Japan, Kyoto part 1

Monday, 14 July 2014

We are staying in a hostel with shared beds and shared facilities in Kyoto. Not a complete first, but still an experiment for me, and an enjoyable at that. The Japanese are very clean on their environment and well accustomed to live close together. That makes staying in a hostel a very nice experience.

After our first day and first impressions on the train trip from Kansai, the airport, to Kyoto, where we saw mostly a mishmash of modern houses, electricity lines, industrial complexes and very little of the old Japan, our expectation was not very high on seeing the things we hoped for. To our big surprise we did stumble on it just walking from our hostel in the neighbourhood. First a huge temple complex, containing the largest wood-constructed hall in the world (that can hold 5000 persons), then a delightful garden in a just as amicable area with small streets, a mix of old and new houses and some small shrines. Julie nearly opened a small bag in that shrine as she was curious on its contents. To the great shock of the priestess of the shrine as it contained a host of evil spirits that was about to be set loose on us all. Thanks to the fearless intervention of her we are now spared pests, itches, dreadfull insects and all kinds of accidents that these evil spirits would have released on us. And Julie now is in posession of this bag of evils???

The crane bird on top turned out to be a real bird.

We would like a wooden floor that thick!

The metal construction on the left is built around a temple under reconstruction.

In the evening we asked some guidance in the hostel for a nice place to eat. Half an hour stroll brought us to a delightful little riverside street bustling with small restaurants and people walking in their best kimono's, both men and women. July is the festival of Gion Matsuri in Kyoto which entices the Japanese to honour their old culture and walk the streets at night in komono.

Expecting a culure of conformism we found the opposite. People are very expressive and creative in the way they dress and behave. A delightful indivudualism where each personality is distinctly visible. Also shops are a big surprise; where tourist shops all over the world sell the same items over and over, here we find every shop having its own unique items on display with a very own style and presentation. Giving us an exciting shopping tour after our diner in a Japanes Chinese Restaurant on the river where a 1920 imported American elevator lifted us to the 4th floor of a indian style building.

Our Japanes-Chines restaurant on the river in a Indian style building with an old American elevator.

Fun-shopping frenzy

After our funshop-frenzy subsided, by intuition we took a small backstreet into an night time neighbourhood completely build in wood and transporting us into the Japan of two centuries back. Most people were dressed in kimono's. Later we learned this is the geisha area of Kyoto, nothing like the red-light district in Amsterdam!

Monday 14 July 2014 (end of a long day)

We rented bikes today to extend our reach. Kyoto is ideal to do this as it is nearly as flat as Holland. We received guidance from our hostal host to see walk 'the philosophers path, to request access to he imperial palace from the imperial household, to walk up to the oldest shrine in Kyoto amidst a forest, to ah well. You get the message: too much to put in your head in even a couple of days.

Nonetheless we set out on a circuit that would lead us today to the most interesting titbits and stumbled immediately on unexpected surprises like the big 'floats' parked on the streets for the parade in three days time. Lots of schoolkids visiting and people in their best kimono's preparing for the parade. We noticed the high spoke on top of these floats. At least three time higher than the electricity wires crossing the streets at random and very often. As these vehicles are supposed to make the parade along three large streets in Kyoto we pointed that out to the people taking care of these vehicles. We were enlightened that all wires would be taken down for the parade!

After taking the hurdle of the floats our bikes brought us to the imperial gardens. An immense park in stark contrast to the small and bustling streets of Kyoto, the lanes are spacious and empty. Gardeners (female) make it their life-work to keep these lanes weed free. Very little tourists wander here. This might be due to the subtle manipulation of the imperial household that requires you to request access to the palace weeks before coming there. We were no exception to the rule that most tourists think of this too late and were thus very politely kept outside the imperial walls to wonder about the Ginko horizontalis tree which Julie is sure must be inside the imperial gardens and behind the impenetrable walls.

By four in the afternoon we arrived at the start of the philosophers path and many adjacent temples with beautiful Zen gardens. Our heads ring with the impressions of today as we arrived at our hostel at seven in the evening. We fail to put in words what Japan or Kyoto does to us: a mix of..? conformism and individualism? care for environment? a sense of balance in everything besides brutal industrial production? high value on details and exquisite craftsmanship? centuries of work to make a perfect view in a garden?

Judge for yourself based on our far from perfect photos of the day.

These are young swallows in their nest waiting for their parents and food.

We will keep you updated...