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Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto October 7th 2018

We left Matt and Dianne's home on a hot Sunday morning, with unseasonably warm temperatures brought from the tropics by a typhoon passing by. This weekend is the national sports day holiday, and we stopped by the neighborhood elementary school to watch the opening ceremony, before we left for Kyoto. The trip took a total of five hours, door to door. We walked to the train station and took a train to Ome, where we got on the express for an hour long ride to Tokyo Station. Once at the station we went to the railpass office where we exchanged our voucher (ordered online before we left the States) for our passes. The clerk made our reservations for Kyoto on the Shinkansen (the bullet train) which was leaving in 20 minutes, and we headed back into ... read more
Sports Day procession
Flags for teams
Cold "milk coffee" from the vending machine at the local train station.

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto » Arashiyama September 20th 2018

Efter adskillige dage i nord med støvlerne på, var det tid til at tage sydpå, tilbage til Honshu, hvor den stod på sightseeing i den gamle kejserhovedstad Kyoto. Kyoto er alt det kulturelle og gamle Japan man kan forestille sig. Med over 1000 templer og 500 shrines, store som små, går man ikke mange meter før et nyt dukker op. Templerne er typisk japanske pagoder, med tag i mange lag hvor snuderne vender op, folk der beder en stille bøn, lys tændt for at mindes, flotte indgraveringer med japanske tegn, indhyllet i idylliske gange japanske haver og selvfølgelig en tyk, tyk røg og duft af røgelse til at binde det hele sammen. Der er store imponerende af slagsen, hvor størstedelen af menneskene naturligvis samles, men det er endnu større fornøjelse at slendre rundt uden destination, i ... read more
Flot japansk have
og fra en anden vinkel
Lille shrine i Kyoto

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto July 28th 2018

Dear All Greetings from Kyoto! One-time capital of the country, for around a thousand years between the 8th and 19th centuries, but if not the political, administrative or economic capital nowadays, it certainly remains the cultural and spiritual capital of the country. I arrived here on Wednesday from Kawaguchiko, and am planning to leave for Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku tomorrow. That is, if circumstances allow. Indeed, as the title of this blog suggests, I arrived in Kyoto during the hottest point of the Japanese heatwave this summer, and leave tomorrow just as Typhoon Jongdari (meaning "skylark" in Korean) is expected to have battered the region. Although when I arrived in Japan I realised it was hot, I didn’t actually realise it was hotter than normal for this time of year, and earlier this week ... read more
Fushimi Inari-Taisha
The Golden Pavilion
Me, Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto July 9th 2018

Dear Blog Readers, Leaving Hakone was a breeze considering what we’d been through trying to get out of Tokyo a couple of days before. To catch our bullet train, we needed to get the rush hour subway at 7:30am to the central station. Ladened with our bags and suitcases, we started queuing for the next train. My only prior horrendous rush hour commuting experience was waiting for 6 tubes at Waterloo and City before being packed into the carriage. I guess we were probably about the same distance from the train this time around…however, once the doors opened, the scramble to get inside began. Once the doors started to close, a guard suddenly appeared, arms flung wide, he proceeded to physically heave another 10 people, us included, onto the coach. Packed like sardines doesn’t do it ... read more
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Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto July 1st 2018

Wow. Worst night's sleep in, like, forever. Don't know why but I tossed and turned all night. I think I was too hot, then too something, then too whatever. Today is the day of my knife-making course so not the day to be foggy and clumsy. After breakfast, Pamela wandered off to her conference for the day leaving me to find my way to the forge in the countryside. I caught the train to kameoka and the went to catch the bus to nishikaya only to find that the bus schedule that I had been looking at was incorrect. I was under the impression that there were regular busses to where I wanted to go however I was told at the information counter that the only bus was not leaving until after 1:00 pm - my ... read more

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto June 30th 2018

Today was a travel day as we headed from Osaka to Kyoto for the next leg of our tour. We wanted an early start So were up early, packed, breakfast and on to train station. We activated our JR Rail Pass so we now have all of Japan at our fingertips. While we were there we booked our seats on the osaka/Kyoto leg for today and also for the Kyoto/Hiroshima leg on Tuesday morning. Apparently the trains can get quite full so better to be prepared ahead of time. We caught a fast train to Kyoto and then the shuttle bus to the hotel. We arrived prior to check in but they were able to get our room cleaned and ready a couple of hours early,which meant that we could drop our bags off before heading ... read more

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto May 22nd 2018

Issy is feeling a bit worn out so she submits an application to take half a day’s leave from touring. I’m feeling generous, so I approve her application and she stays at the hotel while I venture off on my own. The internet on the phone isn’t working. This only happens when I’m out on my own, lost, and don’t have a map. I’m trying to find my way to the Ginkakuji Temple, and the handwritten notes I’ve got tell me that it’s at the base of a hill. I reach the base of a hill and take the path up the hill into a forest. There are signs everywhere warning about snakes; at least I assume they’re warnings about snakes. The signs have pictures of snakes on them with some Japanese words underneath, and I ... read more
Ginkakuji Temple
Ginkakuji Temple
Ginkakuji Temple

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto May 20th 2018

I decide to go for an early morning wander. It seems that not much happens in Kyoto early on a Sunday morning. Very few shops are open, and there are hardly any people on the street. The one exception is a massive queue out into the street outside the local betting agency. I hadn’t thought of the Japanese as being big gamblers, but it seems that I may have been mistaken. I walk through a park back towards the hotel. It is noisy and I see that one of the gardeners is armed with a leaf blower, and is busily trying to relocate some errant leaves. I am suddenly reminded of home. Our manic next door neighbour back in Melbourne uses his leaf blower every day, sometimes two or three times, sometimes during hurricanes, and sometimes ... read more
That’s a lot of wires, Kyoto
Geishas, Kyoto
Fushimi Imari-Taisha Shrine

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto May 19th 2018

We head off up the hill away from the city centre in search of temples. We don’t have to look too hard. Every second building here seems to be a spectacular temple. We walk up along Matsubara-dori Street towards the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The street is wall to wall shops and is packed with tourists. We need breakfast, so we stop at a food stall. Issy says that other than sumo wrestlers there is no such thing as an overweight Japanese person, and therefore all Japanese food must be good for you. I wonder what sumo wrestlers eat. I try not to wonder about this too much, and instead try very hard to believe Issy’s line that all Japanese food is good for you as I munch on my breakfast of deep fried octopus cakes. The Kiyomizu-dera ... read more
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Kiyomizu-dera Temple
Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto » Gion May 18th 2018

Today we head to Kyoto. As we wait for our taxi, a group of five school children approach me, and read to me from a very carefully prepared script. They tell me that they are from the Niko Junior High School English Club, and want to know if it would be alright if they asked me a few questions about Japanese music. I sense that this might be quite a short conversation. They show me some laminated pictures of what I assume are Japanese pop stars, and then ask me the second question on their script, which is whether I know who these people are. I tell them that I don’t. They giggle, which I think is more in disbelief than anything else. They tell me that these people are all very famous. I start to ... read more
What you’re not allowed to do, Hanamikoji Dori Street, Kyoto
Room rates at the Hotel Love Inn
Temple, Gion District, Kyoto




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