temple in front of the station you walk along 3km of pathways lined with tori gates. Each gate is labelled and dated. Many were bought by companies and groups. It was an incredible site but we were saddened to see the termite damage, reminding us of home! Back on the train to Kyoto, only two stops, and then on the raku bus. This bus line takes you all around Kyoto to the major sites. Kinkakuji, the golden temple first, then on to Kiyamizudera the temple on the hill. A great place for souvenir shopping along the paved streets of Kyoto. We saw young ladies dressed in Yukata, the traditional ... read more

On the 22ndNovember 2012, 25 Breakfast Point Probus members will fly out of Sydney to Seoul en route to Kanazawa on the Sea of Japan coast. This will be the start of a 16 day autumn tour of parts of Honshu and the island of Shikoku. We will be publishing a blog for Probus friends and family and we hope you take the chance to check it out. You will need to allow messages from webmaster@travelblog.org - some spam systems will put these alerts into the junk box.... read more

Well up and adam this morning and off to the temple Tenryu-Ji in Arashiyama it is one of the world heritage sights. We started off by getting the metro and then a tram. We went into the first temple which was called the "Temple of the Holy Dragon". Once inside it was beautiful, the roof was painted in a blue dragon and wherever you were in the temple the dragon's eyes were on you. Anyway we sat down and then a monk came out and started to give a lecture to everyone in Japanese - it must have been good as he had the crowd a few times in laughter - shame we could not understand a word he said - we need to brush up on this Japanese language. After escaping the temple without the ... read more