Japan Adventures: Kyoto (the Fab and the Meh)

Ah Kyoto – such high expectations I had for you!

In my diligent Japan pre-trip research, you were UNANIMOUSLY lauded as THE most favored destination within Japan.  Without exception, folks verily SWOONED over your countless ancient temples and shrines, your sublime gardens, your Zen tea houses, and your demure Geishas . . .

What can I say, Kyoto?  Once again, when it comes to travel – “expectations” can be quite unwise.  Leastwise for me. While I may well have missed a lot of what Kyoto has to offer, nonetheless in my 5 night stay there, I found Kyoto to be a tad under-whelming, with but a handful of attractions that wowed this veteran traveler.

No doubt Japanese travel BLASPHEMY, I know!  But I hasten to add that overall…

I ADORED most every corner I visited in Japan (Tokyo, the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima – the latter three TL tales coming soon), and the Japanese people proved the MOST HELPFUL on the Planet!  And even you, dear Kyoto, kindly gifted me with some truly spectacular and fond memories.

Thus my ambivalent take on my own, personal Kyoto experience:

Kyoto Train Station

Upon arrival by bullet train from Nagano, my first impressions of the famed Kyoto proved mixed.  On the plus side, the Kyoto train station was quite the marvel.  Rivaling the size of a small city, the futuristic architecture is both mammoth and stunning.  So dazzling, even this acrophobic pushed herself to tackle the steep ride up the multiple escalators (up *15 stories* via no fewer than SIX consecutive escalators ) to the “Happy Terrace” roof-top garden to snap a few pics of the city I was about to explore.  Unfortunately, apart from a bird’s-eye view of the Kyoto Tower, the view of Kyoto proved less than stellar (and arguably, portended my subsequent explore of central Kyoto in general).

A less than enchanting city view.  But on the upside, note the colorful, animated staircase (171 steps studded with nearly 15,000 LED lights) which project ever rotating anime images (natch!)

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine

Eager to explore Kyoto’s famed attractions, the following morning I (wisely) set out at dawn on the earliest train (in hopes of avoiding the expected insane crowds) to my numero uno Kyoto gotta-see:  those gazillion vermilion torii gates at Fushimi Inari.

And oh my – I was rewarded for my daybreak diligence with a nearly deserted Fushimi Inari pavilion!  Happily, but a handful of fellow gawkers arrived at the towering torii gate.  And less than a dozen of us (several with some truly serious camera lenses and tripods) had the entire shrine to ourselves for more than an hour.  So my personal wander through the magical parade of torii was supremely serene, with plenty of tourist-free photo ops at every turn.

In the Shinto religion, torii gates mark the pathway to sacred shrines all across Asia, and have especially become a symbol of Japan.  The Fushimi Inari path of 10,000 vermilion torii snakes up through the forest spanning 4 kilometres (2.5 miles).  The incline is gradual, but with many steps and generally takes 2 hours or more (with frequent stops for pics, natch!) to reach the summit of the sacred Inari Mountain.  Given my recent knee-surgery however, I necessarily opted to trek but half-way up.  Nonetheless, placidly pacing amid the thousands of red torii is a travel experience unlike any other. One that I shall never forget.

Nishiki Market

Sadly, I’ve already covered my dumb-ass forgetfulness that ensured I have nary a SINGLE PIC of one of my favorite foodie experiences in Japan.  Nonetheless, I did love sampling the many unique eats on offer, and I managed to score my first (yes, there would be more!) vintage silk kimono for just 2100Y (~$20).  Even better, I learned later that in the heart of Kyoto’s touristy Gion district – utterly ugly cotton summer yukatas were going for 5000Y!

My dear landlady demurely models my precious vintage silk kimono.

And even more irresistible… given my once obsession with all-things art-quilt (including piecing together bits of Japanese kimono scraps sourced on rare occasions from a quilt shop in Seattle) – lo and behold!  Amid Nishiki Market’s many eateries and souvenir shops, I stumbled upon a place selling small plastic bags stuffed with… OMG – luscious bits of Japanese kimono scraps!  The perfect souvenir to squeeze into a corner of my rollie and tote home to Ecuador – to one day stitch into a memorable wall-hanging or pillow cover.

The Bamboo Forest

So far, so good, Kyoto.  Fushimi Inari was truly spectacular, and Nishiki Market?  Despite a lack of pics to prove it, Nishiki too, proved even better than I’d hoped.  And with but one more full day left to explore the legendary Kyoto, the next morning, I again rose early and hopped a train to yet another oft’ lauded Kyoto attraction:  the “Bamboo Forest” at Arashiyama.

Now I’m not saying it wasn’t a pleasant excursion.  Nor that it was a huge disappointment.  Indeed, my expectations were quite modest, as I’d read enough reviews in my pre-trip research cautioning that the Bamboo Forest was a good bit over-hyped and not the “must-see” some “Kyoto Top 10” sites were raving about.  Still, I must say – for me, the scene was decidedly underwhelming.  Bamboo, yes – there was lots of bamboo of course.  But a “Forest”?  Hardly.  Just wide, fenced pathways bordered with sparse, spindly bamboo.

Sorry Kyoto, perhaps because I hail from the U.S. Pacific Northwest where one is greeted with vast, thick fir forests at every turn – I’m a little spoiled.  Thus to me, it was a nice little stroll in the countryside, but nothing to write home about.

Nonetheless, I was able to compose a handful of pics that make it look far more splendid than it actually was.  Plus, hiking up beyond the thin groves of bamboo, I was rewarded with a bit of late-blooming “sakura” cherry blossom color, along with a lovely aerial view of the Katsura River meandering amid the Arashiyama hills.

Gion Corner

Following my morning romp in the Arashiyama countryside, I hopped back on the train*, headed back to the Kyoto central train station, and… dared to try an even more daunting means of navigating Japan’s 3rd most populated city:  a local bus to Gion, the famed “Geisha Quarter”.

*By then I’d lost all hope of ever comprehending the convoluted Japanese train system, and instead relied completely on the mercy of beneficent locals to guide me to where I needed to go.  Happily, as noted earlier, the lovely Japanese reliably came to my aid in spades.

No doubt photogenic, but alas “fake” geishas.

I did manage to identify the correct bus bound for Gion, but once aboard the uber-crowded bus I befriended a Taiwanese lad and his brother who invited me to tag along with them to a famous temple en route to Gion.  So we all disembarked together and trudged up a steep, mile-long line of wall-to-wall shops hawking all manner of the usual souvenirs and over-priced eats.

The temple eventually proved most impressive and photogenic, but I must say – the tranquil mood one would expect at such a place was rather stunningly lost amid the din of blindingly profuse commercialism one was required to wade through in order to reach the (allegedly) sacrosanct temple.

Sigh.

Nonetheless, I did get some nice pics of the temple, and rested my aching knee by taking a break at a small restaurant overlooking the hubbub below.

Later, I did manage to get to the fabled “Geisha Quarter” in Gion, but… suffice it too proved bereft of any authentic geishas (though trust that there were BOATLOADS of Chinese tourists dressed up in flowing kimonos at no less than $50+ a pop), and offered little more than a SEA of tourist-traps, with nary a single photo-worthy Kodak moment. ;(

What can I say?  It wasn’t so much the crowds (for after all, they’re all just eager travelers like me), but rather – the incessant commercialism at every turn that proved so very tiresome.  Nonetheless – though my first two Kyoto forays that day proved somewhat less than enchanting, my ever faithful “serendipity” charm finally checked-in and led me to:

Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony

Whilst dejectedly wandering around the nondescript and tourist-clogged streets of Gion, I bumped into a Japanese-American family, and asked if they happened to know where I might find a traditional tea ceremony.  By sheer coincidence – they’d all just come from such a ceremony that was not only nearby, but the entire family raved about it!

The directions they gave me were a bit iffy (down some obscure alley about a half-mile away), but I nonetheless ventured forth with renewed hope of salvaging an otherwise fairly disappointing day among my precious few in Japan.  I honestly didn’t expect the place to be be open, much less have a ceremony that I could attend then and there, but…

Not only did I manage to find it (down a narrow, unmarked street), but they were starting a ceremony at the very same moment I arrived!  It was only 2500Y (among the most economical that I’d previously researched), and was hosted by an esteemed “Tea Master” with more than 20 years of study in all aspects of the meticulously complex and revered 茶の湯, chanoyu or “The Way of Tea”.

I was utterly SPELLBOUND throughout the 45 minute ceremony – every movement so precise and serene, and we each got to whisk and sip a cup of matcha tea, along with a dainty sweet.  Indeed, it was among the BEST 45 minutes I experienced in Japan.  And needless to say – it more than made up for that scraggly bamboo grove at Arishimaya and the Walmart-esque spirit that had flooded my day earlier.

Ya Win Some ‘n Ya Lose Some

No surprise that not every blessed moment of any trip is going to be spectacular.  And surely one can’t expect to swoon at every turn.  Plus as I said – overall, Kyoto kindly gifted me with some truly incredible memories.  No doubt there’s plenty more there that I missed in my short explore of Kyoto’s attractions.  All I’m saying here is – of the locales I managed to explore in my brief visit to Japan (Tokyo, Nagano, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Miyajima) Kyoto for me, fell a bit short of its (seemingly unanimous) uber-charming reputation.

What about you – have you likewise been a smidge disappointed in your travels?

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