kyoto – Ind

Japan 2015: Day 6 – Uji

April 23, 2015December 12, 2019 yuiny 1 Comment

The main thing I did on Day 6 was… Go to Uji for a couple of hours. lol

Uji is about 20-30 minutes from Kyoto en route to Nara. Length of time depends on whether you take the local or rapid trains (both covered by the JR Pass). I think I took the local train. Anyway, Uji is known for green tea, and for being featured in the famous Tale of Genji. Clearly they’re proud of that fact, as the signboard at the station names it The Town of the Tale of Genji.

Here’s a map of where I went in Uji:

(Click for a larger version)

Byodoin Omotesando (street leading up to Byodoin)
Byodoin
Ujigami Shrine
Tale of Genji Museum

Green indicates my walking path up until Byodoin. Dark pink is my path after Byodoin.

Japan 2015: Day 5 – Nishiki Market and Fushimi Inari

April 20, 2015August 14, 2020 yuiny Leave a comment

It’s been a busy and exhausting week but I finally have time to write another Japan post!

I was changing hotels on this day and as my next hotel would be at the Kyoto Station and not within easy walking distance of Shijo Kawaramachi I decided to walk around some first before going to the next hotel. In my meanderings, I stumbled upon the Nishiki Market.

Japan 2015: Day 4

April 11, 2015December 12, 2019 yuiny Leave a comment

Day 4 became my “art” day. I had an appointment at Marumasu-Nishimuraya for a kyo-yuzen workshop (requesting English instruction, naturally).

You get to choose the item on which you want to paint your chosen stencil(s) and you pay according to that. They have quite an array, from tote bags to phone cases to place mats and so on. I picked a tote bag

My setup!

Japan 2015: Day 3 (2) – Hanatouro

April 5, 2015December 12, 2019 yuiny Leave a comment

After a short stroll around Kawaramachi, I hopped on a bus and headed to Gojo-zaka to see the Hanatouro. The Hanatouro (which I only found out about in January this year) is a small festival where they line some of the Kyoto streets with lanterns.

I could have walked there (from Shijo-dori) but… it was too cold and I had the bus pass to use anyway. I hopped off the city bus at the appropriate stop and strolled up Gojo-zaka. It wasn’t lit up at the beginning of the road, which made me doubt my directions somewhat but it seemed to be correct. There were a few people walking up the same road ahead of me so I just trailed them until I saw little lanterns lining the street and then I was completely reassured.

Kiyomizudera at the end of the road. (I think I overexposed the image but I had no tripod and my fingers were just about frozen from the cold so I consider this a decent picture.)

Japan 2015: Day 3 (1) – Kitano Tenmangu

April 1, 2015December 12, 2019 yuiny Leave a comment

On day 3 (March 10), I moved from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Tokyo on a Monday morning was looking grey and cold.

Somewhere along the way, there was snow. It looks static here because of my camera’s shutter speed but the snow was practically going horizontal in the wind.

Japan 2014: Day 6 – Kyoto

July 31, 2014December 12, 2019 yuiny Leave a comment

I skipped a day because apparently I only took about 4 photos the entire day. Not sure how that happened… I’m struggling to remember what I did that day. Checked out of hotel, hopped on bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, took a cab to our Kyoto hotel, and went shopping? I think? D: Man, it feels like there’s a blank in my memory. I assume we went shopping since I don’t have pics. haha

Kamogawa, it’s been a while!

Japan: Day 5 – Kyoto

July 13, 2012October 30, 2018 yuiny Leave a comment

Day 5 in Japan, last day in Kyoto!

I woke up feeling a lot better than the night before, though still rather drained. We were supposed to go on an English tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace but unfortunately arrived late and so missed it

Had to make do with staring sadly it at from the outside. This is the main gate.

Japan: Day 4 – Kyoto (2)

July 10, 2012October 30, 2018 yuiny Leave a comment

These days my posts are all either “movies” or “Japan”, aren’t they? haha

Let’s continue…

Japan: Day 4 – Kyoto (1)

July 7, 2012October 30, 2018 yuiny 7 Comments

For day 3 in Kyoto, we went to the Toei Kyoto Studio Park (Kyoto Uzumasa Eigamura) and Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion.

The English map for the studio park.

The park is kind of like a miniature Universal Studios. It consists of recreations of buildings from the Edo period and served as the backlot for various Japanese period dramas. (Apparently sometimes productions still shoot there now.) It isn’t an exciting place in that there are no exciting rides (though there’s a haunted house of some sort in there) and no parades or stuff you might expect in an amusement park. It’s just buildings – some merely facades, some have the interiors set up with props and stuff so you can wander in and out and take pictures. Reviews on TripAdvisor are generally poor, mostly complaining about lack of things to do and the lack of spoken English during performances and such. I went there with lowered expectations, but it turned out to be rather fun after all.

And we got all dressed up for the occasion…

Japan: Day 2 – Kyoto (2)

June 21, 2012October 29, 2018 yuiny 2 Comments

Let’s continue with Kyoto.

This is the Kamogawa, the river that runs through Kyoto. There were quite a few people sitting around on the banks, enjoying the evening air. According to Yang and Danny, on the weekend there were far more people than that, and even some buskers.