Early in the morning I had to leave Tokyo for Kyoto, where I would be spending the next two days with xanthe! To reach Kyoto I would take the super high-speed bullet train from Tokyo station. I had never been on a bullet train before so I was looking forward to it. In Japan, the bullet train is referred to as “Shinkansen”.
In general, I tend to dislike asking for directions. Instead I would prefer navigating around on my own. The only thing is that the Shinkansen line at Tokyo station has about a gazillion different platforms and I ended up on the wrong platform! In the end I had to seek help at the information counter. Lesson learned: always ask for directions when you have heavy luggage and a large Hello Kitty cushion in tow!
Three kinds of bullet train ply the Tokaido Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka (kyoto lies along this route). My rail pass allowed me to take the Hikari train, which I did at 11:06am.
Every hour, two Hikari trains operate on this route. Each train travels as quickly as 300 kilometres per hour. At that speed, it would take me less than 3 hours to get to Kyoto!
They had stalls selling bento sets on the train platforms. I got myself an unajuu (eel and rice) set.
One for the road!
At that point I was pretty sad to be leaving Tokyo. The time I spent there had been so wonderful and memorable! With my ipod earphones plugged in, I felt doubly melancholic.
Soundtrack: John Mayer – Clarity
The video above was taken just as the train was departing Tokyo station.
The train made a few stops along the way. I noticed this interesting building at one of the stops (nagoya, I think). It had many well-known brands of electronics and technology products arranged neatly on its facade.
My colourful Indian bangles!
Soundtrack: Alicia keys – Caged Bird
The train ride was a good one. It allowed me to see the more rural side of Japan with all its small houses and vast fields of greenery. What a stark contrast this was from the metropolitan Tokyo that I had been seeing for the past 7 days!
I reached Kyoto after 2 hours and 40 minutes! This shiny building is Kyoto station. It is the most important transportation hub in Kyoto where people can take the railway, subway or bus.
At the station, I found interest in a couple of food stores while waiting for xanthe to arrive.
The bento sets were so detailed and elaborate!
Then it was time to head to our hotel. We had booked our accommodation a month prior to our arrival, and clean forgot that it was within walking distance to Kyoto station! Yay! What convenience!
The moment we opened the door to our hotel room, we were pleasantly surprised by how cosy it was! Our beds had beautiful comforters and bedding. My Hello Kitty cushion looked right at home!
We also found an interesting boiling device in the room; it was built right into the table!
By the time we settled down it was already late afternoon. We had just one and a half days in Kyoto – time to hit the streets!
On our way to the hotel earlier I had spotted some wooden houses from afar. Kyoto is formerly the capital of Japan and well-known for having such traditional wooden houses.
So on one side you get a bustling city scene with tall buildings and busy roads; on the other side you get a peaceful area rich in tradition that looks a completely different world!
We spent the next half hour walking through the lanes and alleys and admiring the houses!
Wooden nameplates outside a door. It seems there were a few people or households living beyond that door.
This house looked so quaint!
My favourite is this particularly sweet-looking house! It might have been an eatery or something.
A row of shops lining the streets of Kyoto. They share the same traditional look as well.
Big-ass bottles. What are they, sake? Shochu?
Japanese girls wearing colourful yukata, which is a more casual form of kimono worn during summer. This was a very common sight; people would wear these out on the streets, to the malls, etc.
Kyoto is home to 2000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines!
This was the first temple that we visited as it was within walking distance from our hotel.
Pretty flowers by the road!
Back in Tokyo, our main form of transport was the subway and the occasional indecently-priced cab rides; we never rode the bus once. But here in Kyoto, the bus system was so intuitive and uncomplicated that it became the only form of transport that we used! (this is the bus route map that we used over the two days, with illustrations and colour coded bus routes!)
Notice anything out of the norm in this photograph below?
All passengers board the bus at the back and alight at the front!
Regardless of the distance travelled, each bus ride costs ?220 for adults (that’s about 3 bucks). Passengers would pay their fares at the front of the bus (where the driver can get a clear view) just before they alight. That explains the unusual arrangement of the bus!
We took the bus to an area called “higashiyama”. Our main purpose there was to visit the famous Buddhist temple, kiyomizu-dera, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple was located really far off from the main road. We had to take a long walk on kiyomizuzaka, an upward-sloping lane lined with souvenir shops and eateries on both sides.
A little shaved ice dessert to send us along our way. When you’re in Japan, you have to go for the green tea flavour! And the vanilla ice cream? That’s just good sense. (count the number of ice cream in this post! People with the correct answer get to treat me to real ice cream! Haha!)
Here we are! The renowned kiyomizu-dera!
Its intricate red and white main gate.
Before entering the main praying area, visitors are supposed to rinse their hands at the purification fountain.
Or here too.
Vast forest beyond the temple. Can you spot the pagoda?
An outdoor stage used for performances, like the one at the Shinto shrine I visited in Day 5. Temples and shrines, they all look the same after a while don’t they?
The veranda at the top of this staircase is supported by hundreds of pillars and juts out over the hillside. From here you can enjoy a sweeping view of the entire city of Kyoto!
Beautiful!
Following the temple visit, we took a stroll down the quaint kiyomizuzaka slope that we passed earlier.
This must be a hot-spot for tourists because there were numerous souvenir shops, each one selling the same stuff as the next.
Did I not tell ya? The Japanese are crazy about Hello Kitty!
More ice cream! We opted for black sesame and purple bubblegum flavours this time round.
Yummy! I never thought I would like black sesame ice cream (the colour alone has always turned me off)!
Cute figurines of geishas.
More cute figurines! These were handcrafted porcelain ones of animals!
Kawaii!
Remember the cute car we spotted in shibuya back in Tokyo? This is the one:
Well, as luck would have it, we spotted another one of it right there in Kyoto, parked next to a traditional wooden house!
Tee-hee!
Towards the end of the slope this white-coloured restaurant caught our eye. Many Japanese restaurants have plastic food replicas displayed on the outside that are really useful for people that don’t speak Japanese (remember my food ordering process in Day 1?).
These particular food replicas looked entirely different from the usual plastic ones we saw. They appeared to be hand-painted and made out of clay! For some reason that was enough to attract us to have our dinner there!
There was no other customer and it continued that way throughout the entire duration of our meal.
Dwarf figurines by the window.
Uniquely-designed menu with text that looked like they had all been painstakingly written.
Pork cutlet with a little mound of noodle.
Chicken steak in teriyaki sauce and breaded prawn.
Then it was time to head back.
But not before having a little coffee jelly (with ice cream) at caffe veloce, a café near our hotel. Yummy!
Aug 30, 2007
20
Very nice! I’m surprised that Kyoto is only 3 hrs by shinkansen. I did not get the chance to ride the shinkansen; perhaps next time.
Were the people aboard the shinkansen very quiet? I noticed that when I took a private train (by accident, because we wanted to take the JR), that one guy had “shushhed” me and the train was very quiet. No cell phones, no one talking, etc.
Kyoto is not what I expected, based on your pictures. I thought it was very nature-like, with very few buildings.
Your pictures of the plastic food displays makes me miss Japan SOOOO much! I miss how polite everyone is, and how they greet you with “irasshaimase!” when you walk in to a store or restaurant.
Your Hello Kitty pillow is so kawaii! It looks like Hello Kitty is sleeping in your bed.
Aug 31, 2007
3472
It was shorter than 3 hours actually. The bullet train was really fast!
The Shinkansen wasn’t that quiet because it was packed with foreigners! There were conversations going on at times but in general, it was still much quieter than any other train I have been on.
Notice that on subway trains even, you hardly hear the phone ring. Not even an SMS! With incoming calls, people would simply not answer them. My friend who’s working in Tokyo told me that even when the trains are packed during the morning rush hours, it would still be silent.
I expected Kyoto to have many of these wooden houses in addition to being a modern city. On my way there on the Shinkansen I did spot those nature-like areas you’re talking about, with sparse buildings and all. They were the neighbouring prefectures or something. We wanted to go check it out but again, we ran out of time!
There is just so much to see in Japan, I doubt that even a whole year would be enough!
Aug 31, 2007
26
Japan is just so much fun! I wanted to go Tokyo before heading back to Buffalo, but alas no time. Interesting how the culture is so diverse for a rather homogeneous country… how it’s modern yet respectful of traditional beliefs (e.g. not answering cellphones in subway). Great multi-sensory travelogue you’ve produced Ms. V!
Aug 31, 2007
72
Wow, you sure blew away all our pathetic attempts at capturing holiday experiences with this series of gorgeous photographs, witty captions and brilliant posts! I love Japan and have been there 3 times already and counting. For my trip to Melbourne (starting tonight…hehe), I’ll aspire to put up some nice photo heavy post like this…. *deep bow*
Aug 31, 2007
1
Hi, nice pics out there for kyoto and Tokyo…
I stopped by Tokyo recently for 3 days….can’t believe you missed Tsukiji…the tuna auction and sushi there is fantastic. Do make a trip there next time. Me and my wife are planning our next trip to kyoto and osaka now…
Keep up the good work, enjoy reading your blog…
Very valuable and enjoyable research material for the next trip hehe…
P.S. The big ass bottles are sake I think. The bigger more well known brands…
Aug 31, 2007
15
hi veron, how much you paid for your 11 days japan trip?
your pictures are so tempting for me to go there holiday. would be trying their sakura season next year :-)
Aug 31, 2007
3472
Kevin: Thanks! Your highly interactive blog with all the interesting photos and videos are what inspired me to come up with a “multi-sensory” travelogue, as you call it. Otherwise it would simply be just photos and text.
walter: Hey! My bro is leaving for Melbourne tonight too! You guys may end up catching the same flight.
hawk: The Tsukiji fish market was actually part of our planned itinerary but we left it out in the end; there wasn’t time! The next time I go to Tokyo again I would be there!
lorewang: For airfare and accommodation alone it was about $1500. I spent much more on other stuff such as food, transportation, admission passes and shopping!!
Aug 31, 2007
5
Great insight on your trip, I love reading all the different aspects of your trip. Keep it coming!!
Aug 31, 2007
44
wow … the picture that captured my attention is the …… “that bowl of unagi with rice”!
japan really do give generous portions of unagi!
unlike shops here in Singapore ….
*hungry* ….
Aug 31, 2007
3472
Willy: Sure! Day 9 would be full of great pictures, I promise. I’m working hard to get it posted!
Jayson: That lunch box cost me almost 20 bucks. So it’d better have lots of unagi!
Sep 1, 2007
2
Do check out the toilet at the Kyoto Station, it’s in the hotel.
Sep 2, 2007
12
Sawadee krup! i’m sittin in the canteen at Thammasat University (small one near Grand Palace) havin a cold drink in this hot weather. walked past and saw that it’s graduation day so came in for a look. Very interestin and VERY crowded. It’s a big carnival setting.
Sep 2, 2007
3
Hi hi! I just resume reading your blog after having lost your link in my ‘favourites’. I found your blog again after searching on stuff in Japan..and I’m just so glad to find your blog! It’s as ever interesting!
Sep 2, 2007
43
Lovely updates on Tokyo and Kyoto so far. Looking forward to more on Kyoto! Is it easy to travel around Japan without following any tours? My biggest concern is the language; its quite a handicap, not being able to read signs and conversing with people.
My friends who are going to both Tokyo and Osaka in Dec got this tour package @ Natas for about S$1900 per pax (7 days). It includes air tix on JAL, accomodation and food for certain days.
Sep 2, 2007
182
I cannot help but admire the beautiful photos here. The hello kitty cushion makes the room inviting for you, I am sure. :)
By the way, I have tried to access your blog from office during lunch hours for the past weeks, but have difficulties doing so. The message reads “Access denied”. Anyway, good thing that I can still access your blog from home to enjoy the beautiful scenes of Japan. Thanks for the posts.
Sep 3, 2007
1
Got here while googling for Kyoto! Have seen your site around on several ocassions (and Twitter as well). I’m going there in October, your travelogue serves as a good reference read! =D
Sep 3, 2007
3472
xtemujin: Thanks! Maybe next time.
Dennis: I miss Bangkok!
strawberry: So glad you found sparklette.net again!
Joyz: Yup! I’m quite against following tour groups. Traveling on our own is so much more fun! The language barrier is an obstacle though; it takes a longer time to get to people. But experiencing all the differences of a new country is the gist of travelling, isn’t it?
py: Love the kitty cushion! Thanks for highlighting the problem to me. I myself have encountered the same problem from time to time. Still working to fix it for good!
Mail Order Bride: Have fun!
Aug 9, 2008
1
Hi Veron,
Happened to chance upon your site while searching for places to go in tokyo and kyoto. I hope it’s not too late to ask for advise..May i know which hotels did you stayed in both places? How much does the bullet train cost? How did u manage to budget 1500 bucks for accomodation + airtickets?(as air tickets alone cost 1.2k..)
Aug 22, 2008
1
Hi
I am planning a trip in Nov and happened to find yr blog. It was really helpful.
May I know the hotel name you stayed in Kyoto?
Rgds Cheryl
Mar 16, 2009
1
How to travel from Osaka City to Tokyo Disneyland? Which station and which Line.? Please help.