Kyoto Day 1

Today was the start of our journey around Japan, and we'd purchased the 7 day JR Pass that gives free use of trains for its duration. The cost of the JR pass (28300 Yen for 7 days) is not much more than a return trip to Kyoto, so if you plan to do more traveling than this its well worth the investment.

Bearing this in mind, we scheduled our 7 days of travel to make best use of it. Starting in Tokyo, our schedule would take us to Kyoto, Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kitakyushu, and Fukuoka - before returning direct from Kitakyushu to Tokyo on the last day.

The Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto leaves from the central Tokyo station, so this was our first stop.



There are many different types of Shinkansen, and on our trip we'll travel in a few of them - but they all look awesomely modern and aerodynamic. Traveling at up to 300kph, the trip from Tokyo to Kyoto is a mere 3.5 hrs. And while you'd think it'd be a major buzz to be traveling that fast, the truth is that its so smooth you really don't notice the speed.

Interior view of the Shinkansen

We bought Bentos (Japanese lunchboxes filled with Sushi, Inari etc) onto the train with us, and had lunch en route. Before you know it we had arrived in Kyoto and checked into our room in the Kyoto Tower Hotel. This hotel is just across the road from the train station, so you can literally walk with all your luggage the 100 meters or so to the hotel with no problem. Its a good value hotel and reasonably priced. Although it has seen better days, its still quite nice and you can't complain about the price and the location.

With the trip from Tokyo being so quick, it left us the rest of the day to explore Kyoto. Last year we had just a single day in the city, and visited the major attractions such as Kiyomizudera (highly recommended), The Golden Pavilion (not so much), Sangusangendo, and Higashi Honganji.

This time we've got three days to explore further, and first on the list requires a short train trip to the town of Uji.

Uji

Uji is a beautiful small town 20mins South of Kyoto famous for its specialist green tea shops. A handy map shows you where you are ...

Uji's most famous resident was Murasaki Shikibu. In the year 1007, she wrote the world's first full novel, Called "The Tale of Genji". We came across her statue in a beautiful little park next to the river.


On our way to the Byodo-in Temple is a street containing many specialist green-tea merchants, some hundreds of years old. Uji is well known for its high quality green tea, and so Mami made sure she picked up a few packs to take home.

Byodo-in Temple

Byodoin features the most beautiful of Japan's few remaining Pure Land Gardens, a garden type which was popular during the Heian Period. The Phoenix Hall was built in 1053 by a member of the Fujiwara clan. It is one of Japan's most famous temple buildings and depicted on the 10 Yen coin.