This page NEW in September 2004

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From Tokyo to Kyoto, we took the Shinkansen bullet train, traveling at 180mph.  We went 310 miles in 140 minutes with only 5 stops.  It was fast, smooth, and quiet, but not cheap!  It cost $1/minute or $0.40 a mile, so Dave made sure he stayed awake for the whole ride!! 

When we got to Kyoto station, we were AMAZED at this steel and glass train station, with its levels of catwalks and archways.  "A futuristic cathedral for the transportation age." There's shops & restaurants all interconnected by different levels and walkways.  Really fun to explore at night!

Being persistent, pushy Americans, we were also lucky enough to insist on a $550/night suite at the adjacent Hotel Granvia, because they had overbooked and there were no more regular queen bed rooms ($200/night)!  We had a neat view of the taxi station below where we could watch the dynamics of the taxi queue.  

The next day we took a tour of several temples:  Higashi-Hoganji Temple...

the famous Nijo Castle and gardens, home of the Tokugawa reign...

Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion) with its sailboat Bonsai tree, Zen garden, and gold leaf gilded temple 

Nara's Todaiji Temple, the largest all-wooden building and bronze Buddha in the world

Here's Dave squeezing through a hole the size of the bronze Buddha's nostril.  He who makes it through ensures a "life of Enlightenment," in addition to a few bruises!  Nara park is also overpopulated with 1200 native deer (considered a natural treasure). This friendly deer threatened to lick Linda's camera if she didn't give it bread! 

Kaisuga-Taisha shrine is popular for its biannual lantern festival.  There are over 2000 lanterns.  The sake barrels are offerings to the Shinto gods.

Kiyomizudera Temple is a carpenter's masterpiece.  This temple with a view is built up on the hillside using 138 posts that are crosslinked, so that no nails were used!  There are many smaller temples here, too, like the Otowa-no-taki waterfall, whose drinking water ensures good test scores.  Also popular are the charm and fortune stands, where you can buy wishes for your loved one, traffic charms, no car accident charms, and even safe baby delivery charms! (Got Linda one of those!)

After a stroll through the Higashiyama district, past traditional shops and restaurants, we then explored Ginkakuji Temple (Silver pavillion) with its beautiful Zen garden and its symbolic Mt. Fuji.

Nanzenji Temple is set deep in the forest.  A red brick aqueduct traverses this temple. Our adventure was finding out where the aqueduct led to and then finding our way to the subway station via the local paths.

Enryakuji Temple at Mt. Hiei was our most adventurous temple outing.  We first took the the train out of Kyoto, then the Eizan Cable up the hillside, followed by the Hieizan Ropeway tram to the top.  Next, we had to hike 2 miles to reach the temple.  Note that the English "Information Board" has all the information in Japanese...gee, thanks for the help!

We barely managed to squeeze in seeing Tofukuji temple, which is famous for its covered bridge and gardens.

If you've seen Miyazake's anime, you might recognize this Tanuki figurine from Pom Poko.  Tanuki are mythical creatures from Japanese folklore who are mischievous creatures with supernatural powers. We saw these figurines outside a lot of Kyoto gardens and homes.

Mini-photo booths are also popular in Japan.  You take about 6 pictures with different backgrounds and then you have 2 minutes to go back and edit in icons, text, and designs.  It takes some skill!!  We spent some evening hours down at the local mini-photo trying to perfect our technique!

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