Kyoto

I don’t know where to start, but if you go to Japan, you simply have to visit Kyoto.

Visited in February 2006.

You must:
- walk up the hill to the cemetery and pass under the red gates,
- walk through Gion and try to spot a maiko or geisha (and even if you don’t the architecture is beautiful),
- have a look at the little alleys full of tiny bars that seat 5 people,
- go to the undercover arcades and look at the fascinating shops,
- rent a bicycle from your hotel or a nearby department store and go exploring,
- listen to the distinctive tune that the crosswalk plays in the old part of town!

Honey Moon!

My stay in Kyoto was a short but memorable one. Something you should know about Kyoto before going there is that this is a city with a lot of history. And the people living there know it. You are bound to run into some tourist attraction that does a good job of attracting but doesn’t do as well on satisfying, as you would on every famous place in the world including my home city of NYC.

With that out of the way, I must tell you that I’ve fallen in love with Kyoto. I did not pay much attention to the individual historical sites (although I still loved some of the museums and temples in the place). The one thing that gripped me the most was the atmosphere I felt while walking around the city. Far from bustle of Osaka or Tokyo, this city had distinct and persistent color and light, like a masterpiece of a painter. All the while I was there a faint and refreshing aroma of pine forest was in the air, calming my nerve and recalling some sort of distant nostalgia, from a city I’ve never before stayed in my life!

I still keep my memories of the place fondly, and the atmosphere and the air of the place is still very vivid in my mind. I hope anyone planning to visit Kyoto can have the same mystifying experience I had.

more gorgeous than the golden palace.

Lovely place—full of culture and history. There’s no end to the temples and shrines. It’s also dignified, as it’s the former capital city of Japan.

One of my concentrations in college was the development and diffusion of Buddhism. I would really love to visit Kyoto and try to place things in better context on a personal level. History tends to come alive when you visit a place…

I recently came back after living and studying here for a whole semester (about 4-5 months), and I must say… I miss it A LOT. Kyoto is such a lovely city. Even though it can’t compare with the liveliness of the big cities (ie. Osaka and Tokyo), there are a lot of treasures here just waiting for you to discover it!

Kyoto, I feel has more sophistication—far from the loudness of the big cities—and it is also apparent in the way people dress, act, and speak (the Kyoto-ben dialect makes for a lovely listen). The people are sooo wonderful too!

And of course, I cannot forget to mention all the pretty temples and various historical landmarks which are practically scattered everywhere (I used to live right next door to Toji Temple, which I think is the oldest temple in Japan..?)! Every little place has its own story to tell…

Oh, and the nightlife is pretty awesome too! I have so many memories of days (and nights) hanging out by the Kamo River with friends, those all-night karaoke stints, and them nomihoudai parties… Ahh! I miss it so much!

So, to those planning on going: GO GO GO!

Wedding in October. Travelling with a college friend who I haven’t seen in a long time.

Since all we did all day was ride the train/bus to get to Kyoto, the night before our full day there, we went out to Gion in the evening. There we saw a sort of touristy Kyoto traditional performing arts sampler. This included koto, a brief comic skit, bunraku, and traditional dance. They wanted two guests to volunteer to participate in the part of a tea ceremony, and Rose and I shot our hands up immediately, and so we got to do this.

I realize in retrospect that I ran everyone ragged that day, starting in Kiyomizu Temple, and slowly heading north on foot, visiting various temples along the way, then along the Philosopher’s Walk to the Silver Pavillion. Basically it was from the south end of town to the north, a great deal of walking in the muggy heat (in the 30s C).

When we stopped at the headquarters of Jodo Shinshu (Pure Land) Buddhism (something I might not have done, but David was interested in looking in), we went into the main meditation hall. A monk was in a corner chanting, and I was surprised to hear the Heart Sutra, something I associate much more with Zen. In fact, it is the sutra we would chant every morning when I lived at a zen temple. So I just sat there on the tatamis for a bit listening, until he went into a more typical chant of that sect.

We also visited the temple that is the headquarters for Rinzai Zen. We hiked back into the gorge behind the temple, in the coolth of the shady trees. There’s a waterfall there, where traditionally you stand under the waters to achieve enlightenment. I don’t think I attained satori, but it was quite a shock to have the icy cold mountain water suddenly pelt me on the head.

After going to this temple, and wandering around for some time trying to find the Philosopher’s Walk, Emma and Rose became increasingly frustrated with my lack of ability to navigate, and became a little frayed around the edges. I think we found a place selling green tea ice cream in an artic-ly air conditioned cafe, and this buoyed everyone’s flagging spirits.

By the time we reached the Silver Pavillion, I think probably Rose and especially Emma were too tired to really enjoy the exquisite gardens. We splurged on a cab ride back to the hotel, then had showers. We then had a late Italian dinner at a building called The Cube, on the 10th floor overlooking the
city.