Refugee Tourist

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We came to see as much as we came to flee.

We came ,not only because we wanted to, but because we had to. We were tourists and we were refugees, fleeing an invisible, inexplicable danger. We did not know whether we ran from fear or out of fear. And fear was all around and afflicted all. To be sane in this fear epidemic was insanity.

People ran out of fear, they bought up food on shelves, drained battery supplies and emptied water racks so much that these had to be rationed People fled with their belongings and packed airports. They ran with what they could hold, some hoping to come back, others determined not to. And we came to Kyoto.

The reason we went to Kyoto was that we could not go anywhere else. The hotels were booked for the long weekend. I tried Hiroshima(rather ironic choice for somebody fleeing from radiation), Kyushu, Osaka and even a few smaller towns, whose only attraction was that they were south of Tokyo, but had no luck.

But finally when a hotel at Gion, Kyoto showed rooms available, I barely raised a brow at the steep price and booked it immediately. The reason I wasn’t too keen on Kyoto was that I had been here many times earlier, but since my wife and son hadn’t it did not seem like a bad idea.

Surprisingly ,for a long weekend, getting tickets was not much of a problem. Going to the Shimbashi JR station and standing in a moderate queue, I was at the counter in less than 15 minutes. The trains were not crowded and even though I had to settle for a train 20 minutes later than I wanted to, booking was easy .

The journey by a Shinkansen(Bullet Train) is unremarkable, solely due to its comfort. Sitting in the train, the feeling of travelling at 300 km/hour is muted. It is spacious and comfortable with none of the jerks, sways or shudder associated with high speed travel, and it gets you to a destination without the take-off or landing worries associated with airplanes, so it is not a surprise that the Shinkansen has killed the air-travel industry to most parts of the main Honshu island.

The Shinkansen is really a wonder. It is fast, stable and safe. In its 47 years of existence, the only accident has been a derailment due to an earthquake around 7 years back. And even in that rare event , nobody was hurt.

For those who are interested in such details, there is an automatic system for a Shinkansen, which triggers the brakes as soon as an earthquake hits. But for a train travelling at around 300 km/hour it takes around 120 seconds for it to come to a complete halt, and during this 120 seconds after the earthquake had stuck, the train managed to go off tracks.

But getting back to the story, we arrived in Kyoto on a warm winter afternoon with the smell of spring in the air. Arriving at Kyoto station, my overconfidence of knowing the rail network of Kyoto sent us on a long walk. The APA Gion hotel is located near the Gion Shijo station on the Keihan line. The lack of detail on English access map contributed to my misery and I got down at Shijo station of the Karasuma line.

There was obviously no hotel near there and after walking 15 minutes and asking countless directions, I finally realized my mistake and took a taxi to the hotel.
The Gion area is the Geisha district of Kyoto. It is a remnant of traditions , retaining enough of its identity to attract curious tourists looking desperately for some glimpse of a long disappeared culture. If you walk on the Shijo street, it gives the impression of a shopping district with souvenir shops thrown in. But when you look into the crossing street, you get glimpses of lantern lined Geisha houses along the Kamogawa river, still standing and surviving in a period where such traditions hold no attractions to younger generations.

The Tuttle Guide to Kyoto describes it as following

“ A group of entertainers called Geisha developed, women of talent who could dance, sing, play traditional instruments, and who could carry on witty conversations- and above all please the male patrons of the ochaya(tea-shop)in which they practiced their arts. The role of Geisha was an honourable one, the work itself implying a trained artist.” “

A profession where every bat of en eyelid or twist of the neck is painstakingly practiced for years has little relevance in a generation where sex is only a click away. So the effort is just not rewarding enough to attract enough apprentices.

But Geishas still exist, making living out of the tourist trades, displaying their talents to wide-eyed tourists and a few remaining traditionalists trying to retain some part of what they think is their original identity.

But even though we were in the middle of the Geisha district, Geisha’s were not what we had come to see. Kyoto is known for its temples and walking tours built around closely located temples and shrines.

The ‘National Geographic Traveler’ mentions the ‘Higashiyama Walk’ as one of the attractions. The walk as per the book starts at the Kiyomizu-dera temple and ends at the Yasaka Jinja. However since my hotel was located next to the Yasaka Jinja , we started the walk in reverse.

The Yasaka Jinja stands at the intersection of Higashioji Dori(Street) and the Shijo Dori. A group stood near the entrance exhorting tourists to contribute money for the earthquake and tsunami affected. The Yasaka Jinja does not even find a mention in Tuttle Guide, which jumps straight to the Pagoda.

The only remarkable experience was watching a traditional Shinto wedding procession pass by. Weddings are normally private affairs with none of the pomp and sometimes vulgar display associated with it in India. The procession was quiet and the bride was obvious from the attention being given, but I failed to spot the groom in the similarly dressed group.

The other interesting aspect was the shrine dedicated to goddess of beauty. There were quaint wish amulets from various beauty parlors around Kyoto. Each one wished more customers and for all the customers to be beautiful.

There is a botanical garden behind the temple, but since I had not come all the way to Koyto to see a botanical garden, I gave it a miss and walked down the narrow street to the next temple. We went on to the Yasaka Jinja pagoda and came to the road winding up to the Kiyomizu-dera. The road is uphill, passing souvenir shops on both sides, some with sales people standing outside and ensuring that the passing tourist did not miss their shop, others of old wood craftsmen silently creating some artifact, either content or beyond care, whether tourists came in or not.

The Kiyomizu-dera is perched on top of a cliff(hence the uphill walk) and is the most famous landmark of Kyoto. The beauty of its location becomes apparent in Spring of Autumn with a flood of pink or red. The main hall is built on 139 wooden pillars and gives a great view of Kyoto on a clear day.

The Otawa waterfall is supposed to be purifying and people line up to get a chance to catch and drink the water in ladles. There is also a shrine where the lovelorn go and try to find out if they will be able to find their true love. As we went late in the evening this shrine was closed, but I do remember visiting it seven years back and watch a love sick friend attempt to get answer to his question. If I remember correctly you are supposed to walk with your eyes closed and if you are able to walk in a straight line and reach the other end , you will be successful in finding love.

We had walked for around 2 hours by now and it was already dark and we decided to head back to our hotel. With radiation fears still on our minds, the first action after coming back to the hotel room was to check for updates on the internet and being relieved that the situation had not changed we went to sleep in peace.

Day 2 was to be spent in Nara and we went through Tofukuji station, catching the JR Nara line and reaching there by a reasonably early hour. Nara is a contrast to Kyoto. While Kyoto is about history crammed into narrow spaces elbowing its way through to find space with modernity, Nara is like history at peace with nature. It is about wide open spaces with dots of history present but not intruding. The experience is about a leisurely early morning stroll, stopping , resting and then resuming.

The tourist information center in front of the station is un-crowded, where volunteers patiently explain to the tourists in languages of their preference. When the volunteer ,mistaking me for a overseas visitor, told me that there was a facility which simulates the experience of an earthquake, I told him that I was from Tokyo and had enough experience of earthquakes to last a lifetime.

Then at a souvenir shop talking to the owner and when she realized I was from Tokyo, introduced me to her son, who too, working in Tokyo, had become a temporary refugee like us. “It’s better if Japan abandons nuclear power generated electricity” he said to me, and I wanted to agree. But then Japan has few natural resources, hydropower is not an option, and other alternatives would be more polluting. But that is a danger we will have to live with from now on, where every earthquake will bring in new fears, and nobody will feel safe again.

The Nara walk begins from the station onto the Sanjodori, passing the Three Pagoda Temple and the Five Pagoda Temple which are part of the Kokukuji(Happiness Producing) temple. But on the way you can find quaint little shrines managed by priests who live within the premises.. I visited one of these and it is called Jokyoji. The route then leads up to the deer park. The deer were considered messengers of God in ancient times and killing a deer was punishable by death. As a result that deer are free to roam around wherever they like and with tourists always ready to feed them, there is no shortage of food. The deer crackers(Shika Sembei) are sold at almost all the tourist spots and more often than not are grabbed from a frightened tourists’ hands. The deer are not docile, and being protected have lost all fear of humans. I myself had whole bunch of crackers snatched from my hands and witnessed a half frightened, half enraged tourist smack another one ,when it tried to do the same with her.

But all the shrines and parks are starters in a menu, where the main course is the Todaiji temple. The Todaiji(Great Eastern Temple) is known for having the largest wooden building to house the largest bronze statue of Buddha(Daibutsu). The Daibutsu in its 1200 year history has been damaged by multiple fires in the intercine warfare amongst the clans and has lost its head twice in earthquakes. It was last restored in 1692 and measures 53 feet in height. A pillar to the right has a narrow hole in its base and those who are able to pass through it are supposed to be enlightened. The hole can be passed through easily by children and slim adults. I just hope that the number of enlightened in this world is increasing, though there is little sign of it.

The Todaiji is also representative of a violent past, where temples were burnt down in clan wars, built only to be burnt down again. Being made wholly out of wood did not help much.

After the Todaiji the next stop is the Kasuga Taishi shrine. But one the way you come across the Wakakusayama. Literally it translates to ‘Young Grass mountain’. It’s a steep mountain covered in grass and the only attraction is to go to its top and slide down the grass. It’s an attraction for children and comes across as a bit of an oddity in the midst of history.

And the final stop is the Kasuga Taisha shrine whose main attraction is 1000 bronze lanterns and 2000 stone lanterns. On the approach to the shrine were a group of boy and girl scouts asking for donation from tourists for the earthquake and tsunami affected. They stood in a row along with their guides and repeated the same phrase over and over again, convincing or shaming the tourists into contributing something.

By now the rain had started and we, prepared by the weather forecast, opened our umbrellas and walked back towards Nara station. It was close to 3 PM and we had been walking for around 5 hours. Tired and hungry we headed back looking for a place to eat. The first restaurant which was a café doubling as an Italian restaurant told us it was too late to serve Pizza, we could have coffee and cake.

Not satisfied we headed into the market street to find another restaurant, this too Italian, which was more than happy to serve us. However they closed the doors soon after we went in. We sat there, legs aching, and ordered. The waitress, surprised , each time I opened my mouth,(not sure if it was my charm or because I could speak fluent Japanese, this is a tourist town after all)kept on showing her surprise throughout. However it was pleasant, the food excellent and it’s a pity I have forgotten its name.(Its close to 2 months since I visited Nara).

So we headed back to Kyoto, catching the JR Nara train, and walking back to our hotel in the rain. Having eaten Italian in the afternoon we decided on Indian food for the evening. There was a Raj Mahal restaurant a few minutes’ walk from our hotel. Run by 2 brothers from Dehradun it was a little different from the generic tasting Indian restaurants elsewhere. The food was good , the staff friendly(they did give us a complementary soup and a glass of mango juice for my son), and it was a satisfactory day overall.

The rain had been spotty, frequent enough to be irritating , but not hard enough to be inconvenient. We looked forward to a day roaming around Kyoto.

Day 3 began with checking out of the hotel, putting our luggage in the lockers at Kyoto station and then taking a Kyoto All-Day sightseeing pass from the tourist information counter. The purpose was to cover Kinkakuji Temple, go to Ginkakuji, then Nanzenji and finally over to Sanjusangen-do Temple. As our Shinkansen to Tokyo was reserved at 19:46 in the evening, there was plenty of time to cover the temples have dinner and then head back to Tokyo.

We arrived at Kinkakuji in a slow drizzle , persistent enough to have an umbrella but not strong enough to give up the trip. The pamphlet handed over to us informs us that the actual name of the temple is Rokuonji and it is called Kinkakuji because of its Golden pavilion. The pamphlet then goes on to describe the architecture inside the pavilion, which, not being accessible does not serve much of a purpose. The Golden look which is supposed to be coating on Japanese lacquer was done again in 1987, so what is visible today is not original. The Garden, beautifully landscaped, is however original.
The Kinkakuji is perhaps one of the most photographed temples in Tokyo. So I stood there at the edge of the pond, umbrella in one hand, my back-pack slung on the other and trying to photograph with the camera slung on my other shoulder. And in the midst of this, the strap slipped and down went my camera onto the gravel of the landscaped garden.

The crunching sound told me that this was no ordinary fall and when I picked it up and saw the scratch on the lens, I knew it was bad. When the lens did not retract I knew it was really bad. Without going into more details, I can tell my camera’s life was over and almost 7 years of trouble free performance had come to an end in a moment of carelessness.

The sad part is that I will not remember Kinkakuji for its gold coloured pavilion nor its beautiful garden. I will associate it with a day of dull drizzle and my camera breaking.
The next stop was Ginkakkuji which literally means Sillver Pavilion. It was built before one of the many fratricidal wars in the 15th century, when one of the Shoguns weary of conflict built a retreat for peace and meditation. Gingakuji became a Zen temple after the Shogun’s death. Yoshimasa Shogun described his retreat as

I love

My hut

At the foot of the moon waiting mountain

And the reflection

Of the sinking sky.

Humble and understated (it definitely is not a hut).

The next stop for Nanzenji which had been recommended by few of my friends. It had been said that I could find peace here and peace was needed in the current circumstance. It is around half a kilometer walk from the nearest bus-stop.

Nanzenji is located at the foot of a mountain and in what was once a pine forest. The most striking aspect is the total lack of tourists at this temple. It exudes peace even before you come near it. Buying an entrance ticket and walking on to the steps the only sound was the patter of our slipper bound feet. This temple also was initially a retirement villa for an emperor unhappy with his circumstances.

The Nanzenji belongs to the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism which flourished here much to the envy of the rival sects. As a result it was torched by a rival sect, then again caught fire, was destroyed in one of the wars after which it has largely remained unscathed, thanks partly to the American decision not to bomb Kyoto in the second world war.

Nanzenji also has a two story pagoda which gives an overview of Kyoto city. There is also a quaint corridor made of wood running along the mountain slopes.

Then we headed back to Kyoto station to have lunch and then if possible head to Sanjusangen-do. But by the time lunch was over, it was already past 4 and when we reached the temple it had closed for the day.

What was left was to shop around Kyoto station, buy sandwiches for dinner to be eaten on the Shinkansen. Having a cup of coffee at a local café, I saw tall Caucasian man dressed in a skirt with red lipstick on his face sitting with his legs stretched out and trying to look inconspicuous. A six feet woman is a rarity in Japan and nothing can stand out more , even in a tourist town.

We came back to what we had come to escape and the next day when the news of radiation traces appearing in tap water in Tokyo appeared, it seemed that there had been no escape, only a round trip through time, ending a few paces behind where we started.

The trip to Kyoto was in a way, not as much running away from the disaster but more of coming to terms with it. For some reason it felt like acknowledging a six foot cross-dresser. When we were in the café, the cross-dresser sat nonchalantly , legs crossed, a pair of cycling shorts visible from beneath the skirt. And people around us sat behaving as if nothing out of the ordinary was there. But the fact was that it was out of the ordinary.

There was no need to scream and run or even laugh, but there was a need to acknowledge an aberration. The man in a skirt deserved a look, maybe a nudge to the next person, some gesture that we knew he existed.

The earthquake and its outcome was similar. Panic was not required , especially in Tokyo, but realization was. We could not behave that life was normal, and we needed to adapt to the changed times. So after coming back, after the radiation in the drinking water warning, we acknowledged this deviation.
We queued up, mostly at the head, outside our supermarket to get our ration(2 bottles) of mineral water. It must have been a strange sight, the only foreign family in the neighborhood, being the earliest to queue up outside the supermarket every day for more than a week. We stocked up on toilet paper, stopped eating spinach, hoarded up on milk, yogurt, bread and eggs.

My wife and I called each other more regularly to ensure that each was aware of the other's location . I subscribed to the new earthquake warning system offered by my mobile service provider, which gave a warning , at least a few seconds before a quake struck.

The next time a strong shock came, I, sitting in a office meeting, winced. My colleague standing in front of me, mockingly said “Your face went dark”. I smiled and said to myself “I’m done pretending”.

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Photos

The original Rickshaw
Rickshaw is actually a Japanese word, the original word being Jinriksha, meaning a vehicle run by human power

JR Nara Station
I know its too bright

One tree hill
Wakakusayama

Comments

[Poonam]

Hi It was a pleasure reading this piece...felt like I was transported to the quaint town of Kyoto...the details descriptions along with the photograph made the experience almost real...looking forward to your next blog