Kyoto Enough Temples!

4 October, APA Hotel, Kyoto

What a day of contrasts. From the madness of rush hour in Tokyo station to the peace of being totally alone in the enormous Nishi Hongan Temple in Kyoto. That's what Japan is all about. Turn a corner off a street full of skyscrapers and enter a clean, but shambolic, typical old Asian street. Sure, most of the country has been rebuilt since the War, but there are still a few small pockets of 'old Japan' that are rewarding for those of us who get lost so easily!

Our reason for being in Tokyo station in peak hour was to catch the Shinkansen (Bullet Train), down to Kyoto. As lovers of train travel, this was a trip we were looking forward to. Our previous experience of super-fast trains was limited to a trip on the TGV from Amsterdam to Paris. On average, the speed of both trips was probably much the same, although we felt that the TGV moved a lot faster at peak speeds. Mind you, 2 hr 45 mins for 550 kms through one of the most populated areas on the planet was pretty flash. On the way, we were adopted by a nice old Japanese gentleman, or at least Janita was... you can't leave her alone for a minute! He explained a lot of what we were seeing as we flew through eastern Honshu. Most of the 500kms or more through which we travelled is densely populated because many of the largest Japanese industries are located here. Toyota, Honda, Sony and many other household name manufacturing giants call eastern Honshu home.

Kyoto is a much smaller city than Tokyo, a bit like Brisbane compared to Rockhampton. But, to put it all into perspective, Kyoto city is about the same size as greater Brisbane. These comparisons become a bit ridiculous when you look at the countryside around cities like Kyoto. By Australian definitions, the whole 500km strip from Tokyo to Osaka would be considered to be one city. Rarely were we out of sight of tightly-packed high to mid-rise apartment blocks and tightly-packed detached houses. It all sounds horrid, but the air is clear, the roads are lightly trafficked and the streets spotlessly clean, very safe and uncrowded. These aren't pretty cities. They are just big and awe-inspiring. We have often wondered what Japanese tourists find so fascinating about the thousands of empty kilometres of the Australian Outback. They probably wonder what we find so interesting in their cities and what makes them tick.

Our Kyoto hotel has no English channels, so we have spent our after dinner TV time watching a bit of Japanese television. Bizarre just doesn't do it justice! The fascination with people hurting themselves, strange, large, furry animals, odd cartoon characters and people screaming at bananas (true) while extremely brightly coloured text flashes across the screen, has us bemused, to say the least. Yet, step out the door and walk up the street and we could be anywhere in any western city in the world.

6 October, Kyoto

Rain yesterday, so we did our washing and took a long bus trip out to yet another temple. You may judge from the tone of that statement that we are a bit “templed out”. The first couple were interesting, but in the rain yesterday, it was just a drag.

Kyoto was the old Imperial capital of Japan before the Meiji Restoration in the 1860s. Consequently, it is home to a number of historically significant monuments and palaces. Probably the most impressive for us has been the Nijo Castle. Unlike many other important Japanese buildings, it wasn't destroyed in the War or burnt down in the feudal struggles that preceded the modernisation of Japan. All ancient buildings in Japan were wooden. Consequently, very few survive today. The wall paintings in Nijo are 17^th century and some of the best preserved in Japan.

Earlier in the day we did a tour of the gardens of the Sento Palace, part of the Imperial Palace Complex. Just beautiful, but one of the disadvantages of this time of the year in Japan is that the colours that come out in spring and autumn are not there to highlight the meticulously designed gardens.

Now masters of the Kyoto bus system, we jumped a number 207 and headed to the west of the city, where narrow streets lined with traditional houses, now tourist shops and restaurants, wind up to... yep, some more temples. To be fair, this time, the more rustic setting and some fairly spectacular pagodas made for some interesting views.