Kyoto and Osaka

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  Kyoto, Japan
Monday, October 24, 2005

The ride on Japan's bullet train or Shinkansen is as fast as it sounds. We went from Tokyo to Kyoto (about 500 kilometers) in less than three hours. We have included a few videos and photos of the ride for your viewing pleasure. The scenery was a mix of small towns tucked into valleys, cities, farmland and mountains in the distance. They have women coming around with a cart of food like on an airplane, but unfortunately they were sold out of everything by the time they got to us. So buy your bento box in the train station.

We arrived in Kyoto on Saturday, the 22nd and checked into the Karsuma Kyoto Hotel. We booked the train and hotel together through a package deal -- it was a typical tourist hotel nice enough room but very hard beds (we did get complimentary use of robes and slippers!). The best part of the hotel was the free Internet access and toiletries (including a tooth brush, razor and shower cap)

01 Temple Roof in Kyoto

. We of course absconded with as many toiletries as possible in order to be prepared for our next five and a half months on the road. Apparently it isn't just Americans who like to take the toiletries home -- our friend, Kei, said the Japanese have been known to take a shower cap or two....or twenty.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were starving for lunch so we went straight to the first restaurant we could find which happened to be Italian. Part of Matt was screaming at the idea, but it was surprisingly good and our server was truly the friendliest person we've met in Japan. After our lunch we strolled from the hotel, which was located in central Kyoto to Gion, an area known for its history of kabuki theater and geishas. The architecture was very traditional and spare, and felt very old. Since you can not throw a rock in Kyoto without hitting a beautiful temple, we wandered through a few of the temples located in the eastern part of the city (past Gion). The sun was setting and the temples looked very lovely in the light. After all that walking we had worked up an appetite and decided on a traditional Japanese seafood restaurant near the hotel. We had to remove our shoes before eating and the menu had absolutely no English on it. So we looked around and ordered what the people next to us were having. We ended up with a tempura fried fish and an odd concoction that we call Japanese pizza: it was a shallow pan filled with sliced potatoes, tomatoes, ham, cheese and some other stuff. We were pleasantly surprised at how tasty everything was We also order Kirin beer and a small bottle of sake, in keeping with Matt's mission to drink the local booze wherever we go. To complete the task we went back to the bar at the hotel and to try one of the Japanese brands of whiskey, Suntory (remember "Make it Suntory time." from Lost in Translation?). Very nice though very (expensive), about $10 a glass

02 Walkways in Subway Tunnel

. Isn't traveling tough?

We turned in early on Saturday in preparation for a side trip to Osaka on Sunday. Osaka is a quick thirty minute train ride away from Kyoto on the JR Super Express train (not to be confused with the Shinkansen bullet train or the fifty other types of train services available in Japan). While Kyoto is called Japan's cultural capital, Osaka appeared to be more of an industrial and commercial center with an impressive shipping port. We enjoyed a walk along the harbor promenade as well as a visit to Osaka castle. Since the number of English tours in Kyoto or Osaka are limited and expensive, we were happy when we came across an affordable river boat tour in Osaka. Our excitement quickly turned to disappointment when we began to suspect that the automatic English translation was an abbreviated version of the Japanese narration. Although we do not know for sure, it seemed a little suspicious that the automatic narrator would go on for about five minutes in Japaense and then translate the monologue into something like "The building on your left is a historic monument." I guess we will never know for sure and we've learned our lesson -- you get what you pay for.

On Monday, our last day in Kyoto, we took in another temple (the gold one in the pictures) and went to Nijojo Castle, a beautiful castle that was originally built in 1603 and over the years has been burned and rebuilt several times. It was first used as the 15th Shogun's temporary residence while he was in town. In the late 1800's it was a temporary seat of government. The castle and grounds are right in the middle of central Kyoto - very picturesque. The best feature of the castle were special floors all through out the building called "Nightingale floors"

03 Dog walker outside Osaka Castle

. These had nails beneath them that squeaked when you walked on them, sort of sounding like a bird chirp, and were intended to thwart assassins.

Our final activity before the return trip on the bullet train was a trip to the noodle shop for some traditional ramen soup. The return train trip was great because this time the weather was clear enough to see the views. Matt was napping but woke up just in time to see Mount Fuji rising out of the clouds. It was huge, much bigger than we expected, and looked very dramatic in the setting sun.

Mogan and Kei graciously hosted us for our last night in Tokyo. They have a beautiful apartment near Ueno park -- we ate a special dinner prepared by both Mogan and Kei (curry chicken wings, pizza and a wonderful tuna salad) and took a nice walk around the neighborhood. We are so grateful for their generous hospitality and for all their patiencce with our endless stream of questions about Japan.

Next report will be from Hong Kong, where we hope it will be a bit cheaper and more people will speak english. We have enjoyed our time in Japan, more than we expected to, and will definitely return some day.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

04 Matt in front of Osaka Castle	05 Our snack	09 Osaka Harbor	11 Kristy at the Nijo-Jo
12 Kristy and a Bell	13 School Girl at the Temple	Bridge over the River in Kyoto	Mount Fuji
Night street in Kyoto	The Japanese Pizza

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