Konnichiwa!

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Arrival in Japan

At the time I booked our flights home in and out of Tokyo (Narita airport) I had planned on visiting Kyoto. The easiest way to get there is by the Shinkansen, the "bullet train". I didn't think of it right away, I planned on going to Tokyo first then do a round trip to Kyoto but instead I finally figured out I could just fly direct to Kyoto, or rather the nearest airport, Kansai Intl. outside of Osaka. Saved us over $300 going this route except a shuttle ride to our ryokan (hotel) was $40/pp. Already feeling the extra expenses over China!

I had reserved us a Ryokan, comparable to a bed and breakfast as I wanted to try something different though we had to pay cash for both nights up front, ~$300 in Japanese Yen. We needed the cash to pay for it as our transportation was already booked and paid for so we found an ATM within the airport to withdraw some.

Intermission #1: Cash trouble (you may want to skip this)

When we arrived in Kansai I tried to get cash from the ATM and things started to go bad at this point. I had tried to withdraw 50,000 Yen not doing the exchange in my head, or a bit over $600. This exceeded our maximum $500 per day and the bank not only declined the transaction but also stopped any further transaction on the card until we called to verify out card had not been lost. My stress level went to 11 at this point. We were able to use our AMEX on the confusing pay phones which required a string of nearly 2 dozen digits to reach Wachovia and get it straightened out, taking about 2 hours total to do so. The people at the tourist desk were extremely courteous and friendly but unable to really help. The shuttle desk had us paged when we failed to arrive when expected so when I went to talk with them they were completely confused as to our predicament but were still there when we finally got the cash. Warning for those going to Japan: it is a cash based society! We were only able to get 30,000 Yen from the ATM, ~$365 because of fees, etc, what a pain. I was finally able to relax once we were underway to Kyoto in the van.

On to Kyoto

The drive to Kyoto we passed a few of picture perfect villages, very European-ish in that they were concentrated set of homes and stores amid a sprawling countryside but with the difference that had all black roofs. The van driver took us directly to our Ryokan and we had to walk down the small lane to the front door, many of the small lanes in the neighborhoods were too small for cars. Out of the 30k yen, 25k for the room, 1k for the key deposit and 840 each for breakfast the next morning. That left us about $30 for the next 22 hours in a cash based society!

Our room in the Ryokan was extremely small. A 3'x3' foyer, a private shower/sink on the left, toilet on the right and a small 10'x10'x room that I could only stand up near the side along the shower room/foyer. You sleep on a mat on the floor that is rolled away during the day. There was a small table with a container to heat water for tea or whatever. The public kitchen had all the tea we could drink if we wanted plus access to a refrigerator and cooking if we wanted. Luckily, the room had an air conditioner, though quite warm when we arrived the room was so small it cooled quickly. Our room, on the 2nd floor overlooked the main "alley" to the front. Charming for the first 10 minutes, a western style hotel would have probably been preferable unless you go all out and get a traditional Ryokan for the atmosphere. You do have to remove your shoes before entering a Ryokan and there are public baths but we used our own and spent very little time here. The staff was incredible friendly.

I was disoriented as my guide book only showed one shrine in the area thought the one I had seen coming in near the Ryokan was the one in my guide book. I thought by passing that shrine I was heading south (toward the main train station) and instead I was going west (It was overcast so there was no sun to tell which way I was going). We finally found somebody (much later) who gave us good directions and showed us where in fact we were; it was getting dark and starting to really rain. We were drenched by the time I bought us an umbrella from a 7-11, wet, tired and hungry (after the stressful time at the airport getting cash) we both were a little irritable. The train station had several restaurants, we picked one that accepted AMEX so we ate Italian in our first night in Japan. Once I discovered that buying tickets on the Shinkansen to Tokyo in two days was no big deal I decided to not pre-purchase our tickets....something I later regretted.

After walking back to our Ryokan, we crashed for the night.

Day 2: Walking in old Kyoto

After eating our western style (cheaper than Asian style) prepaid breakfast we journeyed out. With only about $30 we had to save ever bit for entrance fees until 3pm when our 24 hr clock was up to get more cash from an ATM. We bought some simple groceries from the local 7-11 (those stores are everywhere) and walked the entire time in Kyoto, we never took a bus, subway or taxi.

Our lonely planet guide book suggested that if we only had one day in Kyoto to do a 5km walking tour in southern Higashiyama, about 5 km from our Ryokan so we headed east to that direction. Once we started the walking tour we were parallel to the suggested road we walked through a Japanese graveyard. A western looking man who seemed to not be a tourist was walking along side us had a shirt with French words so I greeted him with a 'bon jour' and he smiled and replied in kind. Our first stop along the way was the Kiyomizu-dera, hordes of tourists and many kids on a field trip (mostly Japanese I guess) were coming up the main path, Chawan-zaka (teapot lane). Originally built in 798 the most recent reconstruction was in the 15th century still making these buildings quite old. Up on a mountain we had spectacular views of Kyoto. As we were entering the temple area we came across some young teens and one of the boys practiced his English with us, the other kids, especially the girls giggled when he spoke to us in English.

When we left we took the path down Chawan-zaka. Among the crowds of tourists we were ambushed by young school kids on a field trip wanting to practices their English. for a school assignment Two of the boys politely asked if they could speak to us in English and we readily agreed. They asked simple questions such as where we were from, what is our name, hold old are we (ha, not usually asked back home). Their teacher with them had a permanent smile and kept bowing and seemed genuinely appreciative that we stopped to speak with his students. After signing their Q&A form we exchanged pictures and they gave us origami as a gift and we said our good-byes.

We continued the path among quaint shops and tea houses. We came across an older girl, probably around 14-16 alone practicing her English for school and Kelly did the interview alone. Our next stop was the Kodai-ji, another area with area with a collection of old buildings, temples and tea houses. We toured this and helped tried to keep an eye out for a lost wallet as we came across the owners who had lost it (Australians) looking for it at the ticket booth. We saw them (man &wife) later on the day still looking for it so they were probably out of luck. Another temple area outside Kodai-ji had an enormous Buddha; very impressive. We continued along the picturesque lanes until we got to the Maruyama-koen (park) where we ate our snacks we had purchased earlier for lunch. We were doing pretty good for being nearly broke but fortunately had enough money to buy bottled water from the ubiquitous vending machines.

After lunch we went west through the grounds of the Yasaka-jinja shrine near Gion. Through that we entered the Gion district and wandered around until 3pm when we were finally able to get cash! 7-11's are the only place that takes the types of ATM cards we typically carry (Cirrus, Plus, etc) and after withdrawing another 30k Yen we felt rich! We stopped off at a place to get some refreshments and spent a while talking to a couple (maybe brother/sister, not sure) from Belgium. They agreed with us, this was the least English friendly country they had ever been in - as far as signs were concerned. We enjoyed talking with them for an hour or so as we all had seats next to the window overlooking a small stream as we people watched with an occasional geisha lady walking by. Not really being Saki drinkers we tried some plum Saki, actually quite drinkable and at least interesting. Very sweet.

We walked quite a while around the Gion district enjoying the sites and neighborhoods. I dragged Kelly into a "game store", a 7 story building with different type of coin operated games, from the claw machine, virtual horse races (with betting) to action computer games. A bit too smokey for me, we didn't stay too long but was interesting to see. Not that many women in the upper floors, I guess it's a man dominated atmosphere, at least on most of the 'hard-core' games. The fish market was interesting but we didn't buy anything, we had no way to cook anything if we had wanted to. I vaguely remember where we ate dinner but have no pictures of the place (which we typically do have) but I recall first noticing the put services charges on the bill and they aren't cheap, about $8pp if I remember correctly. At least you don't pay any additional fees for taxes or tips on a bill.

We saw only a fraction of what I would like to have in Kyoto, with day trips around Kyoto this city warranted a few more nights if we had the time. Figuring out the bus system would be essential for maximizing our time but we didn't have the money to even buy a day pass until it was too late to matter.

Intermission #2: CC problems (Tickets for Shinkansen, you may want to skip this)

This is another tale of money issues so this like the ATM limit and you might want to skip. We had tried to pre-purchase tours in Tokyo the night before using our AMEX. For some dumb reason after my transaction was declined Kelly also tried it. What we didn't realize that not only was the transaction declined for both of us, both of our AMEX cards were locked due to possible fraudulent activity. We tried to buy the Shinkansen tickets with our AMEX but of course was declined. VISA, as it's not from a Japanese bank was also declined (nothing wrong with the card). I needed 10k Yen as the difference to pay for the tickets with the cash we had, I walked a few blocks to a 7-11 while Kelly waited behind and since it wasn't quite 24 hrs no cash was withdrawn. Finding a phone with English instructions on how to call back to AMEX took quite a while. A nearby hotel had one and we finally got it straightened out but instead of leaving Kyoto around 10am we left closer to 12:30p. My stress level again had gone to eleven, no fun getting stuck with no CC and no cash.

Shinkansen

After getting our tickets we waited for the next ride, about 30 minutes. Group after groups of kids (on field trips?) waited by sitting on the floor for their train, we would see them get up in large groups and head out from time to time. The train was a few minutes late, I was expecting it to be exactly on time. It wasn't there but a few minutes at the station and whisked us away at maximum speeds of 300KPH. It was disappointing we weren't able to get window seats on the way to Tokyo but the ride was relatively short, a bit over 2 hrs. As the snack vendors would come through the trains they would exit, turn back towards all the passengers and bow, turn back around to face forward and continue on.

Next stop, Tokyo....

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Links

Link to Kodak Gallery Photos.

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Photos

Shirakawa Canal
Taking a break with a view.