Kyoto

On the early side of Sunday morning rush hour, I made my way to Tokyo Station where I planned to jump on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. Luckily, Sunday morning rush hour is somewhat lighter than weekdays, but still an impressive showing of suits, briefcases, and school uniforms.

Once in the station I started to make the mistake of following any sign that pointed to "Shinkansen". That's a little bit like going to an airport and following any sign that says "airplane". There are actually more than one company and multiple parts of the station from which the trains might leave.

Although the train ticket price rivaled that of an airplane fare, I have to say the experience is much smoother. Just like all trains, you just show up at the right time and walk on, throw your bag over your seat, and away you go.

The interior of the train is more comfortable and spacious than the coach cabin of an airplane. The seats are more like business class seats. I was anxious to see what the ride was like. Would it feel like a rocket? Would the passing scenery just look like a big blur like I was in warp drive on the Starship Enterprise?

Well, not exactly. I'd say it feels more like being on an airline jet zooming down the runway right at the moment before you lift off. Except you never lift off. You just stay at one constant speed except for the occasional stop every half hour or so.

In a little over two hours, I arrived at Kyoto Station.

As soon as I walked off the train and into the station I instantly felt a whole different energy than Tokyo. People walked slower, dressed more casually. I just felt more of a peace about them. And mind you, this is still in a crowded train station.

Outside, I got my bearings and walked the several blocks to K's House Kyoto guesthouse. As backpacker hostels go, this one kinda wins. Very modern, spacious, and clean with lots of handy things like bikes for rent, cheap laundry machines, and free wifi. But the staff is the best part. Their English is just ok, but the service is top notch and super friendly. They even gave me a double room for the price of a single person in a dorm. Maybe it was my winning smile. Or maybe it was the grey whiskers which gave me some extra juice. Half the price of Tokyo.

My room wasn't ready yet though, so I rented a bike for a couple hours to explore the nearby neighborhood. Bikes are widely used here. It's a super flat city, which certainly helps. But a couple things took some getting used to.

For one thing, bikes aren't welcome in the street for the most part. I immediately got honked at when I ventured into traffic. I had noticed before how annoying it was that so many people rode their bikes on the sidewalk, even in Tokyo. But now I realized that's where you're supposed to ride. The bike lanes in the crosswalks should have been my first clue.

The other crazy thing about biking Kyoto is that parked bikes are not appreciated anywhere. The guesthouse clerk made me read a statement and nod my head in understanding that the police may remove bikes that are illegally parked on the street, especially near busy buildings, but really anywhere.

When I asked where I could park, he smiled and said "Nowhere."

Biking around for a couple hours, I got a feel for what a Kyoto neighborhood looks like. A few large avenues a mile or so apart, with each square mile containing it's own neighborhood with lots of tiny streets that wind around and dead end in a way that makes it fun to explore and get lost in. The little streets are lined with densely packed brownish wooden townhouses sprinkled with little shops and restaurants. Very charming. Lots of kids walking and riding bikes. It seems like a very pleasant place to live.

I still had to buy a return ticket to Tokyo, so I returned to Kyoto Station, which as it turns out is a stunning piece of architecture. It's fifteen stories of transportation, shopping, hotels, and entertainment. I'm not normally a big fan of malls, but I a saw a set of escalators rising and rising out of sight, so I took a ride. I kept going up and up and up, amazed at how enormous the indoor space was, until I looked around and realized I was now outside on the roof in a little garden with fake cricket noise and a rad view of the city.

Outside, I stumbled on a kind of school dance competition going on. It looked like high school kids probably from different local schools, each with a high energy choreographed dance in traditional Japanese outfits and painted faces. The music seemed to be a hybrid of traditional and modern. The kids were having a blast.

And that wasn't the only community festival going on around the station that evening. I could tell this is a town that fosters art and culture. Being the historic center of so many components of Japanese culture (e.g. Shintoism and Zen Buddhism), I bet there's a festival of some kind just about every week. I saw posters advertising cultural events all over town.

Over the next couple of days, I set out to see some sights and eat at some everyday restaurants.

• Shoren-in Temple - It's kind of hard for me to understand all of the history, what with so many sects of Buddhism and generations of priests and emperors. Something about Jodo, Tendai, and Shin sects. But I gathered that this was a temple for the emperor, one of who's sons studied traditional arts here and became a high priest. What really impressed me though is the architecture of the interior spaces and how they were incorporated with the beautiful surrounding garden. Inside were simple mats and decoratively painted sliding panels for storage and privacy. The walls all opened up into the garden so that it felt like the same space. Very peaceful and lovely.
• Heian Shrine -I randomly rode my bike past this place and it was really big and orange, so I checked it out. I didn't really know what went on here normally. But on this day, the place was bustling with families. Each family had one or two little kids around four years old each dressed in traditional garb. The boys looked like little shogun warriors and the girls where in colorful kimonos. Apparently this is a popular place to take family photos when your kids are a certain age. It was super cute, but I was a little bit self conscious about snapping too many pictures of their kids, so I just stole one or two.
• Kyoto Imperial Palace - For the one thousand or so years before 1869, this was the residence of Japan's emperors. After that, they headed for Tokyo. But this place is still fairly well preserved, especially the lush gardens. You have to register with your passport to take one of the relatively few daily tours. By this time, I was getting a little tired of just gawking at buildings, but my favorite part of this tour was standing at what was, for those thousand years, the back porch of the emperor - where he would sit in his quarters and look out over his exquisitely manicured landscape. I guess it's kind of like sitting in the president's oval office chair. Neat.
• Fast food - The guesthouse gave me some tips of where to eat like a local. One was a fast food joint that sold rice bowls. It was a good place for me because they had pictures of all the food I might order. I just had to point. So I pointed. Then he asked me a question. Uh oh. I pointed again and smiled. At some point he said "beeh?". Oh I have a choice of meat. "Yes beef."
• Ramen - Another tip was a local ramen house. I brought some other folks from the guesthouse there with me. When we got there, we weren't sure we were in the right place. It was a tiny little space with bad fluorescent lighting. But there were some people waiting outside for a table. Good sign. The colorful proprietor came out and grunted some stuff at us and gave us an English (like) menu. Basically our choice was big noodles, regular noodles, or small noodles. We chose the noodles. They were delicious.
• Gion - This is the historical center of geisha culture (they say geiko here). I took a tour around the neighborhood where schools, dormitories, tea houses and theatres teach young trainees called meiko and showcase their talents. But it's not as if they are walking around everywhere greeting tourists. Sightings of them are actually kind of rare. The tourguide from my guesthouse, Miku, tried to give us the best chance of a sighting outside an exclusive tea house. People were waiting outside like paparazzi. But nothing. Then on our way back, Miku and I spotted a real life meiko in the subway of all places. Miku was certain she was legit, and seemed kind of star struck. The young girl did indeed look like a painting. Hardly real. Her expression was fixed into a mysterious expression I can only describe as fascinating.
  

All in all, I really enjoyed the vibe of Kyoto. It's a little upscale, but in a crunchy, cultural way. I could see myself living here.

But only after I learn Japanese.