The Wandering Chocoholic

Hi from Kyoto, a city that blends ancient empires and shrines with modern technology in a way that is utterly representative of Japan.

Good morning, Buddhist style

Wake-up time was at 6am, which sounds worse than it felt after having gone to sleep at 8:30 the night before. At 6:30, we were invited to observe / partake in a Buddhist morning prayer ceremony, which was kinda hard to follow since it was entirely in Japanese, but was really cool nonetheless, with incense and ornaments and chants. Morning prayers were followed by breakfast, which consisted of much the same style vegetarian fare as we had for dinner the night before. Somehow, it worked better as a dinner than as a breakfast; I guess my Canadian habits prefer coffee and a bagel, what can I say?

Then, the long journey back from Koya-san to Osaka, which was basically the same as the journey there, but in reverse, and in the pouring rain. We once again took a bus to a cable car to a train to another train back to Namba station, arriving back around lunchtime.

Faster than a speeding bullet

Getting to Kyoto from Osaka, on the other hand, only took only 15 minutes. The shinkansen (bullet trains) don’t feel like they’re moving all that fast when you’re on them, but they actually travel at speeds upwards of 200 km/hr. My JR railpass allows for travel on the bullet trains, which is great, because not only are they fast, but they’re comfortable and convenient, too.

The train station in Kyoto is one of those love-it-or-hate-it buildings. A huge, ultramodern construction, the architect who designed it apparently took a lot of flack for creating something so atypically Japanese and so non-traditional. The station has countless restaurants, floors upon floors of shops and department stores, and lots of people. It also has a giant Christmas tree, which is a bit odd considering Japan isn’t a Christian country, but then, I think they celebrate it mostly as a retail holiday.

Castles and Temples

I went in the afternoon to check out some of the main sights of Kyoto.

First up was Nijojo. Unlike Osaka Castle, Nijo Castle is an original structure, not a replica. The castle itself is typically Japanese, with dozens upon dozens of painted sliding doors in rooms with tatami mats. I couldn’t help but think that European royals would have been less happy than Japanese emperors about sitting on the floor, mind you. The wooden floors of the castle are called “nightingale floors” since they squeak like a nightingale chirping when stepped on. This was done as a security measure against intruders. Nijojo is also famous for its beautiful Japanese gardens, which were exceptionally pretty with the autumn leaves.

Next up was Kinkakuji, otherwise known as the Golden Pavilion. It’s a Zen temple, but the main reason that it’s so famous is that it’s entirely covered by gold leaf. Needless to say, it gets photographed a lot. Kinkakuji actually is a reconstruction, but it wasn’t destroyed by war or anything; rather, a monk went crazy in 1950 and burned the original temple to the ground. Must be tough to be a monk.

Old and new

Kyoto is a modern city with ancient character. Shops and restaurants are interspersed with shrines and temples. Since Kyoto escaped heavy destruction in recent wars, a lot of original buildings remain. Just wandering the streets, I was able to discover a lot of shrines, sometimes nestled in between department stores and chain shops.

For instance, for dinner, I went to the main shopping area of Kyoto, and ate in a little restaurant overlooking the water. There was also a busy shrine right in the middle of the main covered shopping and market street.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Gion is one of the oldest traditional geisha districts in Japan. There are a lot of misconceptions about geisha in Western society, mostly perpetuated by a certain book and movie (you all know the one I’m talking about), but geisha are mainly entertainers and artisans. Most of them wear more traditional kimono and more subdued makeup, but the “apprentice” or Meiko Geisha of Gion are the ones you see in all the photos, with the white makeup and elaborate kimono and hairdos.

I’d heard that it is extremely rare to actually catch a glimpse of a geisha in Japan, so my expectations were low walking around Gion after dinner. Much to my surprise, I managed to catch sight of three different geisha quickly exiting teahouses and restaurants and walking down the street. Maybe because it was Saturday night, there were more geisha out entertaining? I don’t know, but it was pretty cool to see.

On the one hand, I felt bad about photographing them; it felt kind of like being a paparazzi or something. On the other hand, I wasn’t going to pass up that chance. See the photo album for this entry.

It’s like Vegas… but in Japanese

One of the biggest addictions in Japan is a game called Pachinko, which is something of a cross between a video arcade game and a video slot machine. There are pachinko parlours everywhere, with hundreds of machines in each – rows and rows of them. People literally sleep there. It’s technically illegal to gamble at a pachinko parlour, so they claim the winning chips can be exchanged for prizes, but really, if you win, you can unofficially cash them in for money. I didn’t try it but my roommate did, and she won about 1,500 yen (just under $20).

More observations about Kyoto

• Unlike Osaka, Kyoto follows a grid system, with wide boulevards and – yes – actual street signs. This makes it very easy to navigate.
• There’s a subway in Kyoto, but to reach most of the attractions, the city buses are more convenient. The buses are even more crowded than the ones in Montreal, but nobody pushes or shoves; they just all politely line up.
• Something you’d never see back home: a taxi driver stopping and shouting to a customer who had just exited to come back to retrieve her cell phone, which she’d left in the back seat. People in Japan are so scrupulously honest, it’s like it would never even occur to them to steal.
• Lots and lots of women and children walking around wearing kimono. It’s a weekend thing, apparently. A lot of the children happily pose for tourists wielding cameras.

Up next: More Kyoto.