temple – The Stupid American Tourist

Arashiyama (Saturday, Part 2)

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Nov 262011

I was in Kyoto Station. I headed over to the platform to grab a train to Arashiyama, but first I grabbed some sandwiches at the shop there, and gobbled them down on the platform to save money on cafes. I almost missed my train.

I made it to Arashiyama, and headed out of the station there. The crowds were massive. As I headed out of the station, I saw a bicycle rental shop right there. I wasn’t interested this time (because it’s impossible to bike in these crowds), but it’s something to keep in mind for next time.

I headed towards the main street in Arashiyama, and it was jam-packed with people. That was almost more interesting than the shops and the few street performers I saw.

Arashiyama’s main street is full of restaurants and souvenir shops that are designed to separate you from your cash. If you like browsing and eating, it’s definintely worth a trip.

I decided to head on over towards the giant bamboo forest I saw in one of the brochures for Arashiyama, because it looked interesting. In reality, it looked okay, but didn’t quite match up to the level of the magazines and brochures. (Of course.)

I lowered my camera a bit, and you can see the crowds!

One amazing thing: I spotted trash cans in Arashiyama! I could toss out my sandwich box from Kyoto Station there. Awesome. (No I did not take a picture. I probably should have.)

In the middle of the bamboo forest, I walked past a beautiful Shinto shrine, Nonomiya Jinja. It had great fall colors around its front gates, so there was a huge crowd trying to take pictures.

Getting around was kind of difficult at times, because there was a rickshaw service whose rickshaws were pretty big, and they would force the pedestrians out of the way so one or two people could get by. One guy would run in front of the rickshaw to clear the mob of people out of the way so the rickshaw could go through (although usually it was 2 or 3 rickshaws), and then another guy would bring up the rear.

It was really annoying.

Train Spotting

After that, I came upon the main JR line, and had to wait for some trains to pass, so I took some train photos as they went by. I wasn’t the only person doing that. Trains are a bit of an obsession for some people here. It stands to reason: there’s a huge variety of models, and some of them look kind of cool. And there are enough varieties of trains and railway lines that fans can probably argue for days on end about which is the coolest.

I love this woman’s body language as the train approaches:

Yup, it’s a train all right!

Back into the bamboo forest for a bit more.

My walking had an objective, and that was Nision-in temple. But I saw a lot of pretty sights along the way, like this cottage:

And this really big field:

Looking back at the way I came (same really big field!):

Nision-In Temple

I did some more walking, and then I finally wound up at Nision-in temple, on the side of a mountain. The views were great, and the foliage was pretty, too. I climbed the steep stone stairs up the side of the mountain for some great views of Arashiyama and Kyoto in the distance.

Entering the temple grounds:

Going through the gate (I like this photo a lot):

Inside the temple grounds:

The Honden, if I remember correctly:

A big bell you could ring:

Then I climbed a bunch of stairs into the cemetery on the top of the hill, and saw this beautiful view of Arashiyama and Kyoto:

To give you an idea of how steep the stairs were– going down was a little scary:

All in all, it’s a beautiful temple, and the walk there from the main street was also gorgeous as well. There were lots of fall colors and great scenery along the way. Another nice part about it: it wasn’t as crowded as the main street, and it definitely wasn’t as crowded as Kyoto.

Then I headed back towards the main street in Arashiyama again (still busy!):

I took a short break on a bench by some vending machines. That was a lifesaver. I had a Coke. It was in one of those oil can style aluminum bottles I only see in Japan:

Revived, I headed down the main street, all the way towards the Togetsukyou bridge, another famous Arashiyama landmark.

The sun was starting to set, so the scenery around there was especially pretty. The sun goes behind the mountains pretty early in that part of Arashiyama.

After all of that, I decided to head back to Kyoto Station. I had some fun trying to find new ways to get to the JR station in Arashiyama, but I eventually got there.

Dinner Time

In Kyoto, I decided to have dinner at Kyoto Station, on the 11th floor in a place called The Cube, where you can find a bunch of different restaurants. Tonight I decided on an Italian restaurant that I had eaten at 4 years ago. The food was good then, and it was still good now.

500 yen got me 3 pieces of cheese, 3 slices of tomato, and some basil. Yikes. But I got a decent pizza for 1200 yen. I ordered a slice of cake for dessert that was only slightly more challenging than a Rubik’s Cube to open. It was bound in some kind of plastic that was apparently also used to seal away demons, but the cake was delicious.

Generally, food in Japan is expensive. Add to that the crappy dollar-yen conversion rate, and it’s even more expensive.

OMG Osaka!

Sated, I headed down to the lockers to get my bags out, and headed to Osaka for the night.

The train ride from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka only took about 23 minutes, then a 10 minute wander through the maze that is Shin-Osaka station to the subway, and 1 stop to Nishi-something-or-other to the hotel.

That’s an interesting neighborhood. I got a weird vibe as soon as I left the station, but I shrugged it off. I got to the hotel, settled in, cleaned up, and headed out to get some food: breakfast for tomorrow and a late evening snack.

As I was looking for the 7-11, I was propositioned by not 1, but 2 very eager “massage therapists.” Yeah, it turns out it was that kind of neighborhood. They were aggressive, too. But I just kept on walking, got my food, headed back (alone!), and passed out.

Long day, but lots of stuff done.

Tofukuji (Saturday, Part 1)

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Nov 262011

Today was a very busy day.

Before I headed out for sightseeing, I tried begging at the APA Hotel for another night. No luck.

So I grabbed my stuff, and raced to Kyoto Station and managed to grab one of the last lockers in the basement area. They were pretty much full by 8:30 a.m.

Soft-sided luggage is a godsend, because I can squish it into a smaller locker. The softer, the better. The less of it, the better, too.

Then I grabbed a local train to Tofukuji to see the temple there.

On the way to Tofukuji, I saw my first pretty red leaves:

As I was walking, I saw a place called Rikkyou-An, and it had a lovely garden inside.

The sign says, “Do not enter to take photos:”

In Japan, people tend to follow the rules:

Then I arrived at the entrance to Tofukuji. It was packed, and the line was huge.

Tofukuji

It seems as if all of Japan has descended on Kyoto to stare at red leaves. I started my day by going to Tofukuji Temple, which a number of magazines recommended as a top place to see the fall colors.

That was my first mistake: relying on popular Japanese travel magazines. Japan is a group-oriented society, and everyone reads the same things, including the same travel magazines, so everyone was at the same place.

It was insane. Scores of people cornering some random trees with red leaves, shooting photo after photo.

Yes, they’re pretty, but are they that pretty?

We’re surrounded by 1,400 years of culture, countless UNESCO World Heritage sites, and nobody cares. It’s all about the leaves.

It’s somewhat mystifying.

That said, I managed to get caught up in the leaf frenzy too. I found myself taking lots of pictures of red trees and their red, red, leaves.

Have a look:

This is the Tsutenkyo Bridge, from the entry to the temple:

A little closer in:

I finally got into the temple complex proper, and it was busy:

We had to line up for all sorts of things:

The crowd was crushingly heavy. Folks were pushing, elbows, shoulders, bodies, all straining to get the same perfect shot that everyone else has of the same red leaves.

Looking back at the entryway I came across from my vantage point on the Tsutenkyo Bridge:

I wandered over to the Kaisando Hall:

The Kaisando has a Wet Side:

And a Dry Side:

Then I started to head back. I saw this lovely gate. I forget which one it is, though:

One last trip across the Tsutenkyo Bridge, fighting the crowds:

And after an hour of that, I left. Tofukuji is a very nice place to visit just about any other time of the year. The do leaves make it really pretty. It’s just the crowds that make it unbearable. Pick a weekday or come some other time of year.

I ran into a couple from the U.S., and we engaged in that usual activity of foreigners in Japan, which is a bit of head-shaking at the things we don’t quite understand. I’m sure everyone does it a bit when they travel somewhere.

Goodbye Welcome Inn

I headed back to the station. It was 11 a.m., so I stopped by the Welcome Inn Reservation Center for the last time. They are closing it permanently after the 30th. Shoot. Anyway, I tried to see if I could scrounge up a western-style hotel room, in a 40-mile radius, but didn’t have any luck. The lady suggested that I try the travel agencies in the station.

I decided to give Nippon Travel a shot, and waited a bit to see an agent. He managed to find the last hotel room in Osaka, at the Business Hotel Consort. I took it for 5,000 yen. What the heck. It’s not the most exciting name for a hotel, but beggars can’t be choosers tonight. My only other option is sacking out at an internet cafe, and while I’d like to try that sometime, I’m fine with being in a regular hotel, too.

After reserving a room for the night, I went to the Kyoto City info center for ideas, because after dealing with the morning’s crowds, I was stumped for what to do next. I didn’t want to go to another temple or shrine that was as crowded as Tofukuji and fight leaf peepers all day.

I asked one of the consultants there if there was a way to avoid the crowds and still soak in some of the Kyoto atmosphere.

He laughed.

Then he recommended Arashiyama. It was actually a pretty good idea, because Arashiyama has enough room to spread out.

Sort of. Anyway, Arashiyama is pretty.

This post is already long because of the photos, so let’s continue it in part two.

It’s Made of Gooold!

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Oct 202007

I just got back to Okazaki from Kyoto, and today was great.

Sun! Beautiful sun!

I dumped my luggage in a locker at the station, and talked to the very helpful ladies on the 9th floor of Kyoto Station in the tourist office: by all means, go there.

Try to get to Kyoto well before 6 p.m. and use that office. They’ll tell you how to get around, they’ll give you maps and all kinds of useful information. They’ll even hook you up with a cheap hotel, if you need one. It would have saved me so much headache if I had gone there first on Thursday night, but it was closed.

The best thing they taught me was how to ride the buses in Kyoto. Generally, it’s cheaper to get an all-day ticket if you’re going to ride more than one bus. The fare covers the route, not the distance traveled, so the fares are all the same.

Kinkakuji

I took a crowded bus to Kinkakuji, which was incredible (it’s also called the Golden Pavilion, if you’re scoring at home), then I walked to Ryoanji to see the impressive Zen rock gardens there.

Kinkakuji is a gorgeous temple. First, the golden pavilion itself is stunning:

Asking people to take your picture is kind of risky. Not that they’ll steal your camera, but that they won’t be able to figure out how to get you in focus:

Not that I was looking all that dapper, anyway.

The crowd waiting to take pictures:

This one came out really nice:

Here’s where I would put the rocking chairs and wave back at the crowds:

And here’s a shot of the back:

I figured out what everyone does with their 1 and 5 yen coins. They throw them here:

And here is where you pray:

At Kinkakuji, I bought some souvenirs, then spied a Haagen-Dazs vending machine, and purchased an almond-vanilla bar.

Refreshing.

I finally sucked up my courage and got an omikuji (it’s a fortune they sell at shrines.)– I drew a shoukichi— which means I’ll have a little luck. That’s fine for me. Friday I would have pulled a daikyou— big bad luck. No thanks.

The Road to Ryoan-ji

Ryoan-ji is pretty close to Kinkakuji. It’s about a 15 minute walk away, and definitely worth it.

I started by going down this road:

I saw these flowers by a utility pole. I guess they do roadside memorials in Japan as well.

I passed a place that had a lot of those stone (or maybe concrete?) statues that I’ve seen a lot:

Lots of moss on the walls. It was really pretty:

I thought this garage door was cool.

Ryoan-ji

Ryoan-ji is gorgeous in a different way from Kinkakuji. It’s a wonderful contrast between the two temples. Kinkakuji is hectic and crowded, while Ryoan-ji feels more tranquil.

There’s a large pond, or a small lake on the temple grounds, and it’s very nice to look at.

There’s a small island on the lake, and a small shrine on the island:

Here is the place where you wash your hands and mouth to purify yourself:

As you enter the main building where the rock garden is, you have to take off your shoes. Then as you enter, there are two really stunning pieces of calligraphy:

And then you come to the famous Zen rock garden:

Wide shot:

Some closeups:

Of course it’s crowded. It’s pretty famous:

I went around the back of the main building, looked at some of the other scenery. I really liked this water feature:

Here’s a shot of the rooms around the rock garden. There were a lot of really pretty screens on the walls:

On the way out, you walk around a lot of the grounds again, about a 15 minute walk. I thought this Japanese maple tree was especially pretty:

Persimmons and ducks on the way out:

Back to the Station (More Kyoto Station Photos!)

Back at Kyoto Station, I took some more photos. The Kyoto Tower, reflected on the side of the station:

One of the main facades of the station:

Inside the station, things are hectic on a Sunday!

Going up to the roof.

Roof detail. I love detail shots.

Here’s a panorama I took of the roof area.

Look! Another band! I’m a old band nerd, so I’m always happy to see kids learning to perform music:

While I was at the station, I made some hotel reservations with the help of the Welcome Inn people at the tourist office on the 9th floor. I got a room for 6,300 yen a night for the 26th, 27th, and 28th. That’s a weekend in October. Amazing. I couldn’t find anything available on my own.

October is leaf-viewing season, so it gets booked up here pretty fast.

Next weekend, I’m going back to visit all the places I couldn’t get to, like Gion, Arashiyama, Eiga Mura (it’s the cinema village they use to shoot samurai dramas… I want to see it if time permits), plus I want to look at some handicraft stuff.

After that I’ll go to Nara, Hiroshima, Beppu, Osaka,Â and then we’ll see.

I’m up to over 1,050 photos so far.

And I have learned a ton about traveling.

Rick Steves was right. You are always carrying too much crap.

You can always find one thing to get rid of.

Two bags is one bag too many. Three bags is insanity.

Digital anything is great.

Now I’m going to take a shower, go to ZigZag, then do some laundry.

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