Kyoto

Nanzen-Ji Temple and Dinner at Asuka

July 10, 2011
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Across the street from the Keage Subway station and the Westin Miyako Hotel, is an arched entrance to a brick lined tunnel with leads to the Southern end of the Philosopher’s Walk. This pathway follows a canal lined with cherry trees and temples.

We arrive in the late afternoon as the weather is turning overcast and chilly so we stick to the closest temple to the Southern entrance which is also one of the most popular, Nanzen-Ji. If we had more time and better weather, we would have loved to spend the day checking out all the temples along the path.

While we never actually saw the canal as it’s North of nanzen-Ji temple, there was water running everywhere; along the sides of the road, out of private gardens, most of it probably coming from the nearby aquaduct (more on that below).

Walking up to the main gate of the temple, a gigantic two story structure, we see three young women in kimonos taking pictures of eachother. I offer to take their picture of the three of them together with their camera and then ask if I can take one with mine. They happily oblige.

 

The temple itself appears closed to the public, but the abbot’s quarters are open for a fee of 500 yen per person. We have to leave our shoes at the front while we walk through the compound on elevated wooden walkways. There are numerous serene gardens and we saw several grounds keepers cleaning and pruning with what looked like tweezers and scissors!

Outside the temple is a Meiji era aquaduct dating back to 1890 which still carries water in it today.

After such a long day of walking around, for dinner we opt to keep it close to the hotel (after, of course, enjoying …

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A Visit To Kyoto’s Nijo Castle

July 4, 2011
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After our morning filled with food, we finally make it onto the subway and exit across the street from Nijo Castle where we’d attempted to walk to the day before in driving wind and rain.

Tip: we bought a 600 yen subway day pass. This is a good value because the least expensive trip is 210 yen so anything after 3 rides in a day is bonus.

Nijo castle is surrounded by high walls and betrays little of what lays inside. The castle complex was built by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu in the late 16th century. Like most of the ancient structures we’ve seen, this is a series of wooden buildings set on elevated platforms connected by covered halls and walkways.

Inside, everything is serene and there are extensive gardens.  The cherry blossoms are still in bloom here. The main buildings which were used for living and political functions are filled with beautiful murals as well as some odd life-size model reproductions of the shogun and his “people.”

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Kyoto’s Nishiki Market and Daimaru Depachicka (Food Hall)

June 21, 2011
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Kyoto’s Nishiki Market Street

If you’re interested in food, when researching Kyoto, it’s almost impossible not to come across references to Nishiki street. This market is often referred to as an “alley” but really, it’s quite clean and comfortable because it’s located one of the covered arcade streets running parallel to Shijo St between Teramachi St and Takakura St. 

While the surrounding streets are also covered arcades (which is great in inclement weather like we had), those streets are bursting with clothing shops, souvenir stands and restaurants. Nishiki is all about the food; it’s filled with market stalls catering to every kind of Japanese specialty imaginable, many of them unique to Kyoto. There are all manner and variety of pickled vegetables, fresh tofu and yuba (tofu skin), fish mongers and butchers. There are a couple of well known knife shops here though our budget prohibited any purchase.

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Kyoto; Westin Miyako Hotel Review

June 16, 2011
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Kyoto; Westin Miyako Hotel Review

We arrive into Kyoto station on the Shinkansen train from Tokyo and head outside to in search of the hotel’s free shuttle bus which turns out not to be clearly marked. It’s located where all the other buses stop on a small traffic island across from the Harvey’s grocery store in the station. The bus leaves the station on the hour and the half hour. Though we did not discover this until our last day, there is a satellite concierge office inside the station which can guide you to the bus stop and store luggage if you need it. The drive to the hotel takes almost ½ an hour in traffic, but the ride can also take as little as 15 minutes. In the opposite direction, from the hotel to the station, the bus makes a stop in Kyoto’s Gion neighborhood, but only to let people off, and does not allow guests back on to go back to the hotel (I never quite understood this).  

The Westin Miyako is a Starwood property and I had booked a standard room, using cash plus SPG points ($60 plus 4000 points per night) for 3 nights. I have SPG Gold status and at check-in we ask about getting access to the Club Lounge and are told it is only given to Platinum level guests. When we ask about the cost of an upgrade to a club level room which would give us access to the lounge, we’re told we can have that for an additional 1500 points a night. The upgrade gives access to the lounge for breakfast, coffee throughout the day, and evening cocktails. The lounge has free wifi and in addition, we could use our breakfast vouchers for the buffet breakfast in the main part of the hotel which is substantially better than the lounge’s continental offerings.

The Rooms:…

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Shinkansen Tokyo to Kyoto and Our First Okonimiyaki

June 14, 2011
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Taking the Bullet Train from Tokyo to Kyoto

Our reservation is on the 8am Shinkansen train from Tokyo station to Kyoto and it’s raining. Hard. On a nice day, without luggage, it’s about a 10 minute walk from the Tokyo Hilton to the Shinjuku station where we could have used our JR passes on a JR rail commuter train to connect to the Tokyo station. But today, the thought of fighting the crowd against the tide in the rain, with luggage, is just too much.

Fortunately, the Nishi-Shinjuku subway station is connected to the hotel by an underground walkway. From there, we can take the subway to Tokyo station and connect with the Shinkansen. We allow ourselves about an hour to get from the Hilton to Tokyo station and  make it with only a few minutes to spare,  just enough time to buy a couple of chocolate croissants at a French bakery in the station, but not enough time to buy coffee.

For the experience of riding the Shinkansen train, see my Japan Tips and Observations post. The train is incredibly fast and the countryside whirrs by us at breakneck speed. Views from the train are a mix of farmland, small towns and light industry. Many of the houses in the smaller villages look very close together, almost like townhouses, but I also notice what looks like a lot of community garden spaces.

On arrival to Kyoto station, we take the hotel shuttle bus to the Westin Miyako Hotel. My full review of the hotel to come in the next post.

No Name Restaurant

After getting settled in our room, it’s time for lunch and we take the hotel’s shuttle bus to the Gion stop. We wander around a bit, taking in the sights of the old town and trying …

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Tips and Observations For A First Time Traveler To Japan

April 29, 2011
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I’ll admit, I was intimidated by the thought of traveling to Japan. Even though I’m fairly well traveled in Asia, I knew things would be different. There’s the language issue, etiquette, unfamiliar food and even with the research I did, I found myself confused by how certain things would work. So I thought it might be helpful to include some tips and observations for the first time visitor like me. Keep in mind these are from my own personal experiences so they might not be the same as other people and I’m not making any blanket statements about a country or culture.

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