Day 6 - The Beauty of Kyoto

Waking up in Kyoto was remarkable. A huge difference between Tokyo and Hakone. Kyoto is a large City in Japan, but nowhere near as large as Tokyo. Not only that, it was a Friday when we woke up so it felt like the weekend was beginning in Kyoto.

We began the day by eating at a place everyone around the world is familiar with - McDonalds! Yes, I know, I can have that here, but a McDonalds was on the corner of our Airbnb and next to the subway station so we figured we'd give it a shot.

To begin with, McDonald's here are super fast, efficient, and the food is very different. For example, your breakfast sandwich comes with chicken nuggets. It was pretty neat. The best part about it - it was super cheap! Josh and I ate two meals for about $7. You can't beat that in the US!

Cute ad in McDonalds

After breakfast, we made our way to the Imperial Palace. Now one of the reasons why I'm having a hard time keeping up with this blog (besides my crazy and hectic schedule) is that I keep debating between how to describe all of our visits. Part of me wants to dedicate a whole post to each castle and shrine we visited, but I know that will be so long. So I'll stay with the day for now, and stay tuned for more in depth posts on the castles and shrines we visited!

Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan. The capital moved to Tokyo after the Emperor and the Last Shogun made an agreement that unified Japan. That agreement was made in Kyoto, but called for the capital to move. The Japanese have great respect for this agreement, and the Last Shogun's family is still alive to this day - obviously very wealthy. In the view of the Japanese, they saw how European powers were ripping apart China and Korea. They did not want European powers to rip Japan apart (as the French were backing the Shogun and the British backing the Emperor). Thus, they agreed to a unification to save Japan and keep European powers out.

Tori Gates to the Coronation Area

Courtyard for Coronation Ceremonies

Every Emperor has held their coronation ceremony in Kyoto, even after the move to Tokyo. The only exception is the current Emperor who held his ceremony in Tokyo. It is expected that the next coronation will be in Tokyo as well.

However, this Imperial Palace is still considered a sacred spot for many Japanese. It has survived earthquakes, fires, and raids. It is nestled in the mountains so it is well protected. Oddly, when the US was bombing Japan during WWII Kyoto was mostly spared as the US did not see much military significance in Kyoto. Also, Kyoto was considered a target for when the US dropped the first atomic bomb, however the US ultimately ended up with Hiroshima.

The beauty of the palace is hard to describe, so much detail in every corner. We signed up for an English guided tour (it was free after all). Our tour guide was awesome, and we got to speak with some Europeans (other quick note - we hardly met any other Americans).

Our guided tour was simply amazing. So much history was covered and discussed, and our tour was pretty funny. Her English was great, and she helped put things in context by comparing Japanese history to the history of our home countries.

My favorite part was seeing the Throne Room. Unlike the Thorne Rooms you see in TV or that you'd imagine a King/Queen to sit on, this is very different. It faces the outside, and almost looks like a large pillow. It is so that the Emperor can look out onto his garden as he contemplated the big decisions he was going to make. He had a little tent he could retreat to if he got tired or wished to eat a meal.

The Throne Room

The tent for him to retreat to

Some of the encased artwork from the palace.

It was so magnificent to see.

Following the Imperial Palace we walked a bit and found a place to eat. I had some lemon fried chicken plate with rice that made my taste buds explode. Oh my goodness, I still dream about that chicken!!

Chicken, come back!

The food was sooooo goooooood! 

Anyways, after our lunch we went to Nijo-jo castle. This castle is the home of the Last Shogun. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is here where the Last Shogun left, to meet the Emperor and unify Japan.

Josh at the Gate of Nijo-jo Castle

As this castle is a World Heritage Site, it gets some money from the UN to pay for up keep and renovations. A lot of the castle was under renovation as Japan prepares for the 2020 Olympics.

UNESCO Stamp of Approval

The castle is enormous. While the Imperial Palace was very wide, this castle was very tall. The walls were very hight - to protect the Shogun of course - and it was surrounded by a moat. This castle did allow you to walk through the halls to see how life was like for the Shogun. It was really interesting to see some of the original paintwork was still there. Most of it was in a special room, where you can see it, and the replicas where just as beautiful.

The views from the castle were so cool. Especially when you were high up on the tower, the breeze helped keep the summer heat from getting to ya.

Another Gate

The detail is amazing!

The view from the tower

Again, I'll post more on the castle another time. Sadly, I don't have much pictures as photography was not allowed to preserve the artwork.

Following the castle, we went back to the apartment to rest a bit. However, we took a brief detour on our way back. We found the floats from the Gion festival!

The Gion festival is a two week festival in Kyoto where all the main shrines bring their Deities out for worship and celebration. The major religion in Japan is Shinto, however this was a mix of Shinto and Buddhist Shrines. Many Deities were represented - power, love, wealth, etc.

The shrines and floats were really cool to see. Sadly we could not stay for the full festival as it was on the day we flew back to the US. However, it was still awesome to see some of the floats up front.

After that, we walked through the Nishiki again and it started to rain. It was pouring down rain and it felt amazing. As the Nishiki is semi-outdoor, you had a roof over your head but you could feel the now cool breeze thanks to the rain.

We ate at a dumpling place this time. They were so good, and they came out so fast. I wish there were places like this dumpling place here in Dallas (I bet I could find them in LA or NYC).

We also stopped at a little shrine in the middle of the Nishiki. It was pretty cool. Kyoto is such a spiritual place, it is very inspiring to be there - it's like it reawakens the soul.

Afterwards, we went back to visit our friends at Beer Bar Miyama 162. We had a number of drinks, and we gave one of our "thank you" gifts to our good friends. We had such a blast, the local beer they offer is amazing.

What I also love about the bar is that it brings in so many people. We heard British, Australian, French, and many other accents. Some Australians even invited us to go to a music festival with them. Even cooler was that we spoke with some of the Japanese locals that liked to go to the bar.

One man we spoke with, it was a farewell drink as he was leaving the next morning to begin a new job as a worker for a politician in Osaka. We all wished him the best of luck, and we had a toast in his honor.

Finally, it was our time to go home. We thanked Nao and Mami for being such awesome hosts, and recommending great beer. There is one other thing to note.

The night before, we were talking about Lincoln Park and how great of  band they were. That morning is when news broke of Chester passing away. That night, Nao played Lincoln Park all night and we spoke about his music, how the songs impacted us, and where we were in life when Lincoln Park first made the scene.

It was a very beautiful moment - two Japanese and two Latino Americans bonding over music. Grieving together over the loss of a talented individual. If more folks could bond like that, I believe our world would be in a much better place.

We went back to the apartment, and rested for tomorrow as another big day of site seeing.

Finally, I took this picture while the sun was setting. It captures the rows of mountains that surround Kyoto. It was so beautiful, and I loved how they managed to keep nature in tune with the city.

Day 5 - Riding the Shinkansen to Kyoto!

This part of our trip is probably my most favorite part. On this day, we woke up, checked out of our Ryokan and made our way to the town of Odawara.

From Odawara, we rode the Shinkansen, commonly known as the Bullet Train, from Odawara to Kyoto. By car, it's about a 5 hour car drive to Kyoto from Odawara. However, on the bullet train - it was only two hours.

We began our morning by taking the Hakone Tozan line to Odawara. As Odawara was a bigger station, we ate breakfast there. Nothing fancy, just some pastries and coffee we found. We purchased our tickets for the Shinkansen and made our way to the platform.

The Shinkansen!

The Shinkansen travels at about 155 miles per hour. While not as fast as flying, it is very fast on land, and very efficient. The trains were never late, and always clean. As I mentioned in a previous post (at least I think I did), people on trains in Japan are very quiet. It's considered very rude to speak on the trains. Almost like libraries, you must be quiet and respectful. That's what this ride even more awesome - you could enjoy the scenery in peace and quiet. You can see in the video below just how fast it is!

The Shinkansen also had a snack cart which was tasty. They had coffee, bento boxes, and other snacks. We got some pockey (the sticks with chocolate - they sell them in the US too) and finally made it to Kyoto Station.

Kyoto is such a different city than Tokyo. It used to be the capital of Japan, and is one of the oldest cities on earth. It is a modern city, yet it is still a city dedicated to its past. We visited many shrines and many temples while in Kyoto. There are over 2,000 shrines and temples but we made it to a few.

Kyoto Station

Kyoto Station - so huge!

Kyoto Tower, just outside of Kyoto

We were also fortunate to be in Kyoto during the time of the Gion festival. This is dedicated to the major shrines in Kyoto, where it serves almost like a homecoming for the deities housed in these shrines.

One downside to Kyoto - it was very hot! After coming from the cooler mountain area, Kyoto sits in a basin surrounded by mountains. It was very beautiful but it was so hot and muggy. After arriving in Kyoto station, we saw it was only a 15 minute walk to our Airbnb. We decided to walk. However, the heat made it very unbearable. I didn't capture any pictures of us walking, cause we were carrying all of our luggage.

Also, the Japanese are very concerned about the environment and pride themselves in conserving scarce resources - after all, they are an island nation. Thus, most places turn off the AC when you're not there. So our Airbnb was very hot when we arrived, and we had to wait a bit for it to cool down. Which was no issue- it gave us time to gather our bearings and decide where to go.

the view from our Airbnb - a true Japanese Experience

So we went walking to the Nishiki- the shopping district of Kyoto. It's hard to describe this area, it's like a giant mall, but on city streets, and is full of shops and restaurants. It was really cool.

The awesome starbucks barista made a great smoothie for Josh

This is a Lush Store

The "inside" of Nishiki - but it's a street?

We ate dinner at a Japanese bbq restaurant. It is neat because you cook your own food! They bring out the meat, and you have an open fire grill in the middle. They bring very long chopsticks which are used only for cooking. You get some rice, and some spices to season up your meat, and you eat and enjoy.

After dinner we started walking along the river. They were several bars and shops along here, that are hundreds of years old. We walked into one bar because it said "English Menu and Beers" so we walked into Beer Bar Miyama 162.

How it looks going down the street

It was like walking into home. Many foreigners were here. The hosts Nao and Mami were so awesome. Folks from all over the globe stopped in for a beer. Particularly, British and Australian visitors. The beer was all local, and it was so good!

We had a great time, but boy were we tired from all of the walking we did. This was a short day due to the travel, but we had an exciting time the next day - and a return visit to Beer Bar Miyama 162.

Snapchat of the day:

Day 4 - Riding up the Volcano of Hakone!

So where we last left off, we had taken a nice sleep at our Ryokan (the Japanese style hotel) and we woke up early ready to explore the town. The video below shows a bit of how peaceful and tranquil it was. We looked around and said "Ohio Gozimas" which means "Good Morning"

Unfortunately, we started walking at six in the morning and nothing was open until nine. So we walked around the neighborhood and bumped into a Lawson - which is a Japanese convenience  store. We were able to buy a very tasty breakfast, eat some Japanese pastries, and had some famous Japanese Iced Coffee. On hot summer days, the iced coffee was a great way to keep cool and still get your caffeine fix. 

Here is how the Gora Station looked like

This is the Hokone Cable Car

Following, we made our up to the Hakone Cable Car. This train was literally dragged up the mountain by a very strong cable. Once you got to the top of the mountain, you had some awesome views of the mountains and the country side. 

View from the top 

From there, we took the Hokone Ropeway - which is a gondola suspended over the mountain - to the top of the Volcano where Lake Ashi is. The ropeway was pretty awesome, you had an awesome view of the mountains, the forestry. We even rode over the sulfur mines - which they gave you a cloth to help avoid smelling the nasty smell. 

We took the Ropeway all the to the end, by Lake Ashi. From there, we took a bus to a little town called Hakoneen. (The name reminded me so much of Halloween). We were so excited cause we found a brochure in our Ryokan about Hakoneen and it has an aquarium, shopping center, and restaurants. 

Lake Ashi 

Lake Ashi

When we arrived, we felt the brochure may have oversold the park. The aquarium was a bit run down - though the seals were adorable. The shopping was only souvenir stands (some of yall got souvenirs from there!). The food was good, but we knew we could find something better in town. 

Cute Seal

We went back on the bus, to catch the ropeway, we stopped by the sulfur mine to have a localized treat - black eggs. In Hakone, they boil these eggs in the sulfur water. The eggs then get a black shell around them. Local saying is that if you eat this egg, you add seven years to your life. Josh ate it, I did not. Josh actually ate two, so guess he's going to live 14 years longer than me!  

Hakone Black Eggs

Hello Kitty Says Hello

Josh Trying the egg

Josh says it tastes like a normal egg

Following our lunch, we went to the Hakone Open Air Museum. This is a museum with tons of sculptures laid out in the open. You stroll around the gardens admiring the beautiful artwork. They also had a Picasso exhibit inside, but photography was forbidden.  

A sample of the sculptures - I'll do a separate post on the museum

After we left the Open Air Musuem, we went to eat dinner at a famous Gyoza place. This is place is called Gyoza Center. Gyoza are little dumplings made with various ingredients. We had some with chicken, crab, beef, pork, veggies, so many different flavors and combinations. All were very good. 

Gyoza! 

Gyoza! 

We then started walking back to the Ryokan, when we noticed a bar had opened up. We sat there, had some local beer which was delicious. We relaxed for a bit before returning to the Ryokan for a final night of sleep. The next morning, we begin our adventure to the great city of Kyoto. 

Here is the snapchat of the day: