The second leg of my Japan trip was to Kyoto, land of temples.
Only, we started off kind of failing at that.
The most unexpected part of Kyoto was the centrality of its train station.
It's where all the shopping centers were, and where a majority of the food was.
The building itself was vast, with a kind of wide open structure that allowed it to
hold a lot but also breathe – and a rooftop deck for looking out onto the city below.
When we got to see the temples on our second day, there was a sense of innate calm to them,
which speaks volumes on how deliberate zen gardens are,
and also how easily a light sprinkle of rain can set the mood,
despite the reality of the hordes of tourists pressing in on each other to hurry.
I found the rock garden in Ryoanji especially pleasant – there are 15 stones, but it is
impossible to see all of them at once from any one angle,
except above, I guess.
The entire area was also less crowded and generally felt more peaceful.
We headed to the Arashiyama area and trekked to a restaurant hidden in the woods which
was supposed to have the best tofu,
only to be turned back because we didn't have a reservation.
We made do by circling back through the Arashiyama Bamboo grove and back to the main street,
and ended up eating at a different tofu restaurant.
There was enough time to visit one last place, the iconic Fushimi Inari Taisha, and it did
not disappoint.
It's a unique, inspiring sight amidst the hundreds of temples in Kyoto, and there is
really nothing quite like it.
The thousands of torii gates flood your senses and make the walk seem infinite.
Even on our tired, aching feet, the uphill walk seemed to energize
rather than tire us out.
That said, we did turn back at the first big intersection,
and it turned out to be the wise choice.
That evening we went for our first meal of okonomiyaki, which was delicious.
We saved our last full day for looking at deer.
Nara is about an hour away from Kyoto by train, and if you ignore the commodification and
occasional mistreatment of these gentle but wild animals,
the area is definitely worth a visit.
(I found a diarrhea.)
(Did it come from you [deer]?)
We went to one last temple – this one was Buddhist, as you can tell by the presence
of a giant buddha.
I was only a little disappointed that it wasn't all *that* giant,
but it was a nice visit nevertheless.
We got back to Kyoto in the evening, and took a stroll through the Nishiki Market as we
tried to decide where to eat dinner.
(Look, it's a surprise shrine!)
(After all this time, we've finally found a taiyaki place.)
It was in the shopping district that we accidentally, finally saw a physical manifestation of the
ongoing festival, the Gion Matsuri, which we had only seen the tiniest of hints of.
The most magical parts of any trip are the unexpected treats, and though Kyoto was a
mystifying place with too many tourists and not enough explanation for what was happening
at any time, it was a nice place to be, and my trip there ended well, with a light, but
delectable dish of tea poured over rice.
Oh and also we spotted mount Fuji on the way back to Tokyo.
Stay tuned for the last installment of this series, and I will see you next week.
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