Yasaka Shrine in GionMy addition to Darryl's description of our trip to Japan. He covered Harajuku, Kyomizudera and Nara Koen, so here's some of the rest of the trip...
Regardless of their style, most people look like they take a good bit of time getting their outfit (including matching parasol) right. Downtown, you have some of the best dressed people I've ever seen. And I noticed there's less of a need for men's things to be super masculine - men often have cell phone charms, and I see them using fans in the street.
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Kyoto has some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. When we arrived at Kyoto station it was hard to believe, because everything looked pretty grey, but being based in Gion right by Yasaka shrine was great, and we started with a 1 day tour through JapanICan that gave us literally only 30 - 45 minutes at each place. Darryl didn't like being rushed, but it was nice to get to see 6 places in a day, mostly because there were about a million sites in and around Kyoto I wanted to visit, and 4 1/2 days there barely got us started.
We started at Nijo Castle, with terrific painted screens throughout, which we weren't allowed to photograph. (Speaking of that, in lots of less expected places - stores, train stations - there would be signs about not photographing anything. Kind of weird given the stereotype of the Japanese tourist with camera.)
We got whisked along to the Golden Pavilion, which really has gold on it, and which is a replacement, since a monk with some serious sharing issues burned the last one down. I think it's pretty much impossible for people to take a bad photo there. The place just oozes photogenic charm; it's breathtaking, like slipping into a postcard.There was a lot of lining up in specific numbers of columns for the inside of the Imperial Palace, but the real highlight there are the gardens with pond. We got to spend about 10 minutes in the garden after the inside tour, so I started to feel very much like the hapless tourist.
Then we got a full two hours at our next location, which would make you think it was pretty important, but like many tourism companies, they know the value of marooning you at a shop and getting kickbacks. We took half an hour to eat and then wandered around the several floors of the Handicraft center until the bus came back for the second half of the tour.
On to the first of many bright orange shrines. The color is an import from China and thought to ward off bad spirits. The shrines - part of the Shinto religion - all have lots of little spots with fortunes and bells (to get the spirit's attention) on ropes. Some people would clap twice instead of ringing to call on the spirits. (No one shouted "Hey".)
Sanjusangendo was my favorite place of the day. There are 1001 kannon statues, and it's seriously impressive. I wasn't allowed to take photos in there, but I'm sort of glad, because I was just gaping at them all. I kept remembering it's not polite to point in Japan - but they have so many things that make you want to point. Not fair.We ditched our tour after the last stop - Kyomizudera - instead of getting a ride back to a drop off point. Maybe the gorgeous view, cooler evening temperatures (well, people stopped spontaneously combusting) and having plenty of time helped make it a favorite of Darryl's. He covered this one in the previous post.
We walked up narrow Ponto-Cho in the evening and came back south by the Kamo river. Lots of couples were sitting on blankets that were so evenly spaced along the bank that it looked like someone had come with a ruler between them.
Maybe to feel like adventurers instead of tourists, on our second day in Kyoto we visited a less crowded temple and we set out on foot to find things, and especially liked the places we found while lost. But I'll add that soon...