Last weekend we took the Shinkansen to go to Kyoto. Since we are here on a working and not a tourist visa we are not eligible for the special offers from Japanese Rail. This means on the other hand that the Nozomi Super Express cost just slightly more than the “slower” Shinkansen version you can use with the rail pass. We had to learn though that it is not a good idea to buy the ticket on the day of your trip, as we could only get “non-reserved” tickets on our trip to Kyoto. With the non-reserved ticket you are only eligible for 3 of the 15 cars and that may mean (as in our case) that you have to stand for two hours. After arriving in the city we had a stroll through the area surrounding the main station and downtown. We had dinner in a restaurant with view on Kamo river.
Arrival with the Nozomi
Some parts of Kyoto look like any modern Japanese city
On Saturday morning we went to see the golden Kinkakuji temple. There we met with a Japanese colleague, who kindly showed us around Kyoto and explained everything to us. We visited some interesting places. Among them a Zen garden in the Ryoanji temple. There are 15 stones in the Zen garden but from no single place (except maybe from the roof of the temple) you can see all at the same time. This is supposed to tell you that matters in life are complicated and we need to change our perspective to understand the entirety. Later we went to the Kiyomizu temple on the other side of the city. This wooden construction was a candidate for the new Seven Wonders of the World. Apparently jumping off the edge of the wooden balcony down in the forest more than 10 metres below was in previous times some test of bravery for the monks and pilgrims. In the evening we passed through the market in downtown Kyoto. Finally we took a train to the southern part of the city, where the sake distilleries are located. There we had dinner in a nice restaurant and tried four different brands of sake.
Kinkakuji Temple
Zen garden (Ryoanji Temple)
Kiyomizu Temple
On Sunday we went to Nijo Castle in the city centre. One very interesting feature of this castle are the so called nightingale floors. The floor gives some chirping, creaking sound when you step on it. This was meant to alert the castle inhabitants of intruders (spies or assassins). Then we took a bus and went to the Ginkakuji Michi, the silver temple, which was actually not plated with silver, as the original plans of the founder were not followed through by his heirs.
Arrival with the Nozomi Some parts of Kyoto look like any modern Japanese cityOn Saturday morning we went to see the golden Kinkakuji temple. There we met with a Japanese colleague, who kindly showed us around Kyoto and explained everything to us. We visited some interesting places. Among them a Zen garden in the Ryoanji temple. There are 15 stones in the Zen garden but from no single place (except maybe from the roof of the temple) you can see all at the same time. This is supposed to tell you that matters in life are complicated and we need to change our perspective to understand the entirety. Later we went to the Kiyomizu temple on the other side of the city. This wooden construction was a candidate for the new Seven Wonders of the World. Apparently jumping off the edge of the wooden balcony down in the forest more than 10 metres below was in previous times some test of bravery for the monks and pilgrims. In the evening we passed through the market in downtown Kyoto. Finally we took a train to the southern part of the city, where the sake distilleries are located. There we had dinner in a nice restaurant and tried four different brands of sake.
Kinkakuji Temple Zen garden (Ryoanji Temple)Kiyomizu TempleOn Sunday we went to Nijo Castle in the city centre. One very interesting feature of this castle are the so called nightingale floors. The floor gives some chirping, creaking sound when you step on it. This was meant to alert the castle inhabitants of intruders (spies or assassins). Then we took a bus and went to the Ginkakuji Michi, the silver temple, which was actually not plated with silver, as the original plans of the founder were not followed through by his heirs.
2 comments:
standing for 2 hours sounds terrible. I already loathed having to stand for an hour on the train to Aachen every once in a while.
I've asked some Japanese people about the hairstyling, but they said that both the price and the procedure is unusual. Still it's good to be able to entertain people with second hand Japan stories, so keep them coming ;)
Well, since it only stops twice on the way to Kyoto, at least we didn`t have to move around so often, to make room for other passengers. ;)
As for the haircut, apparently it is a big chain in Japan qb stands for quick barber: http://www.qbhouse.co.jp/
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