Japan 2012 - Kyoto

Unlike Nara, Kyoto with its almost 1.5m people and tens of thousands of tourists (I heard a lot of Chinese, French and Spanish people talking, and a handful of German and Russian, too - not sure whether the former were dominating by numbers or just volume) is a busy place. Buses are crammed, sights are packed with people, many restaurants cater for tourists (often too much for my liking) and in my particular case, the heat was almost unbearable. I don't mind 36C too much - if I am in a hammock in the shade with unlimited cold drinks at my disposition, and perhaps someone else already tending to the barbecue (that's an accurate description of most of my Brazilian family holidays). When walking through the glaring sun in central Kyoto with very little opportunity to escape to a shady (literally, not what you think) place however, 36C can get a bit too hot. The good news is that with the hundreds of bottled drink dispensers around town it's easy to stay hydrated. So if you have the physiognomy of a lizard, go to Kyoto in August and knock yourself out! Otherwise I would recommend avoiding the summer months. (There is of course one upside to summer, which would be the rather light attire worn by some - I leave the rest to your imagination.)

There are literally hundreds of temples and shrines and castles and Museums and Gardens and an Imperial Palace and whatever else you imagine to find in Kyoto: chances are, it will be there, and mostly in abundance. I went to Kyoto seven years ago, for a rushed visit of one day, and saw some of the sites then; I particularly remember a massive castle, must have been Nijō-jō, the Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-ji) that seems to be hovering over a quiet lake, and Kiyomizu-dera, a temple complex including a pagoda, built on a hill, with "Teapot Lane" (yes, it's lined with dozens of shops offering snacks, souvenirs and tea) leading up to it. I returned to Teapot Lane (somewhat unwittingly - I was in the neighbourhood looking at some other sites and "stumbled upon it" and visited a few temples I hadn't seen before in the vicinity of the Ryokan I was staying at, Ryokan Sakura, not too far from the central train station in a quiet area, and excellent value for money. One of the front desk staff was particularly helpful in sorting out a visit to a Kaiseki restaurant (see the separate blog entry) and three of them came out on the street to wave me off when I left this morning (well, there was more bowing than waving, but you get the idea). There are two places however I want to specifically mention: one is a beautiful garden called Shōsei-en, located behind Higashi Hongan-ji temple, which could almost transport to a different world - it it wasn't for the high-rise building surrounding the park and appearing between the trees here and there, and the constant traffic noise from behind the walls. It's still a magnificent garden and worth a visit. The other is the Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine in the south east of town - on the map it looks a little isolated and you might be tempted to ignore it and go for the more densely sight-populated areas; well, your loss! After I locked away my luggage at Kyoto station (plenty of lockers, very convenient - Japan is one of the few places where terrorism, or the exaggerated fear of it, hasn't destroyed convenience yet, how about that!), I hopped in a taxi to go there (just under 1,000 Yen) and got to the Shrine about 10 minutes later. I had very few ideas about what to expect, I remembered reading something about hundreds of gates and foxes (statues of the animals, not the kind you see at night in the streets of Gion!) and that was about it. Well, I remembered the bit about hundreds of gates (all in bright orange, with the exception of a few stone gates in between) right, and there were also a large number of foxes (still mostly the animal statue variety), but what I wasn't prepared for was the walk up the hill, including hundreds (felt like tens of thousands) of steps - a walk that apparently stretches over 4km, most of them uphill to various degrees. And for most of the way up you are walking through those gates, and come across hundreds of little shrines, again often framed by a couple of foxes, and as you ascend, the number of tourists gets smaller (the majority of people give up rather early on) and the air gets a little cooler, because you venture deeper and deeper into the forest and closer to the hill top. For some it will be a deeply religious experience (I felt like I was going to meet my maker as I drenched myself in my own sweat), for some it will be a surprising experience (I am definitely in that group, both because I didn't know what to expect and since I was surprised about my own tenacity, making it all the way up despite the heat and the often rather steep, seemingly endless stairs), for some it will be a mystical experience (again, definitely in that group, this is a very special place, I wish I could go there when it wasn't so overcrowded) and for most it seemed to be a great photo shoot opportunity (in the lower parts, then turning back with probably hundreds of digital exposures and no appreciation for what makes this place so special). Okay, coming off my soap box again. A few practical tips: wear comfortable shoes, bring some change to buy a drink (again, plenty of drink dispensers on the way up), bring a towel if it's warm (I could have down with a shower and a fresh set of clothes), and if you want to explore a little further, bring a map in your own language - all the signs and maps around the place are in Japanese Kanji only, and I didn't dare to explore since I had a train to catch...

The Lonely Planet guide for Japan is suggesting that Kyoto is one of these places that everyone should have seen before they die - I couldn't agree more.




Pic #1 - Maikos (apprentice Geishas) in the street of Kyoto (note that there are lots of services that dress you up as a Maiko for a day, so don't be surprised if you see some young ladies dressed up in this way who really don't strike you as Geisha material




Pic #2 - Wooden bridge in Shōsei-en Garden











Pic #3, 4 and 5 - Fushimi-Inari Taisha