Phase 2: Kyoto

Woke up late on Saturday, took a shower, and had breakfast. Some yummy pop tarts courtesy of Sparks’ parents. While eating we made preliminary plans of attack as to how to see as much of the cool stuff Kyoto as possible in a day. We then made the quick walk to Tehara station and took the two trains back to Kyoto station. On the way we ran onto several of Spark’s students who all said “Hello”.

Exiting Kyoto station by the main gate I found that Kyoto station is a HUGE complex. I think for sheer cubic meter-age it gives Shinjuku a run for its money. Of course since we left out umbrellas at the house it started to rain at this point. Our first stop decided for us, we hit up a local AM/PM store and bought some $4.00 umbrellas. (An aside: almost every store in Japan sells umbrellas, for idiots like us who leave ours behind.)

Next we visited Hon-gwan-ji temple. I’ll spare you the gory details of temple exploration. Generally it involves seeing the main temple building, any cool out buildings, taking a few pictures, and moving on. Indeed after a while they all start to look alike. That is not to say they are not all individually impressive, however. Digressing, after Hon-gwan-ji we walked several blocks to Nishi-hon-gwan-ji. The main-main temple at Nishi was under construction (and a huge over-structure) and could not be seen. The grounds were still very nice however. The picture below is of the main building at Hon-guan-ji.

After a healthy dose of Buddhist temple we went in search of a pagoda I spotted on a map back at the station. We wandered for a ways, finally spotting the top of the pagoda over the surrounding building. On approach, the pagoda (a Buddhist piece of architecture) was actually on another set of temple grounds. This temple, not an active temple, charged a few hundred yen at the gate to get on the premises. This cover charge was well worth it as there was an exhibit of two sets of Buddhist statuary that are national treasures. The Asian-art-history major in me let out a little cry of joy. Aside from the exhibit the grounds has some wonderful photo opportunities. The buildings the statues were in were built a full 22 years before Columbus sailed that ocean blue. And of course, there was the pagoda (seen below.)

Once we were pictured out, we had a quick ice-cream break (one food that’s universal in taste), and went to check out another side of the temple grounds. Here was the active part of the temple. We explored this for a while. We managed to find, I think, the newest temple building. It was odd, seeing a 600+ year old temple, and one build in the past 5 years, within 250 meters of each other.

The next step was, perhaps a bit careless on our part. We left by a different exit than we entered by. We began walking around the back streets of Kyoto. That was cool for a time. Eventually though we decided we were lost enough to ask directions. First, at a bus stop our query came up with mixed results. Next at a liquor store we got sent in the right direction. We walked several blocks down a covered portion of sidewalk which housed several fish markets and a few vegetable markets. After we passed under a set of tracks and found a map saying there was a station next to the tracks we made mistake number two. We diverged from the directions the shop-keep gave us. After a nice walk through the Kyoto Wholesale Warehouse District we came out the other side dazed and smelling slightly of fish. Locating another map we found how to get back on track and walked several more blocks to the subway station which we were seeking.

A nice ride on the Kyoto subway later we emerged at one end of the Kyoto Imperial Palace grounds. The KIP is a large park set up by the first Meiji Emperor on the grounds of what was once the seat of power for Japan. Before Edo (Tokyo) was Japan’s capitol, the Imperial family resided in Kyoto. The Buildings on the KIP grounds are Meiji-era recreations of the original Palace buildings that were once there. Unfortunately by the time we arrived the castle section had closed (historical sites in Japan close at 4:30pm daily, all of them.) We walked around the outside (a loooong walk) and took some pictures.

We hit the subway stop at the other end of the KIP and saved a long walk back to the other one.

We rode to Sanjo-Keihan and exited into the pleasant night air. By this time the rain had more or less stopped making serious attempts to get us wet. We strolled, first down the street where-abouts Memoirs of a Geisha was written/about, then through a labyrinth of covered shopping district. We stopped to get dinner and strolled some more. This district is quite nifty because every so often there’s a break in the shop-fronts and a shrine. Not some tiny little box either. Full on shrines, even a grave yard or two. We left the covered section for a bit to check out some dancers practicing in front of Kyoto City Hall.

Once again finding that we had seen all that there was to see at that time we went to a very out of place establishment. An Irish Pub. We ordered our drinks at the bar and had a seat. Sitting at the table next to us was a very British looking man who turned out to be an American (from Florida, who probably assumed we were British). We made idle chatter while we drank our beers. Long story short, we learn the guy’s life story. Not being so interesting, and in fact getting kind of creepy and over-insisting when offering to buy the next round of drinks Sparks and I ducked out. Before parting way, the odd man spoke of another Irish pub (with live music) close to City Hall.

Deciding we weren’t done for the night we found the other bar. The bartender here was as actual Irishman. A bit of a shock if you’re not expecting it. Again we ordered drinks and had a seat. There was live music. Two Japanese on piccolo and flute and what I assume was an Irishman on the drum. The music was good and we nursed our drinks and listened for a while.

All in all I’d say it was a successful day.