Kyoto 京都

I'm back in the USA now. On the way home I stopped in... Japan!

first day in Kyoto

One of the best things about my job is that the school pays for a round-trip ticket home to the USA each year. Last year on my flight home, I had a layover in Korea, and got to take a one-hour tour of Incheon. That was fun, but this year I really wanted to take advantage of the flight home and make a stopover in Japan.

a small shrine

My coworker Ryan was flying home through Japan too, so we decided to make a trip out of it. We arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday evening, and immediately boarded the Shinkansen "bullet train" for the three-hour ride to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, and arrived late at night.

We set off early the next morning on a self-guided walking tour through old Kyoto. Our walk took us through an old traditional neighborhood with lots of beautiful and famous Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

temple in Kyoto

Interestingly, in Kyoto, many of the women dressed in kimonos, especially at the temples. It seems like this is more of a fashion statement than anything, and I didn't see any men dressed traditionally.

they say it's especially beautiful in Autumn

The first temple we visited is Kyoto's biggest and grandest. It's especially famous for its folliage. During the spring, the cherry blossoms bloom turning the surrounding hill pink (which we missed by just a few days - we later saw some cherry blossoms, but they were definitely fading) and in the autumn the maples turn bright red.

sacred spring

Outside the temple is a sacred spring from which people ritually wash and sip in order to be bestowed with health and longevity. To wash, one must follow the Shinto ritual: take the long-handled ladle and collect some water. Wash your left hand, then your right hand. Then pour some water into your hand and take a sip. Then hold the ladle up so that the remaining water washes back over your hands. People aren't supposed to actually sip from the ladle, but anyway, don't worry! After you finish with the ladle, you place it in a UV light box to kill any bacteria. I would never drink spring water in Thailand, but somehow it seems ok in Japan.

fan-tastic

Walking back through the atmospheric and quaint neighborhood, we passed many old wooden shophouses. I even stopped to try some matcha tea and cherry blossom ice cream (which I highly recommend).

Japan is really beautiful!

Kyoto was by far one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited. It was also incredibly easy to get around with an expansive and simple-to-navigate bus line. The city was also quite clean and very charming in the way that it retains much of its traditional culture.

street in Kyoto

The next morning we hopped aboard a local train for the 20-minute drive just east of town to one of Kyoto's most famous sites: Fushimi Inari! In Thailand, we see advertisements for Japan all over the place with Inari as a big selling point. We also always see photos of our Thai friends who have gone to Japan and post selfies here. It wasn't something that I wanted to miss!

Inari

Inari is a big shrine complex, with hundreds of red tori gates inscribed with Kanji characters all the way along the 4-kilometer hike up Mount Inari.

As we worked our way up the mountain (not a hard walk at all, quite unlike the Giant Tree, which nearly killed us, or the temple in Krabi), we stopped at waypoints along the way to admire the view over Kyoto.

On the descent we stopped at a waypoint called the "Respectful Sword Shrine", said to be the abode of the God of Craftsmen. While there, we bought a tea sweet set for Y200, which included a big pot of hot green tea (it was quite cold that day) and some tea sweets.

miles of tori gates

Immediately upon leaving Inari, Ryan and I headed back to Kyoto Station to catch a bus to the exact opposite side of town, Arishiyama, home to Japan's most famous bamboo forest.

The final stop for the day was Kinkaku-ji, the famous Golden Pavilion Zen Temple. It was super crowded there, but well-worth it to see. The temple is plated in gold and incredibly beautiful. The place feels very peaceful and calm, despite the hoards of tourists.

The Golden Pavilion

Kyoto was great! Although I saw pretty much all the sites I wanted to, I would have loved to stay longer; two days just wasn't enough. But our time in Kyoto was over. On the third morning, we boarded another bullet train back to Tokyo for the second part of our short stopover.