Trip report July 2008: Makuhari, Tokyo, Kyoto (parts 3 (Tokyo) & 4 (Kyoto) of 4)
Aug 30th, 2008, 09:48 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Trip report July 2008: Makuhari, Tokyo, Kyoto (parts 3 (Tokyo) & 4 (Kyoto) of 4)
Part 3: Tokyo
After 6 nights at a convention in Makuhari (east coast of Tokyo Bay), I moved into Tokyo for some solo sightseeing.
Guidebooks used:
· Absolute best pretrip purchase was the Tokyo City Atlas, 3rd Ed. It’s a map book about 9” x 5” x 0.5”, and it shows all the exits from all the train stations. Worth every penny, because I always felt comfortable I had enough info to get myself un-lost if necessary.
· I used and liked the Lonely Planet Tokyo City Guide (the big one), 6th ed., for walking around. What I like about Lonely Planet maps is that they put everything (hotels, sights, shops, restaurants) on one map. What I don’t like is that the typeface on the maps gets awfully small.
· Time Out Tokyo: I took and read this one, but eh, could’ve skipped it. It stayed in the hotel room.
· Frommer’s Tokyo and New Japan Solo: I copied some walking tours from the library copies of these, and particularly used and liked the tours in Frommer’s.
· I also printed out some of the Tokyo Walks from the Japanese National Tourist Organization website, but didn’t really use them.
Tokyo hotel:
Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, just south of Shibuya station.
I booked midJune on Orbitz -- 27,000 yen per night for a standard room, 1 king bed, city view, 37 sq. meter, nonsmoking, not counting 10% service charge, 5% tax, and 200 yen local tax. The total for two nights (including about $20 worth of laundry and $10 worth of accidental use of the minibar for coffee!) came to $605. I arrived at 1pm, before the 2pm checkin, and they upgraded me to an executive floor (floor 35), meaning I got a nicer room but no use of the executive lounge, etc., which was fine by me. Let me say, wow. The room was huge. Huge! With a gorgeous marble bathroom, and a sweeping view east toward Tokyo Tower and the bay.
Tues 7/22:
After a delicious breakfast buffet with a friend at the New Otani in Makuhari (5250 yen for two people), I took a hotel shuttle to the local train station. At the “green window” ticket office, I bought a Shinkansen ticket with reserved seat from Shinagawa to Kyoto (about 14,000 yen) for Thursday. The transaction went easily because I had printed out information from www.Hyperdia.com and knew exactly which train I wanted. I think it would have been a real struggle otherwise, because the ticket clerk spoke no English.
Using the Suica card I’d bought from a machine earlier in the week (easy), I caught a JR Keiyo line train to Tokyo (time: under an hour), then a JR Yamanote loop train at noon, arriving at my hotel at Shibuya by 1pm (Cerulean Tower Tokyu hotel). My suitcase had arrived via the luggage delivery service, as promised.
I chose the hotel for its convenience, and it served that purpose well, once I mastered finding it. The trick is to go out the south exit of the JR Shibuya station (not the subway part of the station, but the JR station). Look up; the hotel is the top floors of the tallest building you see. Between you and it is a complicated-looking overhead walkway. Think of the walkway as a skewed square. You want to go on the walkway to the opposite corner of that skewed square – then walk uphill for about half a block, past a Lawson’s, and you’ll see the escalator into the Cerulean Tower hotel on your left. The walk takes maybe five minutes once you know where you’re going.
By the time I unpacked, it was 1:30. What I’d planned to do was Harajuku & Omotesando, with the evening in Shibuya itself – and that plan worked great. (Not the case some other days!) I followed pretty much the Harajuku walking tour recommendations in Frommer’s.
So, about 1:30 I took JR Yamanote line from Shibuya to Harajuku. I walked into Yoyogi Park, which was a nice green leafy respite from the heat. As you walk from the main entrance toward the Shrine, you come to Restaurant Yoyogi on your right (glass walls, birch wood, nice modern open feel). I had a great, reviving, air-conditioned (!) lunch of cold soba noodles (zaru soba) topped with duck, plus iced coffee (total about 1050 yen).
Around 2:40 I headed on toward Meiji Jinju shrine, whose wooden simplicity I enjoyed very much. This turned out to be one of my favorite temples or shrines of the whole trip, so I’m glad I didn’t skip it. For 500 yen I wrote a message of gratitude and hopes on a wooden tablet and added it to the hundreds hanging there.
Back the same way out of the park, and down Takeshita-dori, the teenage shopping mecca. Crowded but not oppressively so, and it was fun to see all the cheap-and-cheerful teenage fashions and pictures of pop idols for sale, even though I did feel like the only person over 30 in the world. (Actually, I had that feeling almost everywhere I went in Tokyo.)
I tried to go to the Ota Museum to see the woodblock art, but though it was within its opening hours, it was closed for no obvious reason. (There were other disappointed tourists sitting on the doorstep regrouping.)
So, I just walked on down Omotesando-dori looking in shop windows, stopping at Kiddyland (massive, interesting toy and collectibles shop, with every Hello Kitty! item that ever haunted your nightmares) and Oriental Bazaar (eh . . . okay for a “souvenir shop,” but my favorite souvenirs tend to be ones that shout where they were bought only to me). In Kiddyland I ran into a late-teenage girl shopping who was dressed as a living doll, literally, in pinafore and pigtails, and she graciously let me take her picture.
I reached the Omotesando subway stop on the Ginza line about 5:30 and headed back to Shibuya. Though it was rush hour, the subway was no more crowded than at a comparable time in a major U.S. city, and I found that true every other time I took a train or subway in Tokyo.
From Shibuya station, I walked out through Shibuya Crossing, which is just as impressive as reputed, and down Center Gai to Tokyu Hands. This store was one of my top Tokyo priorities, since the reported mixture of practical and exotic stuff sounded just my speed. It’s massive and complicated inside (thank goodness for the maps on the walls), and I enjoyed seeing how the everyday stuff of life (stationery supplies, picture hangers, personal grooming items) resemble and differ from what you’d find at Michael’s or Target or Bed Bath and Beyond in the U.S.
My feet were sore, and so by luck I made a great discovery: around 7:00 I stopped for dinner in Bolst’s restaurant on the top floor of Tokyu Hands. For 800 yen I had a dinner that I would gladly have paid double that for: great warm garlicy pasta with chicken (I think), mango pudding with some kind of dark sauce, and iced coffee. Truly, the food was good, to the point that I wonder if there’s some interesting story about how the chef came to be cooking there.
I left Tokyu Hands around 8:15 and headed back to Shibuya Crossing. My luck held, and at the Starbucks I sat with yet another iced coffee at the perfect seat (2nd floor, center, under the gap between “Starbucks” and “Coffee”) until 9 watching people cross the street, en masse, in all directions. Tremendous fun.
I got utterly lost walking back to the hotel, which was just the other side of the station. From that experience I learned that you have to know whether you want (say) the south exit from the JR station or the subway station, because even if they seem to be under the same roof, direction-givers seem to treat them as separate entities. Eventually I made it back – first grabbing some cheap sandwiches for breakfast from the Lawson’s on the way -- and collapsed in front of the mesmerizing MTV Japan until bed.
I was happy overall with this first day in Tokyo. I’d decided that what I wanted from the Tokyo part of the trip was “bright lights, big city,” and this gave me a low-key introduction to it.
Wed 7/23:
Today all the tiredness I’d built up from the convention set in. I’d planned to spend the morning in Asakasa, then go to Akihabara, then Ginza. Ha. Let this be a reminder to me that I need to build some down time into any itinerary.
What I really did was lounge around the room reading the newspaper and dropped my suitcase with the concierge to be delivered to Kyoto (1460 yen), finally heading out around 11:00 from Shibuya on the Ginza line to Ginza, where I spent most of the day. (I decided to cut out Asakasa on grounds that I’d soon be going to Kyoto, so the “old Japan” feeling was not something I needed to find in Tokyo. I cut Akihabara less willingly, just on account of exhaustion and time.)
One of the Ginza station exits comes up in the basement of Mitsukoshi department store, so that was my first stop. There’s a restaurant before you get to the food hall, and for about 2200 yen I had a nice lunch of miso soup, sushi, and (yet again) iced coffee.
The food hall was fascinating – different from my expectations and from my memories of the Harrods food hall in London Things were more behind-counters than I’d imagined, with less to poke through on your own. Still, very interesting. One of the mysteries I left Japan with is: where does everybody go to eat all the wonderful take-out food that’s for sale? You never see anyone eating on the street, and there’s nowhere to sit down with the alluring bento boxes for sale in the food halls (if there had been, I’d have eaten a lot more!).
Great day mostly poking through Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, and Matsuzakaya, the great department stores. I bought my souvenirs from Japan mostly in the china department of Matsuya (my favorite) – some bowls and dishes that I can use every day, a couple little knickknacks – plus also some towels. I like that you can safely buy breakable items knowing that the sales staff will wrap them phenomenally well for travel. I took my passport and receipt to the tax-refund office and got money back, too.
Mostly I just looked, because Japanese stores have many more one-off items and bits of craft work than ours do. The kimono departments surprised me – not that they were there, but that they were busy, with plenty of young women trying on summer yukata, and at one store an attentive audience of twenty or so customers learning better ways to fold the top of an obi. (Are the yukata for weddings? For formal occasions? It’s true that I did see a number of women on the street in kimono.)
The Sony Building is a combination of technology showplace and store. The whole place was themed as the “Sony Aquarium” when I was there, with every screen showing underwater scenes. Most of the building didn’t do much for me, with the exception of the (free) 3D movie on the top floor. The 3D of fish was so real that the kids in the audience were trying to grab them out of the air! It was also entertainly incongruous to me to notice a young woman in a kimono (accompanied by a young man in Western dress) among the audience at this extremely non-traditional venue.
I had dinner at a tiny sukiyaki counter, the only place in the food hall of Matsuzakaya where you could sit down and eat. I didn’t write down the price, but it was another under-$10 meal. Good, but not great food, though a bigger sukiyaki fan than me might disagree. Grabbed an enticing dessert to take back to the hotel.
Ginza line back to the hotel to drop off my loot, then a quick shower and off to east Shinjuku shortly after dark. From the station, I walked east up Shinjuku-Dori for a half-mile or so, then to my left, and left again down a parallel street (maybe Yasukuni-Dori, though more likely the narrower street just behind Isetan), and back and forth on a few side streets, by then I’d had about as much bright lights and big city as I wanted! This is the neon canyon, sound coming from every shop front, pulsing Japan of imagination, and I overdosed on it pretty quickly, though I’m glad I explored. Things that stand out: pushing through a jammed, jumbled store called Don Quixote, which sells everything imaginable in aisles that would give a fire marshal hives; poking around a manga (graphic novel) shop where I couldn’t read a word in the place; grabbing an ice cream at a Baskin Robbins outside which a ten-foot-high Hello Kitty! statue stood guard. Fascinating.
By 10 or so I was back at the hotel, pooped and happy. If I hadn’t wanted a slow morning, I think I would have spent less time in Ginza and added in Akihabara.
After 6 nights at a convention in Makuhari (east coast of Tokyo Bay), I moved into Tokyo for some solo sightseeing.
Guidebooks used:
· Absolute best pretrip purchase was the Tokyo City Atlas, 3rd Ed. It’s a map book about 9” x 5” x 0.5”, and it shows all the exits from all the train stations. Worth every penny, because I always felt comfortable I had enough info to get myself un-lost if necessary.
· I used and liked the Lonely Planet Tokyo City Guide (the big one), 6th ed., for walking around. What I like about Lonely Planet maps is that they put everything (hotels, sights, shops, restaurants) on one map. What I don’t like is that the typeface on the maps gets awfully small.
· Time Out Tokyo: I took and read this one, but eh, could’ve skipped it. It stayed in the hotel room.
· Frommer’s Tokyo and New Japan Solo: I copied some walking tours from the library copies of these, and particularly used and liked the tours in Frommer’s.
· I also printed out some of the Tokyo Walks from the Japanese National Tourist Organization website, but didn’t really use them.
Tokyo hotel:
Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, just south of Shibuya station.
I booked midJune on Orbitz -- 27,000 yen per night for a standard room, 1 king bed, city view, 37 sq. meter, nonsmoking, not counting 10% service charge, 5% tax, and 200 yen local tax. The total for two nights (including about $20 worth of laundry and $10 worth of accidental use of the minibar for coffee!) came to $605. I arrived at 1pm, before the 2pm checkin, and they upgraded me to an executive floor (floor 35), meaning I got a nicer room but no use of the executive lounge, etc., which was fine by me. Let me say, wow. The room was huge. Huge! With a gorgeous marble bathroom, and a sweeping view east toward Tokyo Tower and the bay.
Tues 7/22:
After a delicious breakfast buffet with a friend at the New Otani in Makuhari (5250 yen for two people), I took a hotel shuttle to the local train station. At the “green window” ticket office, I bought a Shinkansen ticket with reserved seat from Shinagawa to Kyoto (about 14,000 yen) for Thursday. The transaction went easily because I had printed out information from www.Hyperdia.com and knew exactly which train I wanted. I think it would have been a real struggle otherwise, because the ticket clerk spoke no English.
Using the Suica card I’d bought from a machine earlier in the week (easy), I caught a JR Keiyo line train to Tokyo (time: under an hour), then a JR Yamanote loop train at noon, arriving at my hotel at Shibuya by 1pm (Cerulean Tower Tokyu hotel). My suitcase had arrived via the luggage delivery service, as promised.
I chose the hotel for its convenience, and it served that purpose well, once I mastered finding it. The trick is to go out the south exit of the JR Shibuya station (not the subway part of the station, but the JR station). Look up; the hotel is the top floors of the tallest building you see. Between you and it is a complicated-looking overhead walkway. Think of the walkway as a skewed square. You want to go on the walkway to the opposite corner of that skewed square – then walk uphill for about half a block, past a Lawson’s, and you’ll see the escalator into the Cerulean Tower hotel on your left. The walk takes maybe five minutes once you know where you’re going.
By the time I unpacked, it was 1:30. What I’d planned to do was Harajuku & Omotesando, with the evening in Shibuya itself – and that plan worked great. (Not the case some other days!) I followed pretty much the Harajuku walking tour recommendations in Frommer’s.
So, about 1:30 I took JR Yamanote line from Shibuya to Harajuku. I walked into Yoyogi Park, which was a nice green leafy respite from the heat. As you walk from the main entrance toward the Shrine, you come to Restaurant Yoyogi on your right (glass walls, birch wood, nice modern open feel). I had a great, reviving, air-conditioned (!) lunch of cold soba noodles (zaru soba) topped with duck, plus iced coffee (total about 1050 yen).
Around 2:40 I headed on toward Meiji Jinju shrine, whose wooden simplicity I enjoyed very much. This turned out to be one of my favorite temples or shrines of the whole trip, so I’m glad I didn’t skip it. For 500 yen I wrote a message of gratitude and hopes on a wooden tablet and added it to the hundreds hanging there.
Back the same way out of the park, and down Takeshita-dori, the teenage shopping mecca. Crowded but not oppressively so, and it was fun to see all the cheap-and-cheerful teenage fashions and pictures of pop idols for sale, even though I did feel like the only person over 30 in the world. (Actually, I had that feeling almost everywhere I went in Tokyo.)
I tried to go to the Ota Museum to see the woodblock art, but though it was within its opening hours, it was closed for no obvious reason. (There were other disappointed tourists sitting on the doorstep regrouping.)
So, I just walked on down Omotesando-dori looking in shop windows, stopping at Kiddyland (massive, interesting toy and collectibles shop, with every Hello Kitty! item that ever haunted your nightmares) and Oriental Bazaar (eh . . . okay for a “souvenir shop,” but my favorite souvenirs tend to be ones that shout where they were bought only to me). In Kiddyland I ran into a late-teenage girl shopping who was dressed as a living doll, literally, in pinafore and pigtails, and she graciously let me take her picture.
I reached the Omotesando subway stop on the Ginza line about 5:30 and headed back to Shibuya. Though it was rush hour, the subway was no more crowded than at a comparable time in a major U.S. city, and I found that true every other time I took a train or subway in Tokyo.
From Shibuya station, I walked out through Shibuya Crossing, which is just as impressive as reputed, and down Center Gai to Tokyu Hands. This store was one of my top Tokyo priorities, since the reported mixture of practical and exotic stuff sounded just my speed. It’s massive and complicated inside (thank goodness for the maps on the walls), and I enjoyed seeing how the everyday stuff of life (stationery supplies, picture hangers, personal grooming items) resemble and differ from what you’d find at Michael’s or Target or Bed Bath and Beyond in the U.S.
My feet were sore, and so by luck I made a great discovery: around 7:00 I stopped for dinner in Bolst’s restaurant on the top floor of Tokyu Hands. For 800 yen I had a dinner that I would gladly have paid double that for: great warm garlicy pasta with chicken (I think), mango pudding with some kind of dark sauce, and iced coffee. Truly, the food was good, to the point that I wonder if there’s some interesting story about how the chef came to be cooking there.
I left Tokyu Hands around 8:15 and headed back to Shibuya Crossing. My luck held, and at the Starbucks I sat with yet another iced coffee at the perfect seat (2nd floor, center, under the gap between “Starbucks” and “Coffee”) until 9 watching people cross the street, en masse, in all directions. Tremendous fun.
I got utterly lost walking back to the hotel, which was just the other side of the station. From that experience I learned that you have to know whether you want (say) the south exit from the JR station or the subway station, because even if they seem to be under the same roof, direction-givers seem to treat them as separate entities. Eventually I made it back – first grabbing some cheap sandwiches for breakfast from the Lawson’s on the way -- and collapsed in front of the mesmerizing MTV Japan until bed.
I was happy overall with this first day in Tokyo. I’d decided that what I wanted from the Tokyo part of the trip was “bright lights, big city,” and this gave me a low-key introduction to it.
Wed 7/23:
Today all the tiredness I’d built up from the convention set in. I’d planned to spend the morning in Asakasa, then go to Akihabara, then Ginza. Ha. Let this be a reminder to me that I need to build some down time into any itinerary.
What I really did was lounge around the room reading the newspaper and dropped my suitcase with the concierge to be delivered to Kyoto (1460 yen), finally heading out around 11:00 from Shibuya on the Ginza line to Ginza, where I spent most of the day. (I decided to cut out Asakasa on grounds that I’d soon be going to Kyoto, so the “old Japan” feeling was not something I needed to find in Tokyo. I cut Akihabara less willingly, just on account of exhaustion and time.)
One of the Ginza station exits comes up in the basement of Mitsukoshi department store, so that was my first stop. There’s a restaurant before you get to the food hall, and for about 2200 yen I had a nice lunch of miso soup, sushi, and (yet again) iced coffee.
The food hall was fascinating – different from my expectations and from my memories of the Harrods food hall in London Things were more behind-counters than I’d imagined, with less to poke through on your own. Still, very interesting. One of the mysteries I left Japan with is: where does everybody go to eat all the wonderful take-out food that’s for sale? You never see anyone eating on the street, and there’s nowhere to sit down with the alluring bento boxes for sale in the food halls (if there had been, I’d have eaten a lot more!).
Great day mostly poking through Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, and Matsuzakaya, the great department stores. I bought my souvenirs from Japan mostly in the china department of Matsuya (my favorite) – some bowls and dishes that I can use every day, a couple little knickknacks – plus also some towels. I like that you can safely buy breakable items knowing that the sales staff will wrap them phenomenally well for travel. I took my passport and receipt to the tax-refund office and got money back, too.
Mostly I just looked, because Japanese stores have many more one-off items and bits of craft work than ours do. The kimono departments surprised me – not that they were there, but that they were busy, with plenty of young women trying on summer yukata, and at one store an attentive audience of twenty or so customers learning better ways to fold the top of an obi. (Are the yukata for weddings? For formal occasions? It’s true that I did see a number of women on the street in kimono.)
The Sony Building is a combination of technology showplace and store. The whole place was themed as the “Sony Aquarium” when I was there, with every screen showing underwater scenes. Most of the building didn’t do much for me, with the exception of the (free) 3D movie on the top floor. The 3D of fish was so real that the kids in the audience were trying to grab them out of the air! It was also entertainly incongruous to me to notice a young woman in a kimono (accompanied by a young man in Western dress) among the audience at this extremely non-traditional venue.
I had dinner at a tiny sukiyaki counter, the only place in the food hall of Matsuzakaya where you could sit down and eat. I didn’t write down the price, but it was another under-$10 meal. Good, but not great food, though a bigger sukiyaki fan than me might disagree. Grabbed an enticing dessert to take back to the hotel.
Ginza line back to the hotel to drop off my loot, then a quick shower and off to east Shinjuku shortly after dark. From the station, I walked east up Shinjuku-Dori for a half-mile or so, then to my left, and left again down a parallel street (maybe Yasukuni-Dori, though more likely the narrower street just behind Isetan), and back and forth on a few side streets, by then I’d had about as much bright lights and big city as I wanted! This is the neon canyon, sound coming from every shop front, pulsing Japan of imagination, and I overdosed on it pretty quickly, though I’m glad I explored. Things that stand out: pushing through a jammed, jumbled store called Don Quixote, which sells everything imaginable in aisles that would give a fire marshal hives; poking around a manga (graphic novel) shop where I couldn’t read a word in the place; grabbing an ice cream at a Baskin Robbins outside which a ten-foot-high Hello Kitty! statue stood guard. Fascinating.
By 10 or so I was back at the hotel, pooped and happy. If I hadn’t wanted a slow morning, I think I would have spent less time in Ginza and added in Akihabara.
Aug 30th, 2008, 01:21 PM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,396
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This ia an absolutely wobderful report, tahl! I am enjoying every word and detail.
Thanks also for the good tip about the Tokyo City Atlas. I didn't realize that it was such a good tool for finding your way out of the subway.
Thanks also for the good tip about the Tokyo City Atlas. I didn't realize that it was such a good tool for finding your way out of the subway.
Aug 30th, 2008, 03:23 PM
#4
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 6,369
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Alright details, we love all the details.
Most locals either take the food back to the office or home to eat. We usually take the food out to a park or back to the room for a light dinner.
I know what you mean by planning some downtime. If you don't you can run yourself ragged on vacation, lol.
I am convinced that the Japanese really love and know how to make any kind of noodle dish taste great.
Thanks for the review on the Cerulean....I've always wondered and wanted to stay in the area and the room review sounds great.
Aloha!
Most locals either take the food back to the office or home to eat. We usually take the food out to a park or back to the room for a light dinner.
I know what you mean by planning some downtime. If you don't you can run yourself ragged on vacation, lol.
I am convinced that the Japanese really love and know how to make any kind of noodle dish taste great.
Thanks for the review on the Cerulean....I've always wondered and wanted to stay in the area and the room review sounds great.
Aloha!
Aug 31st, 2008, 07:38 AM
#5
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 307
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Nice to see a review of the Cerulean. I stayed there in my trip in March (i still should post a report...). We thought the rooms were a good size, but did not realize how big they were until we wound up in a tiny single in the Park Hotel! The Cerulean was great, and my favorite hotel I stayed in Japan. Shibuya was definitely a fun place to start our trip.
Sep 1st, 2008, 08:16 AM
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What fun to know that people are reading my trip report -- thanks for the comments! I'll try to get Kyoto up soon, though right now I'm preparing for a trip to London.
Rizzuto -- A little more detail on the Tokyo City Atlas: Each central neighborhood (e.g., Shibuya) gets a two-page spread, with everything labelled in both English & Japanese. Major buildings (stores, museums, office buildings, etc.) are shown with names and their shapes, which make them easy to identify when you're standing on a street corner. As for the subway exits, what I like is that it shows exactly where each numbered exit from the station comes out on the street, so you can see that if you want to go to (say) the Shibuya Tokyu Inn, the closest exit is #10 from the Hanzomon Line station at Shibuya.
Mara -- Yes, this was my first trip to Japan. I enjoyed it a lot, but don't expect to get back there anytime soon. Congrats for planning a November trip. I'd be happy to send you (free, of course) my Suica, which has I think between $5 and $10 left on it, plus a KDDI SuperWorld 1000 yen phonecard, which I think is mostly still good (a friend bought it & used, I believe, a small amount). If you'd like those, say so, and we can follow the editor's suggestion on this thread for getting each other's email address safely through Fodor's:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1868
Rizzuto -- A little more detail on the Tokyo City Atlas: Each central neighborhood (e.g., Shibuya) gets a two-page spread, with everything labelled in both English & Japanese. Major buildings (stores, museums, office buildings, etc.) are shown with names and their shapes, which make them easy to identify when you're standing on a street corner. As for the subway exits, what I like is that it shows exactly where each numbered exit from the station comes out on the street, so you can see that if you want to go to (say) the Shibuya Tokyu Inn, the closest exit is #10 from the Hanzomon Line station at Shibuya.
Mara -- Yes, this was my first trip to Japan. I enjoyed it a lot, but don't expect to get back there anytime soon. Congrats for planning a November trip. I'd be happy to send you (free, of course) my Suica, which has I think between $5 and $10 left on it, plus a KDDI SuperWorld 1000 yen phonecard, which I think is mostly still good (a friend bought it & used, I believe, a small amount). If you'd like those, say so, and we can follow the editor's suggestion on this thread for getting each other's email address safely through Fodor's:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1868
Sep 1st, 2008, 09:59 AM
#8
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 32,129
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tahl - we too found the subway no more crowded than say New York. With the caveat that it did seem more crowded around 7 pm than 6 pm. And we did experience the crowds once. It was wave after wave of people, just like it is often described. Trying to stay together as a group of six fighting those waves was actually a bit scary.
Sep 1st, 2008, 10:56 AM
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,243
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
tahl - what a lovely offer....I also have an unused Suica card - long story - I believe they're good for ten years - you should think about going back at some point. I will be renting a mobile when I go so I don't need a phone card. But I do appreciate your generous offer.
Btw, I have a very similar book - The New Tokyo Bilingual Pocket Atlas also by Kodansha. Yours looks a bit better as it has the subway exits and mine doesn't. Also yours is a bit larger...I'm a nut for traveling light. ;-) Plus I have Japan Solo as well.
Waiting to hear about your Kyoto visit....
Btw, I have a very similar book - The New Tokyo Bilingual Pocket Atlas also by Kodansha. Yours looks a bit better as it has the subway exits and mine doesn't. Also yours is a bit larger...I'm a nut for traveling light. ;-) Plus I have Japan Solo as well.
Waiting to hear about your Kyoto visit....
Sep 1st, 2008, 04:34 PM
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here's the first part of my Kyoto adventures:
Th 7/24:
After a breakfast of cheapo Lawson’s sandwiches in my room at the Cerulean Tower (but no coffee, since each of the single-cup coffee packs in the minibar was 420 yen), I checked out at 8:45 and walked over to Shibuya station.
I took the JR Yamanote line from Shibuya to Shinagawa – again, crowded but fine – which put me within the special Shinkansen area way, way early for my 10:17 Nozomi train to Kyoto. I had bought the ticket days before, so I wouldn’t have to do that under time pressure. Picked up a very nice bento within that Shinkansen area at the one visible food place to take on board as lunch; less than $10 got me something ample and nice (rice rolls (don’t know proper name), pickled vegetables of several kinds, sashimi, tofu).
I found catching the Shinkansen simple overall. To find the right platform, all you have to do is look on the overhead signs for the train time. The only mystery was figuring out which number on the ticket signified the reserved car (in my case, 7), and which was the seat (for me, 4E). The desk clerk at the hotel couldn’t decipher it from my ticket, either. Fortunately there are people manning the platform edges, and when one of them wasn’t busy, we communicated by sign language and he showed me the car number, which in turn determined where I needed to stand.
The 10:17 Nozomi arrived right on time (of course) and put me in Kyoto at 12:28. Sunny day, but no view of Mt. Fuji. I hadn't expected to see it so wasn't disappointed.
I made my way through the JR station to the adjoining subway station and bought a farecard. Most of the Kyoto subway ticket machines I saw were only in Japanese – I think this first one in train station also did have English – but even the Japanese-only ones were manageable. (This next part is from memory, so I hope someone will correct me if I report this wrong.) First look at signs to see how much the fare to your destination will be, then put money in the machine. As you put money in, the machine will offer the available denominations of tickets you can afford with the money you’ve deposited so far; push the big lit-up square button (yes, the big thing is a button) beneath the denomination you want, and presto.
A quick ride north on the Karasuma line and then east on the Tozai line put me at my hotel at 1pm.
Hotel: Kyoto Hotel Okura, at the corner of Kawaramachi and Oike, directly adjoining the Kyoto Shiyakusho-Mae station on the Tozai subway line. I booked mid-June on www.okura.com -- 16,400 yen per night for Th & Fri nights, 19,000 yen for Sat night, for a “run of house room,” nonsmoking, not counting 10% service charge and 5% tax. The total for three nights, including about $10 worth of laundry, came to $599. Before I booked, I joined for free the Okura chain’s frequent-traveler card, which made check-in very swift. A plus of using Okura was that making a change to my reservation was easy – they have a U.S. phone number and very helpful English-speaking personnel manning it.
The room they gave me was a nice “superior double,” recently renovated, on the 17th floor, with a sweeping view east toward the hills of Higashiyama. (Two nice touches: a gift origami crane in the room and a map explaining the view outside my window.) The room wasn’t luxurious or huge like I’d had at the Cerulean, but it was very modern, well-decorated, and comfortable, and the concierge was incredibly helpful. I understand the chain makes a point of fine service. I’d recommend the Okura in a heartbeat.
Now I must mention the thing that colored all my tourism in Kyoto: the heat. I’ve checked www.weatherunderground.com for Osaka, and it wasn’t my imagination: every day I was there, the high was 95 or 96 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity around 80%. I’m not a hot weather wimp – I’m fit, a native of the South, and live in a place where those conditions are routine in midsummer – but the problem with Kyoto tourism is that many attractions are 100% outdoors. It’s not like you walk to an ancient temple and then get to go into air conditioning! So I wound up having to rejigger my plans throughout to get into someplace modern and air conditioned by midafternoon each day lest I melt completely.
I unpacked a bit and decided to drop going to Nijo Castle (a shame, since I was curious to see the “nightingale floor”) in favor of seeing Sanjusengendo Hall – one of my top priorities in Kyoto -- immediately rather than add it on to a lengthy walk on another day. At 2pm, following the concierge’s suggestion, I took the Karasuma subway line east, then changed to the Keihan Railways line, taking it south to Shichijo station. What I didn’t understand from guidebooks is that while there are only two subway lines in Kyoto, they do interweave with a couple of other non-JR non-subway lines, which you can transfer to & from (though you do have to buy separate subway & other-line tickets). The Keihan is the most useful of these lines for tourism on the east side of the city.
From Shichijo, I walked about 10 minutes straight east to Sanjusengendo, the long hall with the one thousand ancient wooden statues of Kannon lined up. I liked the dusty, ancient feel of the place (seriously, the Kannons could use some attention with a feather duster), and particularly liked the larger, character-full, individualized statues spaced along the hall in front of the more-similar Kannons. I’d put this as one of my favorite Kyoto stops, since it was so different from everything else.
By 4pm I was done and dripping. I *craved* cold soba. So I retraced my steps to Keihan Shichijo station and headed south on the Keihan line to somewhere (?) where I could connect to the JR Nara line to Kyoto Station.
You don’t properly see the station when you come in on the Shinkansen. It’s an amazing modern building, a huge open steel-framed construction unlike anyplace I’ve ever seen. Head into the main station hall and look for the escalators up along this enormous space. On each floor they let off into Isetan department store, but if you keep going to the 11th floor and head to your left you reach “The Cube,” a separate set of restaurants. I sat at a pleasant counter in Tagota, a modern, spare restaurant, and enjoyed cold oroshi soba-zen (1250 yen) and beer.
Then I wandered through Isetan a bit, picked up a beautiful coffee mousse dessert and some breakfast rolls in the basement food hall to take back to the hotel, and had an overpriced coffee (367 yen) at the nothing-special Café Mercado, which may have been the only sit-down spot in the hall.
Back on the subways to the hotel by 8pm to shower and crash in front of the TV.
Th 7/24:
After a breakfast of cheapo Lawson’s sandwiches in my room at the Cerulean Tower (but no coffee, since each of the single-cup coffee packs in the minibar was 420 yen), I checked out at 8:45 and walked over to Shibuya station.
I took the JR Yamanote line from Shibuya to Shinagawa – again, crowded but fine – which put me within the special Shinkansen area way, way early for my 10:17 Nozomi train to Kyoto. I had bought the ticket days before, so I wouldn’t have to do that under time pressure. Picked up a very nice bento within that Shinkansen area at the one visible food place to take on board as lunch; less than $10 got me something ample and nice (rice rolls (don’t know proper name), pickled vegetables of several kinds, sashimi, tofu).
I found catching the Shinkansen simple overall. To find the right platform, all you have to do is look on the overhead signs for the train time. The only mystery was figuring out which number on the ticket signified the reserved car (in my case, 7), and which was the seat (for me, 4E). The desk clerk at the hotel couldn’t decipher it from my ticket, either. Fortunately there are people manning the platform edges, and when one of them wasn’t busy, we communicated by sign language and he showed me the car number, which in turn determined where I needed to stand.
The 10:17 Nozomi arrived right on time (of course) and put me in Kyoto at 12:28. Sunny day, but no view of Mt. Fuji. I hadn't expected to see it so wasn't disappointed.
I made my way through the JR station to the adjoining subway station and bought a farecard. Most of the Kyoto subway ticket machines I saw were only in Japanese – I think this first one in train station also did have English – but even the Japanese-only ones were manageable. (This next part is from memory, so I hope someone will correct me if I report this wrong.) First look at signs to see how much the fare to your destination will be, then put money in the machine. As you put money in, the machine will offer the available denominations of tickets you can afford with the money you’ve deposited so far; push the big lit-up square button (yes, the big thing is a button) beneath the denomination you want, and presto.
A quick ride north on the Karasuma line and then east on the Tozai line put me at my hotel at 1pm.
Hotel: Kyoto Hotel Okura, at the corner of Kawaramachi and Oike, directly adjoining the Kyoto Shiyakusho-Mae station on the Tozai subway line. I booked mid-June on www.okura.com -- 16,400 yen per night for Th & Fri nights, 19,000 yen for Sat night, for a “run of house room,” nonsmoking, not counting 10% service charge and 5% tax. The total for three nights, including about $10 worth of laundry, came to $599. Before I booked, I joined for free the Okura chain’s frequent-traveler card, which made check-in very swift. A plus of using Okura was that making a change to my reservation was easy – they have a U.S. phone number and very helpful English-speaking personnel manning it.
The room they gave me was a nice “superior double,” recently renovated, on the 17th floor, with a sweeping view east toward the hills of Higashiyama. (Two nice touches: a gift origami crane in the room and a map explaining the view outside my window.) The room wasn’t luxurious or huge like I’d had at the Cerulean, but it was very modern, well-decorated, and comfortable, and the concierge was incredibly helpful. I understand the chain makes a point of fine service. I’d recommend the Okura in a heartbeat.
Now I must mention the thing that colored all my tourism in Kyoto: the heat. I’ve checked www.weatherunderground.com for Osaka, and it wasn’t my imagination: every day I was there, the high was 95 or 96 degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity around 80%. I’m not a hot weather wimp – I’m fit, a native of the South, and live in a place where those conditions are routine in midsummer – but the problem with Kyoto tourism is that many attractions are 100% outdoors. It’s not like you walk to an ancient temple and then get to go into air conditioning! So I wound up having to rejigger my plans throughout to get into someplace modern and air conditioned by midafternoon each day lest I melt completely.
I unpacked a bit and decided to drop going to Nijo Castle (a shame, since I was curious to see the “nightingale floor”) in favor of seeing Sanjusengendo Hall – one of my top priorities in Kyoto -- immediately rather than add it on to a lengthy walk on another day. At 2pm, following the concierge’s suggestion, I took the Karasuma subway line east, then changed to the Keihan Railways line, taking it south to Shichijo station. What I didn’t understand from guidebooks is that while there are only two subway lines in Kyoto, they do interweave with a couple of other non-JR non-subway lines, which you can transfer to & from (though you do have to buy separate subway & other-line tickets). The Keihan is the most useful of these lines for tourism on the east side of the city.
From Shichijo, I walked about 10 minutes straight east to Sanjusengendo, the long hall with the one thousand ancient wooden statues of Kannon lined up. I liked the dusty, ancient feel of the place (seriously, the Kannons could use some attention with a feather duster), and particularly liked the larger, character-full, individualized statues spaced along the hall in front of the more-similar Kannons. I’d put this as one of my favorite Kyoto stops, since it was so different from everything else.
By 4pm I was done and dripping. I *craved* cold soba. So I retraced my steps to Keihan Shichijo station and headed south on the Keihan line to somewhere (?) where I could connect to the JR Nara line to Kyoto Station.
You don’t properly see the station when you come in on the Shinkansen. It’s an amazing modern building, a huge open steel-framed construction unlike anyplace I’ve ever seen. Head into the main station hall and look for the escalators up along this enormous space. On each floor they let off into Isetan department store, but if you keep going to the 11th floor and head to your left you reach “The Cube,” a separate set of restaurants. I sat at a pleasant counter in Tagota, a modern, spare restaurant, and enjoyed cold oroshi soba-zen (1250 yen) and beer.
Then I wandered through Isetan a bit, picked up a beautiful coffee mousse dessert and some breakfast rolls in the basement food hall to take back to the hotel, and had an overpriced coffee (367 yen) at the nothing-special Café Mercado, which may have been the only sit-down spot in the hall.
Back on the subways to the hotel by 8pm to shower and crash in front of the TV.
Sep 2nd, 2008, 03:18 AM
#11
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,836
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
tahl,
I also enjoy your reports tremendously. Sorry you didn't make it to Nijo castle, but "nightingale floor" is just a corridor with squeeky floorboards.
What poetic naming! I respect sensibility of ancient Japanese people who could imagine nightingale songs from squeeky fixtures...
I also enjoy your reports tremendously. Sorry you didn't make it to Nijo castle, but "nightingale floor" is just a corridor with squeeky floorboards.
What poetic naming! I respect sensibility of ancient Japanese people who could imagine nightingale songs from squeeky fixtures...
Sep 6th, 2008, 11:00 AM
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
W9London: True, I can recreate the "nightingale floor" effect by walking across my own kitchen! It's just that I've read several novels in a series called Tales of the Otori that is set in a fantasy fictional world based on feudal Japan; the first book is titled Across the Nightingale Floor, so, well...
On with my Kyoto trip report (warning, this entry is long):
Fri 7/25:
First, here’s my experience with guidebooks & etc. for Kyoto:
· Lonely Planet Kyoto City Guide (the big LP book), 3rd ed. Indispensable. The only just-Kyoto guidebook I found that covered everything, not just the ancient / traditional shops and sights. (Fodorites recommended many good books that do focus on the traditional aspects of Kyoto.)
· Periplus Travelmaps Kyoto, 2nd. ed – map with yellow cover. I got this from Amazon as the only Kyoto map I could find. Should’ve saved my money. Not enough detail in the eastern part of Kyoto to be useful as you’re walking between temples, and while the downtown part is done well, maps I picked up free from my hotel were just as good there.
· Kyoto Walks pages from the JNTO website. The Higashiyama Area and Along the Old Canal walks were my key guides. Great! The maps are concise but very clear, and show exactly where bus stops are relative to the attractions.
· Frommer’s Japan. The Higashiyama-ku and Philosopher’s Stroll walking tours were useful as additions to the JNTO walks.
This day I explored the northern part of eastern Kyoto – the “Path of Philosophy,” heading north to south. The morning turned out to be my favorite part of my Kyoto trip.
I bought a 2 day unlimited bus-and-train sightseeing pass (2000 yen) from the hotel concierge. In retrospect, I didn’t take enough transit for that to have been financially worthwhile, though it was convenient. Following her directions to the bus stop, around 10:00 I caught bus #17 to Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion). It was pretty obvious where to get off (always my concern with buses!). On the road up to the Pavilion, I stopped in a small restaurant for cold soba with mushroom. (I went through soba withdrawal when I returned home.) The temple is lovely in a restrained way, but what I’ll most remember are the pleasant mossy, hilly paths among the trees.
Heading back down the slope from the temple, there’s a sign that points you to the left to the start of the Philosopher’s Path, which is a narrow path along a very small canal through residential neighborhoods. Beyond the temples along the way, what I liked was the feeling of not being in a tourist area. I saw only two or three other sets of people all morning. (Probably everybody else had enough sense to stay indoors.) The walk itself is green and low-key and peaceful. Big thumbs up.
Around 11:30, as the heat picked up, I stopped for iced coffee at the nicely air-conditioned Café de Sagan, a small building on your right side. I think that was the first and only place for food and drink I saw. It’s right around the path to Honen-in Temple . . . supposedly. I tried and failed to find Honen-in, but at least got to see some interesting houses during my missteps!
Further down the Path is Eikan-do Temple. Guidebooks seem to treat this as nothing special, but I thought it was spectacular – a large complex of temple buildings on the side of a wooded hill. You take off your shoes and wander around on tatami mats. This was the only place in Japan I saw tatami, and I’m happy now to be able summon up how they look and feel when I read about them in novels. I loved walking through the “dragon corridor” – a curving marvel of carpentry – way up the hillside. In autumn the view must be amazing.
The day went downhill from here for a few hours, both literally and figuratively.
I continued down the Path and eventually reached its end at Nanzen-ji. By this point I was too hot and hungry to be interested, and so I passed it by and walked along the entry street. There are lots of fancier restaurants, but I chose a tiny ten-seat neighborhood kind of joint on a little side alley to the right, and had a cheap, not terribly good lunch of donburi (beef on a bowl of white rice). Like many Japanese restaurants, this one had a counter, which I like for solo dining. (All the other seating was Japanese-style, at small low tables.) After I left the restaurant, I realized I’d misplaced the hand fan (advertising a manga store) that I’d been wielding since someone handed it to me on a street corner in Tokyo. I went back to the restaurant and mimed my problem, and the lady gave me a similar fan she had there! Very kind.
I walked back up into the grounds of Nanzen-ji, but discovered I’d hit my temple limit for the day and left without exploring. I walked straight west into town down Niomon-dori, beside the aqueduct, and turned right toward the Heian shrine through the very large, very orange gate. Nanzen-ji to that point was maybe a ten-minute walk. I tried halfheartedly to find my way into the museum of crafts that is purportedly in among the government buildings on the left side of that main street that goes north through the gate, but boy, if the museum is there, it’s sure not obvious.
Continuing up to the Heian shrine, I splurged 600 yen and went to sit in the charming garden for a few minutes (shade!). The shrine . . . was very green and orange, and not much my style, but then I wasn’t in a receptive mood. By this point, about 3:00, I just wanted to be indoors someplace, anyplace.
Fortunately, Frommer’s had given a great suggestion: walk behind and slightly west of Heian to the Kyoto Handicraft Center on Marutamachi. This is a multiple-story souvenir emporium, with lots of little vendors inside, and stuff ranging from ticky-tacky $2 trinkets to nice jewelry and art. For $20, I brought home a lovely woodblock print of persimmons (?) on a branch. It was among the half-price “damaged” prints because one edge was blurred; now that the edge is covered with a mat and frame, you can’t tell at all. On the top floor is a small café, where for 1200 yen I had a reviving iced coffee and a green-tea parfait (ice cream, jelly, and a cookie). The Center offers assorted one-hour classes in crafts, which various Fodorites have taken and enjoyed. The final great thing? There’s a free shuttle bus on the hour that takes you directly to your hotel. So by shortly after 5:00 I was back at the Okura to shower and collapse a bit.
Overall, I think my path for this day (Ginkaku-ji, Path of Philosophy down to Eikan-do and Nanzen-ji, over to Heian shrine and ending at Kyoto Handicraft Center) was an enjoyable walking itinerary. It was just a bit much given the temperature.
By the way, if I had wanted, it would have been easy for me to pick up a taxi at many points along the way. I passed taxi queues and trolling single cabs.
Around dark, I headed out on foot toward Gion. I walked east on Oike, then down Kawaramachi, and grabbed dinner at a little Italian-ish restaurant on Sanjo. I didn’t write down the name, but it sort of had a 1950s Happy-Days diner vibe, but hipper, and it was the only restaurant I visited in Japan where everybody ate with forks. Actually, forks and spoons, as I recall. I had some risotto-like dish with tomato and egg on it.
I walked over and then down Kiyamachi-dori, which was hopping with a Friday-night feel even though it was still early evening (maybe 8:00). Once again I felt like the only person over 35 in the country! To be honest, I didn’t care for the Kiyamachi scene. I had expected a street of restaurants, but hadn’t expected all the bars and girly-show places. I was surprised to see several men, maybe four or five in total, and not all young, who were staggering-drunk before 9pm.
At Shijo-dori, I turned east and walked over the river into Gion. Shijo is the main drag, and as long as I knew roughly where it was I was comfortable enough to wander. (I also used Lonely Planet Kyoto’s walking tour map as a guide to where I should and shouldn’t explore alone.)
I enjoyed going up and down a couple of the streets north of Shijo that are parallel to the river and near it. (I think I walked up Nawate-dori and down Kiri-doshi, as I look at the map.) The vibe of this part of Gion was to me like an upper-crust, more restrained version of Kiyamachi-dori – with way better architecture! -- or rather, you could see how it could have been the Kiyamachi of its day. I had recently read Memoirs of a Geisha, a novel I loved, and so I particularly liked walking for a block or so along the tiny Shirakawa canal. On a bridge over that canal, the main character first encounters a man who changes her life.
My favorite area of Gion I found by accident, further down Shijo. I was trying to follow Lonely Planet’s walking suggestions, and turned right from Shijo just before the Gion Hotel. This led me into a maze of little tiny side streets lined with the wooden entertainment houses of Gion, all hushed and contained, with lanterns by the doors. The area was quieter than the section nearer the river. I encountered three maiko (apprentice geisha) on their tall shoes bustling through the streets. As I came up to one intersection, the only people in sight were me, a maiko, and what looked like a kitchen worker taking a brief break outside a house. As she passed him, he smiled and bowed deeply. That, I’ll remember.
I got thoroughly lost but didn’t care; it was clear where Shijo was, and eventually I worked my way out to it. Then back up Shijo, across the river, up Pontocho with its very private restaurants (a much more pleasant north-south route than the parallel Kiyamachi, for me), and with a few jogs back to the Okura by way of, yes, a Lawson’s for breakfast stuff.
A closing comment on Gion: I enjoyed exploring Gion, but I felt like there wasn’t much there for me as a solo woman traveler. I don’t think I’d have stopped for dinner, for example. It’s not that I expect anything bad would have happened, but that it’s so clearly a “nightlife district.” In planning the trip, I considered staying at the Gion Hotel. I’m glad I decided to stay in central Kyoto instead.
On with my Kyoto trip report (warning, this entry is long):
Fri 7/25:
First, here’s my experience with guidebooks & etc. for Kyoto:
· Lonely Planet Kyoto City Guide (the big LP book), 3rd ed. Indispensable. The only just-Kyoto guidebook I found that covered everything, not just the ancient / traditional shops and sights. (Fodorites recommended many good books that do focus on the traditional aspects of Kyoto.)
· Periplus Travelmaps Kyoto, 2nd. ed – map with yellow cover. I got this from Amazon as the only Kyoto map I could find. Should’ve saved my money. Not enough detail in the eastern part of Kyoto to be useful as you’re walking between temples, and while the downtown part is done well, maps I picked up free from my hotel were just as good there.
· Kyoto Walks pages from the JNTO website. The Higashiyama Area and Along the Old Canal walks were my key guides. Great! The maps are concise but very clear, and show exactly where bus stops are relative to the attractions.
· Frommer’s Japan. The Higashiyama-ku and Philosopher’s Stroll walking tours were useful as additions to the JNTO walks.
This day I explored the northern part of eastern Kyoto – the “Path of Philosophy,” heading north to south. The morning turned out to be my favorite part of my Kyoto trip.
I bought a 2 day unlimited bus-and-train sightseeing pass (2000 yen) from the hotel concierge. In retrospect, I didn’t take enough transit for that to have been financially worthwhile, though it was convenient. Following her directions to the bus stop, around 10:00 I caught bus #17 to Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion). It was pretty obvious where to get off (always my concern with buses!). On the road up to the Pavilion, I stopped in a small restaurant for cold soba with mushroom. (I went through soba withdrawal when I returned home.) The temple is lovely in a restrained way, but what I’ll most remember are the pleasant mossy, hilly paths among the trees.
Heading back down the slope from the temple, there’s a sign that points you to the left to the start of the Philosopher’s Path, which is a narrow path along a very small canal through residential neighborhoods. Beyond the temples along the way, what I liked was the feeling of not being in a tourist area. I saw only two or three other sets of people all morning. (Probably everybody else had enough sense to stay indoors.) The walk itself is green and low-key and peaceful. Big thumbs up.
Around 11:30, as the heat picked up, I stopped for iced coffee at the nicely air-conditioned Café de Sagan, a small building on your right side. I think that was the first and only place for food and drink I saw. It’s right around the path to Honen-in Temple . . . supposedly. I tried and failed to find Honen-in, but at least got to see some interesting houses during my missteps!
Further down the Path is Eikan-do Temple. Guidebooks seem to treat this as nothing special, but I thought it was spectacular – a large complex of temple buildings on the side of a wooded hill. You take off your shoes and wander around on tatami mats. This was the only place in Japan I saw tatami, and I’m happy now to be able summon up how they look and feel when I read about them in novels. I loved walking through the “dragon corridor” – a curving marvel of carpentry – way up the hillside. In autumn the view must be amazing.
The day went downhill from here for a few hours, both literally and figuratively.
I continued down the Path and eventually reached its end at Nanzen-ji. By this point I was too hot and hungry to be interested, and so I passed it by and walked along the entry street. There are lots of fancier restaurants, but I chose a tiny ten-seat neighborhood kind of joint on a little side alley to the right, and had a cheap, not terribly good lunch of donburi (beef on a bowl of white rice). Like many Japanese restaurants, this one had a counter, which I like for solo dining. (All the other seating was Japanese-style, at small low tables.) After I left the restaurant, I realized I’d misplaced the hand fan (advertising a manga store) that I’d been wielding since someone handed it to me on a street corner in Tokyo. I went back to the restaurant and mimed my problem, and the lady gave me a similar fan she had there! Very kind.
I walked back up into the grounds of Nanzen-ji, but discovered I’d hit my temple limit for the day and left without exploring. I walked straight west into town down Niomon-dori, beside the aqueduct, and turned right toward the Heian shrine through the very large, very orange gate. Nanzen-ji to that point was maybe a ten-minute walk. I tried halfheartedly to find my way into the museum of crafts that is purportedly in among the government buildings on the left side of that main street that goes north through the gate, but boy, if the museum is there, it’s sure not obvious.
Continuing up to the Heian shrine, I splurged 600 yen and went to sit in the charming garden for a few minutes (shade!). The shrine . . . was very green and orange, and not much my style, but then I wasn’t in a receptive mood. By this point, about 3:00, I just wanted to be indoors someplace, anyplace.
Fortunately, Frommer’s had given a great suggestion: walk behind and slightly west of Heian to the Kyoto Handicraft Center on Marutamachi. This is a multiple-story souvenir emporium, with lots of little vendors inside, and stuff ranging from ticky-tacky $2 trinkets to nice jewelry and art. For $20, I brought home a lovely woodblock print of persimmons (?) on a branch. It was among the half-price “damaged” prints because one edge was blurred; now that the edge is covered with a mat and frame, you can’t tell at all. On the top floor is a small café, where for 1200 yen I had a reviving iced coffee and a green-tea parfait (ice cream, jelly, and a cookie). The Center offers assorted one-hour classes in crafts, which various Fodorites have taken and enjoyed. The final great thing? There’s a free shuttle bus on the hour that takes you directly to your hotel. So by shortly after 5:00 I was back at the Okura to shower and collapse a bit.
Overall, I think my path for this day (Ginkaku-ji, Path of Philosophy down to Eikan-do and Nanzen-ji, over to Heian shrine and ending at Kyoto Handicraft Center) was an enjoyable walking itinerary. It was just a bit much given the temperature.
By the way, if I had wanted, it would have been easy for me to pick up a taxi at many points along the way. I passed taxi queues and trolling single cabs.
Around dark, I headed out on foot toward Gion. I walked east on Oike, then down Kawaramachi, and grabbed dinner at a little Italian-ish restaurant on Sanjo. I didn’t write down the name, but it sort of had a 1950s Happy-Days diner vibe, but hipper, and it was the only restaurant I visited in Japan where everybody ate with forks. Actually, forks and spoons, as I recall. I had some risotto-like dish with tomato and egg on it.
I walked over and then down Kiyamachi-dori, which was hopping with a Friday-night feel even though it was still early evening (maybe 8:00). Once again I felt like the only person over 35 in the country! To be honest, I didn’t care for the Kiyamachi scene. I had expected a street of restaurants, but hadn’t expected all the bars and girly-show places. I was surprised to see several men, maybe four or five in total, and not all young, who were staggering-drunk before 9pm.
At Shijo-dori, I turned east and walked over the river into Gion. Shijo is the main drag, and as long as I knew roughly where it was I was comfortable enough to wander. (I also used Lonely Planet Kyoto’s walking tour map as a guide to where I should and shouldn’t explore alone.)
I enjoyed going up and down a couple of the streets north of Shijo that are parallel to the river and near it. (I think I walked up Nawate-dori and down Kiri-doshi, as I look at the map.) The vibe of this part of Gion was to me like an upper-crust, more restrained version of Kiyamachi-dori – with way better architecture! -- or rather, you could see how it could have been the Kiyamachi of its day. I had recently read Memoirs of a Geisha, a novel I loved, and so I particularly liked walking for a block or so along the tiny Shirakawa canal. On a bridge over that canal, the main character first encounters a man who changes her life.
My favorite area of Gion I found by accident, further down Shijo. I was trying to follow Lonely Planet’s walking suggestions, and turned right from Shijo just before the Gion Hotel. This led me into a maze of little tiny side streets lined with the wooden entertainment houses of Gion, all hushed and contained, with lanterns by the doors. The area was quieter than the section nearer the river. I encountered three maiko (apprentice geisha) on their tall shoes bustling through the streets. As I came up to one intersection, the only people in sight were me, a maiko, and what looked like a kitchen worker taking a brief break outside a house. As she passed him, he smiled and bowed deeply. That, I’ll remember.
I got thoroughly lost but didn’t care; it was clear where Shijo was, and eventually I worked my way out to it. Then back up Shijo, across the river, up Pontocho with its very private restaurants (a much more pleasant north-south route than the parallel Kiyamachi, for me), and with a few jogs back to the Okura by way of, yes, a Lawson’s for breakfast stuff.
A closing comment on Gion: I enjoyed exploring Gion, but I felt like there wasn’t much there for me as a solo woman traveler. I don’t think I’d have stopped for dinner, for example. It’s not that I expect anything bad would have happened, but that it’s so clearly a “nightlife district.” In planning the trip, I considered staying at the Gion Hotel. I’m glad I decided to stay in central Kyoto instead.
Sep 6th, 2008, 12:25 PM
#13
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,396
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank you so much, talh, for the continuing report. You write with skill and a keen sense of observation.
I leave for Japan in 2 weeks and will be staying a few nights at the Okura Kyoto -- you can be sure that I'll put your information to very good use.
I leave for Japan in 2 weeks and will be staying a few nights at the Okura Kyoto -- you can be sure that I'll put your information to very good use.
Sep 6th, 2008, 05:33 PM
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
And finally, here's the tail end of my time in Kyoto.
Sat 7/26:
Another morning when the newspaper and puttering and sandwiches -- plus a banana, an expensive item in Japan (150 yen at Lawson’s) -- took up longer than I’d planned. I left the Okura at 10am with directions from the concierge to a Post Office about a block away with an ATM that accepts U.S. cards. Without the help of a local man who saw me literally turning in circles, I’d never have figured out that I was standing directly in front of it. Bottom line: some post office branches are very low-key in appearance, and with the ATM inside the door, not readily visible from outside.
This day I explored the southern part of eastern Kyoto, working my way from Kiyomizu-dera in the south up to Gion and over to “downtown” Kyoto. (In less-scorching weather, starting further south at Sanjusengendo might have been nice.) I enjoyed the sights, but the day will stick with me most for a few little discoveries I made. I don’t know if they’re in guidebooks, but I’ll remember them as pleasures I stumbled upon.
Following a hotel handout with bus-route information, I caught the Tozai subway line east from the Okura to Higashiyama Station, then bus #100 south. The Kyoto Walks walking tour called Higashiyama Area (available on the JNTO website) was my guide, and again I relied on it to show me where bus stops were relative to the attractions. I can’t recommend those pages highly enough. Finding the stop for Kiyomizu-dera was a little suspenseful; the bus traveled straight along Higashioji-dori for quite a while, and I had to guess when I was approaching the temple stop. Since the stops seem to be pretty close together, it wasn’t a big problem that I got off one or two too early.
I headed up the Gojo-zaka and Chawan-zaka Slope toward the enormous temple complex atop the hill. This is the southern of the two diagonal streets to the temple in guidebooks. As the guidebooks say, the street is lined with small shops selling the earthy-looking Kiyomizu-yaki pottery, none of which called out to me. Some is cheap, some not. On the right side, midway up, I enjoyed looking through a shop with real artist-quality work.
Discovery #1: Very near the end of the line of shops and restaurants as you approach the temple – 20 yards from the end? – on your right hand side, look for a pottery shop (wooden cabinets, gold-colored back wall) that is attached, on its uphill side, to a doorway with tree-trunk sideposts and a short top-of-door split nori curtain, the traditional signal of an eating-place. Through the doorway you will see a gravel path, greenery, and I think the side of a wooden building. Go through and just out of sight to your right there is a marvelous little restaurant, quietly contemporary and sophisticated, with lots of wood and a peaceful view of the tiny entrance courtyard. Piano music plays softly. Around 11:30 I stumbled on this find, and enjoyed cold udon noodles topped with lettuce and tuna (?), plus a cold vegetable salad and iced coffee (1180 yen). I felt like I’d found a secret place.
Fortified and cooled off, I climbed up into the Kiyomizu-dera complex. (Not a spot I’d recommend to anyone with impaired mobility.) From down below it didn’t thrill my heart – again with the green-and-orange – but once up there, there’s much more to see than you might expect. The main temple building has a huge veranda and beautiful views over greenery to the city. There were hundreds of tourists there (mostly Japanese), but the complex and even just that veranda were so big that it didn’t feel crowded. A number of couples and of pairs of women (usually young) were in yukata; I wondered if they had dressed up for picture-taking in a striking setting. Or maybe a yukata is cooler in hot weather than Western-style clothing?
Something I’ll remember with bemusement from Kiyomizu-dera is called the Tainai-meguri, according to Lonely Planet. After you’ve climbed all the steps to the temple complex, look to the left for a little ticket window (100 yen). Lonely Planet says not to spoil the surprise of what this is, but I’m going to do so because (and please, take this seriously) if you are claustrophobic, I recommend that you not proceed. What happens is you take a few-minute walk metaphorically through the womb in total, and I do mean total, darkness. Good thing there’s a railing to trail with your hand because wow, it’s really really dark. Kind of cool, but definitely not for everyone.
After an hour or so, I headed away from Kiyomizu-dera down Kiyomizu-michi, the other (northern) leg of the triangle that has the temple at its apex. More pottery shops, these almost all souvenir rather than art quality; shops brimming with Hello Kitty!; stalls selling pickled things. Eh.
Discovery #2: Near the top of that street, within say 50 yards of leaving the temple complex, there was a large and extremely busy shop selling mountains of shaved ice doused in syrup, an ideal cool treat in the brutal heat. There were even large stools inside – well, sort of inside, because there was no closed front on the shop – so I could sit and savor. My ice had green-tea syrup, a side of red-bean paste (much tastier than it sounds), and three white spongy balls of something (not so tasty). Anybody know what those are?
Continuing downhill, I first missed the sharp right turn to go down the steps of Sannenzaka Slope; if there’s a signpost, I couldn’t find it. As soon as I turned, the tourist traffic dropped dramatically. I enjoyed this part of the walk the most, because it had some neighborhood feel. A sanitized neighborhood with lots of restaurants and pottery shops, but still, nice.
Around 2:30, the walk decanted me behind Yasaka Shrine, at the east end of Gion. I was ready to get out of the heat, and headed west on Shijo-Dori through the heart of Gion looking for the Kyoto Craft Center, which all the guidebooks describe as a store full of beautiful high-end handicrafts. Couldn’t find it, even with a precise map. Is it still there? Could it have gone out of business? Was the heat playing with my vision?
Discovery #3: As I was searching along the north side of Shijo-Dori for the Kyoto Craft Center, I blundered into a shop with a banner out front showing a stylized white and black cat wearing a red crown. I didn’t see any name I could read, but after I got home, I learned this is Eirakuya, which has been selling textiles since 1615. They have dozens or hundreds of tenugui, or Japanese tea towels, printed with funny or beautiful designs, plus hankerchiefs, bags made from the tenugui, and the like. You see such towels for sale all over Japan, but the quality and variety of these shone. I believe the towels were about 1400 yen, and the cotton hankerchiefs around 800 yen.
I continued west down Shijo-Dori into downtown Kyoto on my quest for air conditioning. Around 3pm I finally ate lunch, at a (cool!) restaurant on the top floor of Hankyu department store (cold udon with beef, egg (?), salad, and dressing; tasty). I wandered next door to the larger Takashimaya, and had one of those funny moments that pulls you up short: I saw a big sign headed “Store Guide” in large letters across the top …walked over …and discovered that every other bit of writing on the sign was in Japanese. Huh? (I pointed out to a friend how illogical that seemed. She shot back that we put the heading “Entrees” on a menu and then have no further French beneath. Touche.) Anyhow, Takashimaya had another of those fabulous food halls, and I picked up a tray of sushi and sashimi and some breakfast breads.
Around 5pm I took a taxi back to the Okura and collapsed for the evening in front of the TV with my sushi dinner. I found the Japanese game shows mesmerizing and different than what I’d expected. First, the colors and graphics: bright, extreme, to the point of garish. (Interesting that Japanese culture encompasses both very restrained simple style and its opposite.) Second, the tone. The purpose of most of the shows seemed to me to make the viewer feel like he’d been welcomed into a party. The contestants constantly laughed and joked with each other. I saw nothing that was humiliating; instead, the shows were intentionally silly. My favorite was a show that I’m almost certain was about competing to pronounce Mandarin Chinese correctly, with teacher-judges sitting in computer-generated teacups behind the contestants. Another show involved at one point a guy in kabuki getup trying to hit a golf shot. Wild.
Sun 7/27:
I didn’t do much this day except walk to a neighborhood convenience store to stock up on mints and other small sweets to take home. (Try the strong “Frisk” mints in the flat white boxes. Carefully.)
I had one last great find, on how to get from Kyoto to Kansai Airport (KIX), which serves Osaka and Kyoto. There are two shuttle companies that do direct hotel-to-airport service in vans, MK Skygate Shuttle and Yasaka Kanku Shuttle, for about the same price as the less-convenient JR haruka airport express. I arranged my shuttle through the hotel concierge. Warning: I think you must make the arrangements two days in advance. I gave the concierge my flight time, she called the shuttle (I don’t know how she decided which company to use, as the Okura seems to use both), and the next day they gave me a pickup time. I wound up on Yasaka Kanku shuttle for 3500 yen (one check-in size suitcase free, 1000 yen each additional). The van picked me up at 12:10pm for a 5:15pm flight. The van was prompt and tidy. Couldn’t have been easier.
Simple checkin, and a couple hours to kill in the airport lounge. I was glad that I happened to have lounge privileges (having used miles to upgrade myself to business class), as once I was in the building from which United flights left, the food and hanging-out options were extremely limited.
So ended my Japan adventure. I had a wonderful time and brought home many memories to chew over. And right now . . . I’m leaving for London in twelve hours. Yipes!
Sat 7/26:
Another morning when the newspaper and puttering and sandwiches -- plus a banana, an expensive item in Japan (150 yen at Lawson’s) -- took up longer than I’d planned. I left the Okura at 10am with directions from the concierge to a Post Office about a block away with an ATM that accepts U.S. cards. Without the help of a local man who saw me literally turning in circles, I’d never have figured out that I was standing directly in front of it. Bottom line: some post office branches are very low-key in appearance, and with the ATM inside the door, not readily visible from outside.
This day I explored the southern part of eastern Kyoto, working my way from Kiyomizu-dera in the south up to Gion and over to “downtown” Kyoto. (In less-scorching weather, starting further south at Sanjusengendo might have been nice.) I enjoyed the sights, but the day will stick with me most for a few little discoveries I made. I don’t know if they’re in guidebooks, but I’ll remember them as pleasures I stumbled upon.
Following a hotel handout with bus-route information, I caught the Tozai subway line east from the Okura to Higashiyama Station, then bus #100 south. The Kyoto Walks walking tour called Higashiyama Area (available on the JNTO website) was my guide, and again I relied on it to show me where bus stops were relative to the attractions. I can’t recommend those pages highly enough. Finding the stop for Kiyomizu-dera was a little suspenseful; the bus traveled straight along Higashioji-dori for quite a while, and I had to guess when I was approaching the temple stop. Since the stops seem to be pretty close together, it wasn’t a big problem that I got off one or two too early.
I headed up the Gojo-zaka and Chawan-zaka Slope toward the enormous temple complex atop the hill. This is the southern of the two diagonal streets to the temple in guidebooks. As the guidebooks say, the street is lined with small shops selling the earthy-looking Kiyomizu-yaki pottery, none of which called out to me. Some is cheap, some not. On the right side, midway up, I enjoyed looking through a shop with real artist-quality work.
Discovery #1: Very near the end of the line of shops and restaurants as you approach the temple – 20 yards from the end? – on your right hand side, look for a pottery shop (wooden cabinets, gold-colored back wall) that is attached, on its uphill side, to a doorway with tree-trunk sideposts and a short top-of-door split nori curtain, the traditional signal of an eating-place. Through the doorway you will see a gravel path, greenery, and I think the side of a wooden building. Go through and just out of sight to your right there is a marvelous little restaurant, quietly contemporary and sophisticated, with lots of wood and a peaceful view of the tiny entrance courtyard. Piano music plays softly. Around 11:30 I stumbled on this find, and enjoyed cold udon noodles topped with lettuce and tuna (?), plus a cold vegetable salad and iced coffee (1180 yen). I felt like I’d found a secret place.
Fortified and cooled off, I climbed up into the Kiyomizu-dera complex. (Not a spot I’d recommend to anyone with impaired mobility.) From down below it didn’t thrill my heart – again with the green-and-orange – but once up there, there’s much more to see than you might expect. The main temple building has a huge veranda and beautiful views over greenery to the city. There were hundreds of tourists there (mostly Japanese), but the complex and even just that veranda were so big that it didn’t feel crowded. A number of couples and of pairs of women (usually young) were in yukata; I wondered if they had dressed up for picture-taking in a striking setting. Or maybe a yukata is cooler in hot weather than Western-style clothing?
Something I’ll remember with bemusement from Kiyomizu-dera is called the Tainai-meguri, according to Lonely Planet. After you’ve climbed all the steps to the temple complex, look to the left for a little ticket window (100 yen). Lonely Planet says not to spoil the surprise of what this is, but I’m going to do so because (and please, take this seriously) if you are claustrophobic, I recommend that you not proceed. What happens is you take a few-minute walk metaphorically through the womb in total, and I do mean total, darkness. Good thing there’s a railing to trail with your hand because wow, it’s really really dark. Kind of cool, but definitely not for everyone.
After an hour or so, I headed away from Kiyomizu-dera down Kiyomizu-michi, the other (northern) leg of the triangle that has the temple at its apex. More pottery shops, these almost all souvenir rather than art quality; shops brimming with Hello Kitty!; stalls selling pickled things. Eh.
Discovery #2: Near the top of that street, within say 50 yards of leaving the temple complex, there was a large and extremely busy shop selling mountains of shaved ice doused in syrup, an ideal cool treat in the brutal heat. There were even large stools inside – well, sort of inside, because there was no closed front on the shop – so I could sit and savor. My ice had green-tea syrup, a side of red-bean paste (much tastier than it sounds), and three white spongy balls of something (not so tasty). Anybody know what those are?
Continuing downhill, I first missed the sharp right turn to go down the steps of Sannenzaka Slope; if there’s a signpost, I couldn’t find it. As soon as I turned, the tourist traffic dropped dramatically. I enjoyed this part of the walk the most, because it had some neighborhood feel. A sanitized neighborhood with lots of restaurants and pottery shops, but still, nice.
Around 2:30, the walk decanted me behind Yasaka Shrine, at the east end of Gion. I was ready to get out of the heat, and headed west on Shijo-Dori through the heart of Gion looking for the Kyoto Craft Center, which all the guidebooks describe as a store full of beautiful high-end handicrafts. Couldn’t find it, even with a precise map. Is it still there? Could it have gone out of business? Was the heat playing with my vision?
Discovery #3: As I was searching along the north side of Shijo-Dori for the Kyoto Craft Center, I blundered into a shop with a banner out front showing a stylized white and black cat wearing a red crown. I didn’t see any name I could read, but after I got home, I learned this is Eirakuya, which has been selling textiles since 1615. They have dozens or hundreds of tenugui, or Japanese tea towels, printed with funny or beautiful designs, plus hankerchiefs, bags made from the tenugui, and the like. You see such towels for sale all over Japan, but the quality and variety of these shone. I believe the towels were about 1400 yen, and the cotton hankerchiefs around 800 yen.
I continued west down Shijo-Dori into downtown Kyoto on my quest for air conditioning. Around 3pm I finally ate lunch, at a (cool!) restaurant on the top floor of Hankyu department store (cold udon with beef, egg (?), salad, and dressing; tasty). I wandered next door to the larger Takashimaya, and had one of those funny moments that pulls you up short: I saw a big sign headed “Store Guide” in large letters across the top …walked over …and discovered that every other bit of writing on the sign was in Japanese. Huh? (I pointed out to a friend how illogical that seemed. She shot back that we put the heading “Entrees” on a menu and then have no further French beneath. Touche.) Anyhow, Takashimaya had another of those fabulous food halls, and I picked up a tray of sushi and sashimi and some breakfast breads.
Around 5pm I took a taxi back to the Okura and collapsed for the evening in front of the TV with my sushi dinner. I found the Japanese game shows mesmerizing and different than what I’d expected. First, the colors and graphics: bright, extreme, to the point of garish. (Interesting that Japanese culture encompasses both very restrained simple style and its opposite.) Second, the tone. The purpose of most of the shows seemed to me to make the viewer feel like he’d been welcomed into a party. The contestants constantly laughed and joked with each other. I saw nothing that was humiliating; instead, the shows were intentionally silly. My favorite was a show that I’m almost certain was about competing to pronounce Mandarin Chinese correctly, with teacher-judges sitting in computer-generated teacups behind the contestants. Another show involved at one point a guy in kabuki getup trying to hit a golf shot. Wild.
Sun 7/27:
I didn’t do much this day except walk to a neighborhood convenience store to stock up on mints and other small sweets to take home. (Try the strong “Frisk” mints in the flat white boxes. Carefully.)
I had one last great find, on how to get from Kyoto to Kansai Airport (KIX), which serves Osaka and Kyoto. There are two shuttle companies that do direct hotel-to-airport service in vans, MK Skygate Shuttle and Yasaka Kanku Shuttle, for about the same price as the less-convenient JR haruka airport express. I arranged my shuttle through the hotel concierge. Warning: I think you must make the arrangements two days in advance. I gave the concierge my flight time, she called the shuttle (I don’t know how she decided which company to use, as the Okura seems to use both), and the next day they gave me a pickup time. I wound up on Yasaka Kanku shuttle for 3500 yen (one check-in size suitcase free, 1000 yen each additional). The van picked me up at 12:10pm for a 5:15pm flight. The van was prompt and tidy. Couldn’t have been easier.
Simple checkin, and a couple hours to kill in the airport lounge. I was glad that I happened to have lounge privileges (having used miles to upgrade myself to business class), as once I was in the building from which United flights left, the food and hanging-out options were extremely limited.
So ended my Japan adventure. I had a wonderful time and brought home many memories to chew over. And right now . . . I’m leaving for London in twelve hours. Yipes!
Sep 7th, 2008, 01:17 AM
#17
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,396
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks again, both for the info and the linguistic grace notes ("the walk decanted me..."
.
Like you and, I suspect, 12 zillion others, I took the same walk from Kiyomizu temple down to the Shijo-dori. It was on a much cooler day, and the throngs on Sannenzaka were amazing to see. I decided to take a small, easy detour both to get out of the crowd and to explore the neighborhood for just a block or two -- and it took me about 7 seconds to find myself lost.
Fortunately, I had a rich Japanese vocabulary of 20 or so words, and I asked a helpful-looking passer-by "Sumimasen, Shijo-dori wa, doku desu ka?" -- roughly, "Hey, lady, which way to 4th Avenue?" Unfortunately, she apparently understood my question, as she gave me an answer. Not a word of which I understood. She picked up on that; maybe it was the hollow look in my eyes combined with a mouth agape. Anyway, she gestured to follow her, and she led me on a 10-minute brisk-paced walk that ended at, ta-dah, Shijo-dori. The amazing thing to me was that it was not in the direction in which she'd been heading!
.Like you and, I suspect, 12 zillion others, I took the same walk from Kiyomizu temple down to the Shijo-dori. It was on a much cooler day, and the throngs on Sannenzaka were amazing to see. I decided to take a small, easy detour both to get out of the crowd and to explore the neighborhood for just a block or two -- and it took me about 7 seconds to find myself lost.
Fortunately, I had a rich Japanese vocabulary of 20 or so words, and I asked a helpful-looking passer-by "Sumimasen, Shijo-dori wa, doku desu ka?" -- roughly, "Hey, lady, which way to 4th Avenue?" Unfortunately, she apparently understood my question, as she gave me an answer. Not a word of which I understood. She picked up on that; maybe it was the hollow look in my eyes combined with a mouth agape. Anyway, she gestured to follow her, and she led me on a 10-minute brisk-paced walk that ended at, ta-dah, Shijo-dori. The amazing thing to me was that it was not in the direction in which she'd been heading!
Sep 7th, 2008, 05:43 AM
#18
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,836
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
tahl,
I also had difficulty trying to locate the Craft Centre in Gion. The door was shuttered and there was a poster in Japanese. It could have closed down or moved. Shame as I enjoyed their authentic fares in my previous visits.
I am also thrilled to read you've discovered the cotton towel shop. They have a more contemporary line called RAAK--I stocked up on their gauzey cotton scarves which was the best thing I bought in Kyoto the last time.
I also had difficulty trying to locate the Craft Centre in Gion. The door was shuttered and there was a poster in Japanese. It could have closed down or moved. Shame as I enjoyed their authentic fares in my previous visits.
I am also thrilled to read you've discovered the cotton towel shop. They have a more contemporary line called RAAK--I stocked up on their gauzey cotton scarves which was the best thing I bought in Kyoto the last time.
Sep 12th, 2008, 06:41 PM
#20
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 70
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The wonderful part of this travel board is having such a concise informative report to pore over for those of us planning a future trip.
Mahalo for your Kyoto report.
By the way, could the sweet white balls your referred to be be "mochi?"
Mahalo for your Kyoto report.
By the way, could the sweet white balls your referred to be be "mochi?"
