Jo Does Japan Part Two.

Kyoto. 29th December.

Picking straight up from Part One, the next day I caught the train to Kyoto…eventually. Korea definitely does train stations better than the Japanese. Although the Shinkansen was more comfortable than the KTX, albeit bloody expensive, the lack of helpful English signage meant I needed help to figure out what platform I needed to be on. Aside from the fact the English Tourist Information Centre at Kyoto Station was closed for the holidays, I preferred Kyoto to Osaka immediately.

I checked into the hostel, despite the crappy directions-why do hostels always assume you have a compass or an innate sense of direction-“Get off the bus and walk west.” After dropping off my bag I started checking out the sights straight away. I was waiting at the bus stop when a bus pulled up and the driver asked me where I was heading, I told him Kinkakuji. He told me to get on and then he chased down the bus I needed. The problem was that the bus I needed would pull away just as I got near the doors, but my friendly driver would just let me get back on his bus and we’d try again at the next stop-around 5 stops later I managed to get on the right bus.

Kinkakuji or Rokuon-ji Temple-or the Golden Pavilion, was absolutely stunning. Despite the hoards of people snapping pictures too, I could still envision it being a peaceful and beautiful place. It seems when I am alone I visit lots of temples-case in point Taipei. My next stop was Tenryu Temple, aka the Temple of the Heavenly Dragon (picture above), which again was very beautiful, and visitors have the added bonus of being allowed to see the inside of the temple too. Plus it was my first sighting of women in kimonos! The combination of the stunning garden, brisk cold air, and understated yet picturesque buildings made the experience very lovely-and surprisingly I didn’t really mind the fact I spend most my time in Kyoto in some kind of temple or shrine. Behind this temple there is a bamboo grove where I managed to get a couple of good pictures-including one taken by an old man on his knees. (Bless.) After the bamboo grove though I managed to get very lost, I stumbled across some shrines, found the main road, and then ending up in leafy suburbia-with proper houses, cul-de-sacs, and a very confused Jo. Just as it was getting dark I found the main road again, and managed to find a bus stop and get back into central Kyoto and back to my hostel after going to another closed attraction.

I should mention the vending machines in Japan. I didn’t managed to get any pictures of one, but they are impressive-not just hot and cold drinks in cans-like the ones in Korea, but cigarettes and alcohol too….I tried to imagine a similar thing in the UK and all I could see was baying mobs of teenagers with hoods and crowbars.

Kyoto. 30 December.

This was the day I got snap happy with the camera. I was very lucky with the weather too-it felt like spring and was surprisingly warm, though obviously my warm is your arctic temperatures! I took advantage of the nice weather and walked to the train station from the hostel and popped into my first Temple of the day, Nishi Honganji Temple which was undergoing major reconstruction work.

Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan for eleven centuries and was devastated on countless occasions by wars, fires, and earthquakes, but the city was spared from the firebombing during the Second World War. As a result it is one of the best preserved cities in Japan, with 2000 Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines, palaces, and gardens. I certainly made it my mission to visit as many of the most famous ones as I could, particularly on this day it seems.

My next stop was Kiyomizu Temple (above and below) which is famous for the fact not a single nail was used in its construction. This is all the more impressive when you consider that the temple is supported by pillars off the slope of a mountain. The views of Kyoto from the veranda were very beautiful and the temple is well used both by locals and tourists. It was also an odd sight seeing Westerners in Kimonos, but each to their own I guess.

The bus system in Kyoto is extremely efficient and easy to use, making sightseeing very simple. I just followed the stops and visited all the sights I wanted, when I wanted. (No, I haven’t got a job for the tourist board of Kyoto) There were two Temples very close to one another that I visited next. Chion-in Temple and Shoren-in Temple. They were both incredible. Chion-in had Koreanesque stairs (it’s all about the stairs) and a massively impressive gate. But I would move into Shoren-in Temple tomorrow if only for the garden (Two pictures below). It once served, briefly, as an imperial palace, and I had it almost entirely to myself. I think being alone for four days had driven me slightly stir crazy, and I had a bit of fun with the 10 second timer on my camera. Good times.

If you have a spare bit of cash, or you just happen to be in the area and want a nice romantic place to visit I recommend the garden at the Heian Jingu Shrine. The beautiful garden definitely served as a friendly reminder of how alone I was feeling. So to cheer myself up, I fiddled around with the ten second timer some more and drained the battery of my camera.

Next, I went to Ginkakuji-or The Silver Pavilion, but I should have turned around at the entrance when I saw the “it’s currently undergoing reconstruction and there is bugger all to see” sign. I then walked around the outside of the Imperial Palace, the park was very much about trees and rocky paths. The sunset through the trees was very fitting though after the day I had. I tried to see some Geishas in Gion but it wasn’t to be, instead couples dressed in Kimonos were being followed by tourists trying to take their pictures as though they were celebrities.

31st December 2008.

I checked out of the hostel, and caught the bus to the airport. I probably could have done a bit more sightseeing but Japan is very expensive and I was pretty content just to chill out at the airport and people watch. From my brief visit to Japan I would definitely want to go back there in the future, but I think I should stop travelling alone. Maybe it’s simply because it was the holiday season but on this trip I was very conscious of how alone I was. It’s not that I am sick of my own company; I think it would just be nice to share the memories with someone else. Still, it’s not everyday you get to be in Japan-unless you are Japanese I guess-and it was a great way to end 2008.