On April 5, our fourth day of vacation, we checked out of the hotel and got on a Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto, from Shinagawa station. When we got the tickets, I had an embarrassing moment when the ticket agent said my credit card was over the limit. I gave him my other credit card. It wasn’t until a few minutes later, after I turned on the WiFi hotspot, that I found out that my credit card was nowhere near the limit, but rather that Bank of America had suddenly gotten suspicious of my travel charges — despite the fact that I had logged a travel warning with them weeks before. This ticked me off because The BofA Visa is a special travel Visa that doesn’t charge foreign exchange fees, and the Shinkansen charge was the single largest expense on our trip. I clicked on my BofA iPhone app to approve the charges, but I was still steamed.
That embarrassment aside, though we got the roundtrip tickets on the Shinkansen, and we also reserved our return seats on Narita Express for Sunday.
The ride, as expected, was fast and incredibly smooth. We got off at Kyoto Station and then took subways to Sanjo Keihan Station. The subway system in Kyoto is not nearly as complex as it is in Tokyo, although the disadvantage is it has fewer stations near places we might want to visit. Still, Sanjo Keihan was only a few blocks away from Gion Shinmonso, the ryokan where we’d be staying.
For Kyoto, I very much wanted the boys to experience staying in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, where the hospitality is more personal — almost intimate — than at a large modern hotel. During my only previous visit to Kyoto, with Hsuan when I was a grad student, we stayed in a single story Kyoto ryokan where our room opened out onto a private garden. I didn’t think we could afford that kind of ryokan this time, but the Gion Shinmonso — a four story ryokan with some modern amenities (like WiFi on all floors) — was well reviewed, located in walking distance not only to the subways but also to Gion, the heart of old Kyoto, and just as important, available during our visit. In addition to having breakfast every morning, we also booked our room with dinner every evening. That limited our dining options to not going out for dinner, but the dinners we had at Gion Shinmonso were so excellent that I didn’t regret missing the restaurants.
Our room was a 15 tatami mat room. We counted 12, but that didn’t include our private bathroom and entryway. We all had yukatas and slippers provided for us, and only J refrained from wearing them. There were public baths on the first floor, and again, only J refrained from using them. I used the men’s bath three times during our stay, before dinners, and twice there was a man and his young son in there, who left around the time I entered. The other time, nobody was there, so basically, I had naked-time in the bath all to myself. The baths were not natural hot springs types of baths that you can find in some high-end ryokans; rather, these were indoor spa types of baths. Still, very relaxing. (Yes, I washed before entering, using the showers and toiletries provided. I had researched the rules of public bath etiquette, but the hotel had posted instructions for visitors unfamiliar with the customs. I washed again upon exiting.)
Our first dinner at the Gion Shinmonso — after arrival and after I visited the bath — was our first kaiseki dinner, served to us in our room. Kaiseki is a multi-course meal designed to highlight not only multiple ingredients but also multiple methods of preparation. I won’t bother describing each dish, but they’re all pictured above, for the most part. It’s haute cuisine, and Kyoto kaiseki is the pinnacle of kaiseki. We weren’t disappointed in the least — each dish was exquisite in taste and impeccable in presentation.
We were served at the table in our room by a nice, middle-aged lady in a kimono, who was later assisted by a young man dressed in black. The lady spoke a little English, but the young man spoke much better English and wound up serving as our interpreter for the dinners.
One thing: They started a bit later than our 7:30 PM dinner time, so they must have been rushing to serve all the rooms on our floor. The result is that Hsuan and the boys (mostly J) couldn’t finish each course before the next one came. By the end, J’s tray held a little food from every course. Hsuan and I felt a little rushed.
After dinner, the lady and the young man cleared out the Japanese furniture and laid out futons and bedding for us for the night.
The next day, April 6 (our fifth day of vacation), we went on our only guided tour of the vacation. The first stop was Nijo Castle, the castle of the Shoguns, complete with moat and other defensive measures, because Shoguns, unlike Emperors, had to worry about being killed by enemies.
We walked (sans shoes) on the nightingale floor that went throughout the castle buildings. The floor was made of wood that squeaked like the sound of many nightingales chirping — a sound intended to alert people in the rooms that someone was walking outside — visitors, or assassins.
We visited various rooms where our tour guide (Yuki) said that the Shogun received various visitors, from outer daimyo (those whom he had defeated in battle and who surrendered), to inner daimyo (those who fought for him), to family and others. For the most part, the Shogun sat on a platform elevated slightly above those that others sat on — except the Emperor’s messenger, who when visiting sat on the higher platform.
In some rooms, where the Shogun had to demonstrate his superior authority and military might, images on the walls included things like tigers, but in more intimate or private rooms, the walls were either blank or at least less intimidating.
There was a room where the last Shogun decided to give up his power (for the Meiji Restoration), and another room where he formally announced he was giving power back to the Emperor.
Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos indoors.
Our next stop was to visit the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji. What more can I say about a building covered in gold? That’s a lot of gold. The building was originally bought by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu from the family of a statesman, and later it was converted to a Zen temple by the Shogun’s son.
Visitors aren’t allowed in the temple, for fear of the delicacy of the building and the fact that it has burned down in the past.
Our next stop — and the start of rain — was the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Or former Imperial Palace, as the current Emperor lives in Tokyo. As before, visitors weren’t allowed in the bulding, so we mainly walked the grounds. This is the palace where Emperor Meiji took power during the Meiji Restoration, before moving the capital (i.e. his residence) to Tokyo.
From about 12:30 PM to about 2 PM, we had lunch and shopped at the Kyoto Handicraft Center, where Hsuan bought a bunch of candies for gifts to friends back home, and W and I got yukata for ourselves. J posed in front of this cool set of armor (replica), which was offered at some enormous price.
Lunch was made for Western tourists — chicken nuggets, spaghetti, fries, etc.
After lunch, we got a new tour guide — KC, or Casey — who affected a very effeminate, gay persona that I wasn’t 100% certain was real. Maybe 80%.
Our first stop after lunch was the Heian Shrine. The area is huge, and it includes a large Japanese Garden that, unfortunately, we missed as we visited the main shrine interior. No photos allowed inside, and there was a police-like official there to enforce the rule. People were tossing coins into the offering box and clapping their hands and bowing to the shrine god.
Although the shrine was dedicated to a couple of modern emperors, it seems mainly motivated by civic pride and and civic revival, after the transfer of the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo and after WWII.
The next tour stop, for which I have no photos, was the Sanjusangen-do, or Temple of 1000 Buddhas. By the time we got there, the rain was pouring, and we had only one umbrella between the four of us. I didn’t feel like taking photos outdoors, and photos indoors were strictly forbidden. We walked past the thousand buddha statues, and that number seemed roughly correct, or maybe even a little low if bodhisattva statues are included. I guess each statue is supposed to be different, but I didn’t look closely enough to notice. I did notice that they all needed a lot of dusting.
Our final tour stop for the day was the Kiyomizu temple. I recall visiting this on my prior trip. The main attraction for tourists seems to be the Otowa waterfall with three channels from which visitors can drink. There’s a cool ultraviolet sterilizing station nearby where the cups-on-sticks are sterilized. Each of the three water channels is supposed to grant a wish — love, wealth, whatever — but you’re not supposed to drink from all three, which is greedy and may result in a curse instead of a blessing.
There were other shrines in the area which we didn’t visit, and W and J wanted to take a scenic path up into the hills. However, after walking a bit, Hsuan and I got concerned about returning to our bus on time, so we turned around.
The walk to and from the temple was lined with shops selling souvenirs and food. With all the rain, I would have liked to have stopped off for a hot snack, but I was worried about getting to our bus on time. Hsuan and the boys dropped behind, as we walked through the crowds with their umbrellas, and somehow she and the boys decided to stop for ice cream (despite the rain and the cold air).
While walking, I noticed a high density of women in kimonos. We were told by our tour guides that the vast majority of people — women — wearing kimonos in Kyoto are tourists, some from elsewhere in Japan but many, perhaps most, from outside of Japan. Tourists get a kick out of wearing kimonos for a day, playing dress-up and trying to look like traditional, elegant Japanese ladies. Kimono rentals are a popular business.
The non-Japanese kimono-wearers often give not-so-subtle cues that they're not Japanese, e.g. the most obvious clue being that of speaking (loudly) in Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese.
Of course, there are also actual Japanese people who wear kimonos at work, like the ladies staffing ryokans like Gion Shinmonso, or at certain restaurants (e.g. the Asakusa Imahan in Tokyo). And sometimes one can see maiko or geiko wearing kimonos in Kyoto.
After the tour, we were dropped off at Kyoto Station and again took the subway back to our neighborhood, and then we walked back to Gion Shinmonso. We were thoroughly soaked from the rain, and after hanging up my outerwear to dry (and take out our passports also to dry), I visited the public bath to refresh and rejuvenate.
Our dinner was again kaiseki, served in our room. This time, I should note a highlight, for me, was beef cooked on a hot stone. Another highlight was the mango custard for dessert, and I also had a bottle of junmai sake.
Dinner started at 7:30 PM sharp, and J was able to keep up, though he didn’t eat everything.
In addition to the middle-aged lady and the young man serving us, we were also served by an elderly lady. After dinner, the young man and the elderly lady came by our room to lay out the futons and bedding.