Japan Part III: Kyoto

The main hall of Toji Temple in Kyoto

Our final stop in Japan was Kyoto, the more recent former capital of Japan (794 - 1868). I'd heard Kyoto referred to as the cultural and historical capital of Japan, so I was interested to see it.

The five-storied pagoda at Toji Temple.

Our first stop was Toji Temple, one of Kyoto's most famous landmarks. The five-storied pagoda, originally built in 826, is the highest pagoda in Japan. It has been struck by lightening and burned down 4 times. Which makes me think that maybe they should have stopped trying. But they seem to be having better luck lately.

I think I was expecting something like Nara, but Kyoto is actually a large city and quite modern-looking in most parts. Although it is home to 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, as well as an imperial palace, most of the city looks similar to Osaka. In fact, an article in the New York Times recently discussed Kyoto's identity crisis.

That said, there were still many interesting and beautiful things to see in the city. Since it's a big city and the different tourist sites are pretty far apart, we rented some bikes.

For some reason, I thought wearing a mini-skirt would be a good idea that day.

Close by our hostel was a really delicious rice cake shop. The lady working there made our rice cakes to order.

Surprisingly, although they use basically the same ingredients, Japanese rice cakes taste different than Korean rice cakes. The Japanese version is lighter and smoother in texture, and from what I saw, there is less variety.

We also went to the sake museum, to see how sake was made. As we learned, you get a free can of sake with your 300 yen admittance fee.

Mmm, nothing like a can of sake at 11 A.M.

My favorite part of Kyoto was Gion, traditionally the geisha district. Sadly, we didn't actually see any geisha (although, I read a very interesting blog post about the maiko and geisha who still train and work in Kyoto today). There are also a lot of beautiful temples and shrines in the area.

While walking in Gion, we wandered into the Yasaka shrine, also know as the Gion shrine. It was so beautiful at night!

Basically, being in Japan sort of made me feel like I into the Miyazaki film, Spirited Away.