After visiting YIS, I pounded the pavement and navigated my way back to the train station so that I could make my way to Kyoto. I just have to say that the Japanese people are so incredibly helpful and nice! They have all been so helpful, which has allowed me to get around without any issues. One lady even got out of her seat to let me know that the stop I was waiting for was next. So kind of her! My trip to Kyoto would have to be taken via Shinkansen, also knowsn as the bullet train. These trains are so high tech and fast! I arrived at the station and had just enough time to grab something to eat to take on the train with me and by the time I reached the platform, it was 1:18 p.m. The Shinkansen arrived at 1:20 and left at exactly 1:22, right on schedule. Punctuality speaks volumes here! I settled into my seat and devoured my lunch: a boxed lunch specifically made for Shinkansen trips. I also had more onigiri (rice balls), yum!
Check out how high tech these bullet trains are: you place your hand over the sensor to flush. No germs, haha!
The rest of my time on the Shinkansen was spent blogging and admiring the lush greenery from the surrounding mountains. I could tell immediately that Kyoto would be different. Sure enough, I was right!
I arrived at Kyoto Station and was able to put my Japanese language class to good use when I couldn't figure out where my hotel bus was. So, after some thought on how to word the question, I asked a nice woman and she was able to show me exactly where it was. I arrived at my hotel (Westin Miyako Kyoto) and it was beautiful! It was so nice to be in an American sized hotel room; I guess I really missed having all that space!
Kyoto is such a beautiful city. So different from Tokyo. While Tokyo makes you feel as if you've stepped into the future, Kyoto makes you feel as if you've stepped back in time. There are lush mountains everywhere and it is a slower pace of life than Tokyo. The houses are traditional Japanese houses and while downtown Kyoto is more modern, it all still has the feel of old Japan.
View from my hotel room window. Isn't it beautiful?
After settling in to my room, I decided to venture out and explore Gion. Gion is the historic part of Kyoto and is also home to the majority of Geishas. The art of the Geisha is decreasing at a rapid rate and it is said that there are only around 200+ of them in Japan, with the majority of them living in Gion.
Here I am on a major street in Gion where Geisha's must walk by to get to their scheduled tea houses.
Sure enough, as I was standing there, a Geisha was headed right towards me! I was immediately starstruck by her beauty and elegance as she walked by. There were quite a few people around me and everyone had their cameras out. I sort of felt like papparazi and made sure to be respectful and to take her picture from a distance. Other tourists, however, did not behave this way and it was disappointing.
Geishas are very expensive and most of them were entering tea houses or getting inside high-end black cars. I noticed that the majority of the clientele entering the tea houses are Japanese businessmen. A geisha's job is to entertain using traditional Japanese art forms of conversation, music, and tea ceremonies.
I walked up Hanami-koji Dori (street) and spent about 30 minutes there taking pictures. In that short time, I was able to see about 5 geisha walk by me. They are so quick and quiet that you wouldn't even realize they had just passed you if you blinked. Each time I saw a geisha, I was completely fascinated and I could see how easy it was to marvel at their beauty and elegance. I decided to walk around some more and took a ton of pictures of the wooden houses in Gion.
The houses have low ceilings and the wooden doors slide open. If you've ever seen the movie, Memoirs of A Geisha, those houses are just about exactly what they look like in Gion. You wouldn't think that the houses provided much privacy, but they do. It's nearly impossible to see inside once the doors are shut.
I was starting to get hungry, so I decided to head towards the downtown area to explore and grab some dinner. There were some neat shops along the way and a couple of major department stores. Here's a picture of the window display at Takashimaya Department store. These kimonos are very expensive!
For some reason, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to eat for dinner. While this looked good, it wasn't going to fill me up - a vending machine of ice cream! I have become quite obsessed with the vending machines here. If you can think of it, they have it in a vending machine!
Believe it or not, I was craving something other than Japanese food. So, I went ahead and settled on this, because well, I just had to.
My meal from McDonald's was exactly what I needed! After I ate, I decided to catch a taxi back to my hotel, but before doing so, I came across this fast food restaurant:
What's the big deal, you ask? Well, this should answer your question:
It's a hamburger with donuts for bread! Jason, if you're reading this, how's that for a burger?! Would you try it?
And just for kicks, here's one last picture for this post. The inside of the taxi. See that blue tray? Trays are found everywhere in Japan when it comes to exchanging money. It is very rare to exchange money from customer to vendor (and vice versa) via hand to hand.
Kyoto Day Two will be my next post. More on that soon!
-Mrs. de Leon
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