In Tokyo, we limited our sightseeing to places we had not been to previously. Thus, we spent some time in Ueno, a nice big park north of the heart of Tokyo (i.e., the Tokyo station). This park is perhaps the center of Cherry blossom watching that will unfold in a couple of weeks. Already a few trees were in bloom attracting photographers like me.
Another nice little park nearby is Rikugien garden. Both are on the Yamanote line of Japan Railway that loops around and connects many attractions. We had a day-pass on the line so we used it again in the evening to go to an interesting area of Shinjuku where there are a large number of tiny bars that can not hold more than ten or so customers. Intimate and atmospheric. We went to a bar called Champion where Karaoke was going on full blast. The next day, we roamed around the Imperial Palace and then had tea with a friend of one of my well-connected nephews. He is married to a Japanese woman and has lived in Japan for some fifteen years. He loves it there.
We decided to leave one suitcase and a backpack in the Tokyo hotel when we commenced our rest of the journey. We had heard that it is difficult to take luggage on Shinkansen, but as it turned out, there was no problem. On the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, we found space for our remaining suitcase behind the first row if seats. If that was not possible, we could have squeezed it in because the legroom is quite generous. We did buy reserved seating because someone told us that the unreserved compartments could be quite full.
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In Kyoto, we stayed in an Airbnb that was a Machiya, a traditional wooden town house. The basic house had no chairs or traditional bed. However, in consideration of the Western clientele, they had added a room with a sofa and the upstairs bedroom was a queen mattress on a wooden frame. We used both Japanese bed and sating arrangements, as well as the Western one. The doors were sliding frames of wood and paper. The kitchen and bathroom had no heat and we ended up during a cold spell. It was freezing. The living area was comfortable thanks to two powerful ductless units. The host was very nice and friendly. She provided us free laundry (just like the hotel in Siem Reap) and gave us a detailed map of where to eat and shop for groceries. We never saw her husband with whom I was corresponding.
We made full use of Kyoto public transportation system, buses, subways and long distance trains. We even took a four-hour bike trip led by a young Japanese American. We used electric bikes for the first time. We also learned how to bike like a citizen of Kyoto…on the sidewalk or on the road, depending on the obstacles in front of you. At times it was a bit scary. But we survived and had a good time.
We saw many of the most important sites in Kyoto. Given that it has seventeen World Heritage Sites, it was impossible to do full justice to what the city has to offer. But we got a good sampling. In addition, we spent one day in Nara, a city that rivals Kyoto in everyway.
Some truly “wow” sites in these two cities are:
Kyoto:
The bamboo grove in Arashiyama
The famous rock garden of Ryoan-ji
The golden temple of Kinkaku-ji
The view of the city from Kiyomizu-dera
The intriguingly shaped Ninomaru Palace of Nijo Castle
The ten thousand red gates (Toriis) of Fushimi Inari Taisha
Nara:
The enormous temple of Todai-ji (the largest wooden structure in the world)
The very aesthetically pleasing Shinto shrine of Kagasu-Taisha
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Getting to Koyasan is by itself an adventure. From Kyoto, we used Shinkansen to get to Shin-Osaka, which is different from regular Osaka. We had booked a hotel near the station for the next night. They allowed us to keep our suitcase overnight, while we spend the night in Koyasan. We kept just a duffle bag and our backpacks for the overnight journey. Then we boarded a JR train to Osaka, and then another one to Shin-Imamiya.
Next, we got out of the JR system and got on another railway for a three-segment journey. The first segment took us to Hashimotofrom where we got in a slow train through the mountains to get to Gokurakubashi and finally, a cable car took us to the Koyasan station. At the station, we had to choose one out three bus lines based on our place of lodging.
Another fifteen minute passed before we got dropped off near our temple. We got a World Heritage package on this train system that included a round trip ticket and two-day worth of free bus pass in Koyasan. In addition we got discounts at some of the major attractions in Koyasan.
From our place, we explored two areas of interest. One leads to the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Koyasan, who is not dead but in eternal meditation. That pathway through tall cedar trees is amazing, because it is lined with some 200,000 graves and monuments.; some quite magnificent. We walked on this path (4-km round trip) on the first day because it was the better of the two.
The next day was rainy, and we did the second area of Koyasan, filled with temples, pagodas and shrines. That part is also amazing. We liked in particular a temple called Kongobuji, the head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism. Besides many interesting features, it has a fantastic rock garden, much better than the famous one in Kyoto, in my humble opinion. The other major site in this area is Danjo Garan Complex that features an enormous pagoda and some temples.
According to a legend, Kobo Daishi threw a “Vajra”---a three-pronged trident---from China, where he was visiting, toward Japan. It fell in Koyasan, which is where he ended up. Because of the trident, there is a pine tree that has bunches of three pine needle, instead of two. Finding fallen three-needle bunch under the tree is an activity that many tourists indulge in because it is supposed to bring luck. Meera tried but to no avail. Then, an elderly Japanese man approached me with a big smile and handed me two three-needle bunches. If you were a believer, you would assign this gift as a divine intervention. For me, it was jus a happy incidence.
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