Kyoto to Tokyo

Tuesday morning we took taxis to Kyoto station. It's a big station and even though there are signs in English, it's easy to get mixed up.

Looking west on the main floor. There are platforms serving some 40 tracks, including the Shinkansen. It can get confusing.

Looking east. In addition to the trains, there are subways and also bus loading areas on both sides of the station.

Japanese conductors and engineers take great pride on operating on time (within a second or two, usually) and stopping the train at the designated spot.

This is where car 13 will stop. We had reserved seats but still lined up with the others to board. Platforms in the
larger stations protect passengers with sliding doors that open when the train stops and close before it departs.

I saw several large solar panel farms from the train.

Tea fields in Shizuoka Prefecture turn out prized green tea. Note the fan similar to those used to protect
orchards in Eastern Washington.

Mt Fuji from the from the Shinkansen in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Girls selling drinks and snacks still roll their carts through the train, even on the Shinkansen.
Menu includes sandwiches and other snacks, beer, sake and soft drinks along with coffee, tea
and other hot drinks. The well stocked cart saves passengers a trip to the dining car.

In Tokyo we stayed in the Imperial Hotel. This flower arrangement graced the center of
the lobby. I estimated it to be about four feet across.

Garden outside the main entrance to the hotel. Rock garden has a different meaning here.

While waiting to check in, Ikuko and I ordered coffee in the lobby cafe. This is what
a $15 cup of coffee looks like. Western style hotels are expensive and the Imperial
is on top of that heap. I'd much rather stay at a Japanese inn (Ryokan) or a kind of
B & B called "Minshuku" that includes dinner as well as breakfast.

We stayed one night in the Imperial Hotel. Our evening meal was a "goodbye dinner" with the group at a nearby restaurant. Most of the group goes to Narita Wednesday afternoon to catch their flight back to Seattle. Ikuko and I checked out a little after six in the morning to catch our flight to Fukuoka.

Kyoto

We checked into our ryokan in Kyoto Sunday afternoon, 10/22/18, just in time to have a good soak in the hot spring before getting dressed for dinner.

This little garden greeted us as we came into the foyer.

Lobby tokonoma

This front desk bell caught my eye. It's cast bronze and has a bright sound.

This old fan was in a place of honor across from the front desk or "front" as it's known in Japan.

After we got to our room, this whipped matcha was delivered. There was about a quarter cup but it was
very strong but tasty. On the right are two small sugar flowers that dissolve on the tongue.

After breakfast Monday, we had a two and one-half hour rickshaw tour. First stop was the bamboo forest where the substantial damage from typhoon #25 has been mostly repaired,

This strange photo was taken by our driver who knew
how to make my smartphone do tricks.

Here we are at the Chokushimon Gate to Daikakuji Temple.

Daikakuji is one of the oldest temples in Kyoto, originally built here as an imperial villa when Emperor Saga transferred the capital here some 1200 years ago. We visited at a particularly good time since this is the month when the Chokufushingyo den Hall is opened to the public once every 60 years. No photos were allowed inside most of the buildings so I had to make do with shots of the grounds.

After passing the gate, this is the approach to the main buildings.

Flower arrangements and bonsai were displayed here and there.

This building was decked out in bunting in honor of the occasion.

Before entering the first main building we had to remove and carry our shoes. This walkway was constructed especially
to permit visitors to make faster entrance and exit from the Chokufeshingyo den Hall. Inside were enshrined copies of
sutras transcribed by some of the older emperors and a statue of Yakushi Nyorai.

This spot was off on a side walkway so I took a chance and shot a quick photo. The box with the wooden bars
is where coins are deposited before praying.

On the way out, this old stone bridge caught my eye.

These stone guardians watched over the entrance to the restaurant where we had lunch.

On one wall of the restaurant were displayed these old grinding wheels. Both the wheel
and the trough are made of steel and did the job a little more slowly than modern blenders.

We had free time after lunch so I walked over to the Saga-Arashiyama train station and rode into the Kyoto Main station, about a twenty minute ride. Kyoto Station is one of the larger train stations in Japan so I  had to make mental notes so I could get back to the right train for the return trip.

Got back to our ryokan in time to have another bath before dinner.

In the dining room, this unusual hanging fabric divider screened the entrance from the room.

In the dining room tokonoma were this flower arrangement and the old biwa below.

The biwa is only played during special occasions nowadays.

Amanohashidate

We stayed in a ryokan (Japanese inn) on the canal that leads from Aso Kai (inside Amanohashidate) to Miyazu Bay on the outside area.

Just on the other side of the small bamboo fence was a trail along the edge of the canal. The tidal range is only
one foot here but all the water passes through this canal during tide changes.

 The bridge swings to open, allowing larger vessels to transit. Smaller boats pass under the closed bridge. On the other side of the bridge is the sandbar that stretches to the other side of Amanohashidate.

Temple grounds leading to the rotating bridge.

This bridge rotates 90 degrees to let larger vessels through. The tidal range here is about 12 inches so
high and low tides are not a problem.

Houses similar to these lined the shores of the bay. Bottom floor is a boathouse. The family used to live upstairs, now
that floor is used to store fishing gear.

We went on a cruise around the bay. Our driver/guide had the Japanese speakers laughing and even got in a joke
or two in English. 

Shrine leading to Karamatsu Park atop the nearby hill.

Birds and people are the same around the world.

Karamatsu Park looks over the bay and Amanohashidate, "The stairway to heaven" one of the three
best scenic places in Japan.

I rode the cable car up and took the chairlift down.

After sightseeing around Amanohashidate from a good part of the day we loaded our bus for the twp-hour ride to Kyoto.

Kanazawa to Amanohashidate

Sunday's travels

We had a three-hour drive this morning so thought I'd devote some blog space to highway travel in this part of Japan.

Taken from the highway, the size of  these rice fields is normal now. When I first came to Japan 58 years ago, the fields were much smaller, the size one family could work by hand. Now, with mechanization, and as families die out or move,the paddies are being consolidated into larger fields that benefit from the use of machinery.

Over the years, Japan has transitioned to prestressed concrete poles. I suppose someday the
American companies will make the switch also.

Chiaki-san, our guide, said there are 64 tunnels between Wajima and Amano Hashidate, and I believe her. The longest was 6.6 miles and there were several nearly as long. Most of the tunnels have long curves and elevation gain and losses, I suppose to break the monotony and make driving safer. All the longer ones had emergency escape doors every so often and well lighted signs directing people to emergency routes.

Rest stops have restrooms, of course, and also service stations, but also have stores selling souvenirs and cafes with various kinds of relatively fast food.

Typical long haul truck taking a break. Both sets of front wheels turn. We also saw plenty of trucks hauling containers.

Pre-wrapped souvenirs. Each rest stop has souvenirs unique to that particular locality as well as the more generalized ones.

This part of the rest stop has snacks and drinks.

Vending machines with hot (red highlights) and cold (blue highlights) drinks. Some vending machines in the towns still dispense beer and sake.

We stopped in the lower portion of this rest stop. The upper area contained the service station and sit-down
restaurants, in addition to the snack, drinks and souvenir areas such as the ones in the lower area.

Bread and pastry section. The large white letters say, "melon pan" which is melon flavored soft bread similar to Hawaiian sweet bread. The red and white sign on the left says the "regi" is closed. Japanese are great for picking up words from foreign languages. In this case "regi" is the word for register.

Quick food area of the rest stop.

Garbage and recycle area has (from left) bins for papers & magazines, plastics and vinyl, cans, container for unfinished drinks to be emptied, PET bottles, trash, trash and glass. 

We stopped at Nishimaizuru for a change of transportation and to stretch our legs. The special train Akamatsu took us to a station near Amanohashidate where we hopped back on our bus for the last leg to the hotel and sightseeing around Amanohashidate.

This clock tower in the station courtyard was surrounded with maples in fall colors.

While waiting to enter the train, I walked down a side road and saw this old granite fence.

The Akamatsu (red pine) tourist train.

Our attendants were sporting Halloween colors too.

This train is a refurbished old timer. These controls were common on the old trains.
Power on the left and air brakes on the right.