college-
Kyoto is the old capital of Japan. Since the capital was moved to Tokyo in the 17th century, Kyoto holds no political significance or sway on daily life. It is a city purely of history, over a thousand years old. It’s the opposite of Tokyo, and for that reason among many, we chose to take our last free time in Japan to go to Kyoto and the surrounding area.
The plan was like this: four of us, four days, three cities, one hundred historical sites, and no inhibitions. Of course it was possible. But being the college kids that we were, we waited until the day before we were set to leave to make up any real plans—that is, only a few hours before we were set to catch the overnight bus*. A stack of pamphlets, computer printouts and a single guidebook in hand, Taylor, Rachel, Josh and Sarah struck out for Tokyo station to meet our ride.
* Yakko-basu “night bus”, an excellent system run mainly by private companies to almost any city in Japan. This is your alternative to the ultra-expensive shinkansen, or bullet train. You can pay two hundred and fifty dollars to get where you want to go in two to three hours, or you can pay about ninety dollars to take the night bus, sleep on the ride, and arrive first thing in the morning. The bus is clean, quiet, has a decent bathroom, and rides quite smoothly. I recommend this mode of transportation to anyone who doesn’t have a problem sleeping in a moving vehicle—most college students can do this. I recommend that you bring a non-caffeinated drink and a snack for the ride; this will help you get to sleep. Bring a jacket if you have a window seat, it gets cold.
The ride was about eight hours, through most of which I managed to sleep, from Tokyo station to Kyoto station—Kyoto station is, by the way, a huge and impressive and modern building made of glass. It’s almost out of place in the city, but it works. Right across the street is Kyoto Tower, which is fairly similar to the Space Needle.* We were feeling a little gross from being in a bus that long, so after making do with the bathroom sinks at the station, we decided where to go first.
* Below Kyoto Tower is a huge souvenir shop, with low prices and massive selection, which I seriously recommend you buy all your family’s souvenirs at.
Our first day, we chose Nara. If you remember the audio, it is, like much of this area, a smaller city with a lot of forest and mountains surrounding it. The city is also good for souvenirs, but we were interested in its historical sites, which are outside of town. Trains run regularly from Kyoto Station to everything around it, so we hopped a train to Nara, which is a nice hour ride which you can either sleep through or check out some gorgeous scenery from. The dork I am, I chose to listen to some Mononoke-hime music (by Studio Ghibli—if you don’t know the company, they’re the most popular and respected animation studio in Japan, about on par with Disney with equal or higher quality films. Their films’ themes revolve often around nature and Japanese historical culture, in particular Mononoke-hime.) We messed around on the ride, attracting the interest of all other passengers—bear in mind, Japanese trains are generally silent rides. Our goal was to see the Daibutsu, the largest indoor Buddha in Japan, at Todai-ji.
In Nara, it is cold and is just beginning to rain. We trek down the avenues heading out of the city toward our main destination, stopping here and there where our interest is captured. A massive five-story pagoda stood out like a beacon, around which were several other old structures and shrines, one of which housed some fantastic bronze Buddhas. In this area we also began to discover the deer, which according to tradition roam the temple and park grounds freely. They seemed harmless at this point.
As we continued, the deer grew in numbers, and in aggressiveness. I was well warned by a girl running around screaming, with a pack of them chasing her for the special deer cookies in her hands. We chose to feed ourselves and picked up yakiemo (baked sweet potatoes), but apparently the animals liked these too. I spent the journey fighting them off, but they continued to follow, and butt me and bite my clothing until the sweet potatoes were gone. Never, ever feed the deer in Nara. Ever. They’re mean little bastards.
Even the gates of Todai-ji were massive, but I was little prepared for what awaited me. The building itself doesn’t seem so big from afar, but when you’re standing right at the doors and thinking there’s a Buddha in here as high as the ceiling, it’s cowing. The building is the largest wooden structure in the world, and the Daibutsu is the largest bronze Buddha in the world. Chew on that for a moment. The Daibutsu itself is bronze that has aged to nearly black, and about fifty feet tall, with a gold-colored halo and lotus seat, and two slightly smaller gold-colored Buddhas on either side. I swear it gave me the chills when I first saw it, and not just because of the cold. It’s amazing to think that people in the 8th century had the capability to create something of this magnitude, and to imagine how many people in however many ages stood where I stood and felt the same hairs rise on their necks as I did.
Behind the Daibutsu is a hole carved into one of its great pillars that looks about big enough for a child to crawl through. It’s good luck if you can crawl through, although I was warned that I would feel as un-cool as I would ever feel when I got my butt stuck in it. After watching a few adults try and fail, I resolved to try anyway—and I made it through, as did Josh. I was so excited that I actually called home. They need to have a shirt that says “I went through the hole”. After that it was about as much cold as we could stand, and the rain had grown steady. Miserably, we tracked through the mud into the city and got a train back to Kyoto.
We booked a youth hostel called the Gojo Guest House*, which is a traditional hundred year old building with tatami mats and futons, basically old-style everything. It was a really good choice of hostel, I have to say, considering we picked it half-randomly. It’s cheap, pretty, and has a breakfast nook and café downstairs, as well as Internet and TV, and an excellent experience. We found the place quickly via Kyoto’s excellent bus system, and checked in. After nice hot showers and clean clothes, we were ready for more.
* Do NOT get a hotel in Kyoto. It’s expensive and generic. You save money and get a much better experience in a youth hostel. Ours in particular had a wonderful English-speaking staff and offered all kinds of services, including bike rental and homemade breakfast. Not to mention the good people you’ll meet.
From the hostel, we walked down into Gion, the fashionable nightlife district of Kyoto in search of a trendy little café that had been recommended to us called Café Independents. I have to say, Gion is just effing cool. It’s down on the riverfront, all lit up at night, but not in a gaudy way, and people are everywhere. The old kabuki theater is particularly neat, as well as Pontocho, the old-style streets leading to the teahouses and other places one might meet a geisha. We found our little café and enjoyed a wonderful atmosphere, good food and beer, and good music. As much as you’d think we’d want to eat traditional foods in such a traditional city, the BLTs and beer hit the spot. Afterward, we went back and slept like dead people.
Tune in for Day 2 of this exciting trip.
