Touristing Kyoto in Earnest

Caroline came to Japan / Kyoto this past week. I took the opportunity (excuse) to take three days of vacation. Add the facts that Thursday is a national holiday and I have Friday off because I am working this Sunday, and suddenly I have an 8 day weekend. Also, there is an epic battle going on in Kyoto between the forces of spring and winter over which has control of the weather. Round one goes to spring: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were beautiful. Winter battled back to make Wednesday and Thursday miserable. Spring is on a counter-offensive today (Friday), but the war is far from over. Anyway, the point is that I got to do some first-rate touristing in the sun. I went from going to work in a winter coat and scarf to sunburning my neck in two days. Kyoto-ites keep telling me that there are seasons in this city; I don't believe them.

For those thinking of coming to Kyoto, here is a rundown of some major tourist sites and their corresponding RAD (Rating And Description).


Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) - RAD factor: 6 (out of 10). Kinkakuji is all the rage among tourists. I can't count the number of tourists who come into the Intl. Center looking for the bus that goes there. In a nutshell, Kinkakuji is a medium sized temple covered in shiny gold that is surrounded by a pond. If you only have one day in Kyoto, I suppose, Kinkakuji is a safe bet. I mean, it's pretty and all, but it's always the same KIND of pretty. A temple of gold is always going to be a temple of gold. You will never go there and think to yourself, man, the Golden Pavilion seems a lot more golden than the last time I saw it. Also, you are never going to discover a little personal corner of beauty that you can appreciate all to yourself. Everyone knows that the gold is pretty and everyone knows where to take a picture of it. On the other hand, you can go there any day of the week and in any weather conditions, and you can be assured that you will get 100% of your money's worth out of the place.

Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) - RAD factor: 8.5. Ginkakuji is the older sibling to Kinkakuji. I went there earlier in my contract and was left feeling unimpressed. It was hot, muggy, and crowded. I would have given it a solid 5 out of 10 had I not visited it again this week. Catch this place on the right day and you are in Narnia. The place is carpeted in moss that glows an unearthly green in the sunlight. If there aren't too many people around, you can stand in one place and take it all in. There is no one single aspect that makes this temple great, but there is an supreme attention to detail. For example, when you are approaching the main gate, on your right there is a wall of hedges and a line of trees. Between the thick foliage of the hedge and the trees there is a gap - about 5 feet high and 3 feet high - that lets you glimpse a nearly hidden bamboo forest. There is also a sand garden that abstractly depicts waves as well as a perfectly conical Mt. Fuji. In a crowd you are forced to file past as you dodge the line of sight of amateur photographers, but otherwise you can admire the natural beauty that man can create.

Kitano Tenmangu - RAD factor: 5. Kitano Tenmangu might only have gotten a 4, but since it is only about a 15 minute walk from my house I bumped it up a point. My main complaint is that it is a one-trick pony. It has plum trees that blossom into a colorful and odoriferous orchard in March, but the rest of the year leaves it little better than your standard run-of-the-mill shrine. To its credit, it is spacious enough that you can always find a beautiful corner that you haven't seen before. It also tends to not be frequented by your typical nama gaijin - so that is a plus if you are adverse to khaki shorts and hiking backpacks.

Nijo Castle - RAD factor: 7.5. Nijo gets a 1 point proximity boost, as well. It is always crawling with tourists and the occasional tour group of Tokyo high school students. Technically I suppose the castle was built to defend the Shogun from would-be usurpers, but it looks mostly as if Tokugawa Ieyasu just said, screw it, who's gonna attack me? Build me a garden with a fence and a moat. And I want koi fish in that moat. That said, the guy must also have hated getting sneaked up on. He made the main hall so that the floors creaked when you walk on them. Apparently it's supposed to sound like nightingales singing. I suppose the creaks would be pleasant enough when your retinue is walking around thinking of ways to better serve you, but nowadays the building is frequented by hundreds of overweight tourists whose combined creaking just makes it sound like the building was poorly built. Anyway, the parapets offer a very nice view of the city and there is a map coded so that you can tell what plants are blooming during which parts of the year.

Iwatayama Monkey Park (Monkey Mountain) - RAD factor: 9. Monkey Mountain is a little out of the way, but you are missing out if you don't go. After a short hike up the mountain you reach a small shack at the top next to a clearing with a gorgeous view of Kyoto. This clearing is also where the monkeys chill out all day. Just before the shack employees feed them, the monkeys get all anxious and start making a strange hooting noise. It is pretty disconcerting. That and the occasional monkey scuffle led me to feel less than comfortable. I kept having visions of the monkeys all simultaneously going planet of the apes on me. It doesn't help that the entire way up the mountain there are signs warning you not to show the monkeys food, throw rocks at the monkeys, come between a baby monkey and its mother, look a monkey directly in the eyes, or touch the monkeys. The rules were never written all in once place, rather they were haphazardly written along the path. It's as if they made a rule for every monkey-violence related incident the park has had. The shack workers were very nice, though, and seemed very comfortable with the monkeys. They said that the monkeys recognized the workers, and indeed the monkeys were buddy-buddy with them - except for the time when a monkey jumped up and slapped food out of the hand of a worker who was trying to feed it. I accidentally left my umbrella at the top of monkey mountain, and because I am very attached to this umbrella, I made Caroline go back with me to the base station. All I had to do was say the words, "I think I left my umbrella at the top..." and the station lady was on the phone and the monkey feeder ran down the mountain to hand-deliver my umbrella. Well done Japan, well done.

Monkey mountain deserves a video. This is the scene as the monkeys are starting to gather in anticipation of their afternoon feeding. I felt a little surrounded.



We also went to Kiyomizu Temple, which is a solide 9.5 out of 10, but because I didn't bring my camera that day its description will have to wait for another day. Which could be awhile because my vacation is just about over. I can't wait to see how much work has piled up on my desk in my absence.