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Kyoto, Japan

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Kyoto, Japan

Postby mozza21 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:45 am

It was just recently that I flew from London with the objective of reaching Kyoto, Japan. :glasses

The journey in total was due to take just under 24 hours, and would consist of, a flight at 1.30pm from Heathrow, arriving in Tokyo Narita airport early the next
day. From here it would be a connection by train to Tokyo Haneda airport; this costs about 3000 yen, which is about 28 in the queens money, check out that
exchange rate! Unfortunately we do not become richer as a result; in fact, Japan is more expensive than the UK in many ways, roughly costing about £7 a pint in
the capital. I think they cannot be bothered to remove the zeros on the printing press maybe, I wonder who arduous task this would be?

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Once in Haneda, I would need to take a domestic flight connection into Osaka, and from here it would only be only a brief train and monorail journey of one and a
half hours, which is brief considering the rest of it. I would then be there, in the old Japanese capital city of Kyoto. After completing this long journey, I decided that
on the way back, rather than take the domestic flight, I would take the night bus from Kyoto to Tokyo, why I didn’t do this on arrival is beyond my comprehension,
even now. I would definitely recommend this method of transport over taking a domestic flight; it cuts out all of the trains necessary but does take around eight
hours. One thing I would say, be careful who you book this through, I was advised by the family I was staying with that one of the cheaper companies had a
crash just before I arrived, so I didn’t cut any corners when booking, as a reference this should be costing around 3500 yen.

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Upon reaching the place I would be staying (a friends), a traditional Japanese house complete with, interchangeable doors and paper walls, I was completely, jet, train, and monorail lagged. Just off the plane from London everything seemed alien: the signs were in four separate alphabets, people read books
from right to left (and back to front) and most, I heard, took baths at night in tiny, yet extremely deep tubs (this needs to be seen to be understood, not in a seedy way, just the tub itself rather than the occupant bathing). I soon settled in to a few whiskey highballs, a nice shower, friendly conversation and a place to crash my head, I slept very well that night. The next day as I was out and about, something hit me as I walked the streets under the shadow of the ancient capital’s eastern
hills, I saw pairs of slippers neatly lined up at restaurant entrances, and heard, through an upstairs window, the bare, plaintive sound of a plucked koto (a traditional Japanese instrument).

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So much in this historic Japanese city stirred the imagination: Nijo Castle with its squeaking floorboards, this was to warn ancient shoguns of intruders; the
thousands of red torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine that lead up a wooded hillside of stone foxes and graves. Residents inevitably see things differently than
visitors. But nowhere are the perceptions more disparate than in Japan. Here I’m known as a gaijin, which translates to outsider or foreigner, and generally feel as
if I’m stumbling through the city’s exquisite surfaces like a bull in an Imari china shop. If you turn to any guidebook, you will see that Kyoto, which is surrounded on three sides by hills, became Japan’s capital in 794. It remained so until the Meiji government shifted the capital to Tokyo in 1868. So for more than a millennium, almost everything we associate with classical Japanese culture, kimonos, tea ceremonies, Zen temples, and geisha, came to its refinement in Kyoto.

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The locals are extremely friendly; the staff in shops and restaurants will wait outside and wave you off as you leave. At first I thought they were just making sure the gaijin had gone without stealing anything. But I soon learnt that this is just their tradition, and a lovely one at that. Everywhere you go there is a 100 yen store, generally called a Lawsons, or something else in Kanji (traditional writing symbols) that I don’t know how to write.

Cut to the Karoke bar, a few new friends were very interested in me experiencing traditional Karoke. The cost was about 4000 yen and is completely worth doing,
the alcohol is inclusive in the price, and you get two hours. There were about 10 of us and it’s fun to see how many beers you can drink in this slender time frame,
at the end of a song you’re clapped and cheered for your efforts, and the next person has their turn. It’s a lovely way to sing Karoke, and as Japan is the traditional home of ‘bad pub singing’ which I think is its literal English translation, it makes sense they have a good system for it. If you’ve ever seen the film ‘Lost in Translation’ with Bill Murray, it does a good job of portraying their love for this art form (is it an art form? I’ll leave that up to you).

My last few nights in the city were spent in my friends parents hostel, which was called The Kyoto Inn. On our first night, her family threw us a massive dinner and
I kept getting compared to Richard Gere, they also told me I was Ichi Ban (number one) best looking in the group, I loved these people. It was quite strange as there was a lift that went from the main entrance, and stopped in their living room on the top floor, so every now and then you’d get a dazed and confused traveller depart the lift, swing round realising their mistake, and disappear again, presumably this time to the correct floor.

Throughout my trip, I was allowed use of the bikes at the hostel for free, which came in very handy for getting about, the locals really enjoyed seeing me pull wheelies, and ride on the streets standing on the saddle, whizzing through narrow lanes and shopping centres which is apparently allowed, unless the locals were playing a joke
on me. If you do ever go, make sure you have a bike to get around, they generally all have locks and can be left anywhere on the street, nobody will steal it apparently, it took me a while to trust this system but it really is true. Another point to mention here is the umbrella carousel, there is an endless stream of umbrella’s being left outside shops by one individual, collected by another, and I assume, dropped outside the next location for someone else.

Unfortunately during my time in Japan, I only saw Tokyo passing through but I was not disappointed, although I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of Tokyo, it seemed
that Kyoto is a more traditional side of Japan. It’s an amazing city, with an extremely rich and traditional heritage; this really shines through with its long list of historical sites, and places to visit. Japan is a must see, and Kyoto is a must visit if you want to get a feeling of ‘the real Japan’
:yes

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Re: Kyoto, Japan

Postby Nevis » Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:57 am

Great write up :clap :clap :clap :mz :thanks

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Re: Kyoto, Japan

Postby Amethyst » Wed Aug 07, 2013 6:25 pm

Great pics! Your write so much :) ichaban!


Last bumped by mozza21 on Wed Aug 07, 2013 6:25 pm.

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