Kyoto and Kobe, Japan – March 4

12 degrees, sunny

A gong show doesn’t remotely come close to describing the beginning of today. Originally our tour today was scheduled to leave at 8:00. It was rescheduled to 10:30 a couple of weeks ago – an 8 hour tour departing at 10:30 isn’t ideal in my opinion, but I didn’t care too much. 10:30 was changed to 11:05 when the boat arrived a bit late…still no big deal…the gong show occurred with Japanese immigration. We needed to do another face-to-face passport check…again no big deal, the big deal was that we waited for about 90 minutes to get through the passport line – and we thought the face-to-face in Beijing was a gong show. 

lunch

So…by the time we got going it was well past 1:30. Somehow we didn’t get back to the ship super late, but were too late to take shuttle into to Kyoto for dinner or a drink or a wander around.

Nijo-jo Castle gate

Lunch was a bento box on the bus, which was planned and wasn’t due to the gong show. It was quite cool – the only thing I didn’t touch was the dessert. I’ve discovered I’m not the biggest fan of Asian desserts so I didn’t even try.

Nijo-jo Castle gate detail

Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka are all part of one big metropolitan area and it’s difficult to know when you are leaving one and entering another. The 2 sites we visited today are in Kyoto which is about 90 minutes from Kobe where the port is. We knew Kyoto was about 75Km from Kobe, so we wondered how it could take so long, but when little of the drive was on a freeway no one goes anywhere fast.

Golden Pavilion

The first stop we made today was at Nijo-jo Castle – about 500 years old. This place is like no castle I’ve ever visited before. It is all on one floor and although, there are some raised platforms to distinguish people of different statuses there was little to no furniture. There were murals on the walls of each room. One thing I learned about Japanese art was that while many of the paintings have what appear to be blank spaces they are there to suggest possibility and for viewers to use their imaginations.

garden beauty

The coolest part of this castle was what are described as ‘nightingale floors’. These floors make a sound when walked on that sound like chirping bird when walked on to alert the guards of intruders. Depending on the number of people walking on the floor they were quite loud – I was very surprised.

Another thing I learned was that Japanese homes are measured (‘m not sure if this is how they are accurately measured) not in square foot or metre, but by how many tatami mats would fit on the floor.

The second and last stop today was to Kyoto’s Kinkakuji Temple or Golden Pavilion – this name is very fitting as the entire structure is covered in gold leaf (built in 1397.) This visit was entirely outside through the gardens surrounding the Golden Pavilion. It was quite nice to wander around the beautiful, but simple gardens climb up some small hills and take in the scenery. Although this place was quite busy it never became frantic or annoying.

One thing I’ve noticed while being in Asia is how tall I am. Every so often I find myself in a crowd or group or line of only Asian people and realize that I’m the tallest one. I was in a washroom line with a few young Asian women and I was at least a head taller than all of them. Another thing that was remarkable about that group of young Japanese women was that they let me use the toilet before any of them.