#14 The last day of my first visit to Japan was reserved for Kyoto. Out of the many places I had in mind and within the limited time, Kyoto was chosen because it was the seat of Japanese Imperial Power for a millennium. When I started to filter down the places to see, I immediately realized that it cannot be experienced in a day. Among all the options, I decided on two locations and kept an option for a third one if time permits.
The plan was to see the Imperial Palace in the morning and then go to Kiyomizu-dera temple. We were lucky to get a direct train from Kobe to Kyoto. Otherwise, one must switch trains at Osaka. My JR pass would not work beyond Osaka as it was primarily valid for West Japan. So, we took the Rapid train, which itself is pretty fast. As per Google, we had to take a subway train from Kyoto station to a station near the palace. However, I misread the ‘Transit’ option in Google. We went to a subway station near Kyoto station and had a tough time looking for a subway station near the palace, which did not exist.
Finally, we decided to take a leap of faith and took the subway, which we felt was right. I tapped my IC card, and we were on the platform. Then, we realized that we were wrong. We met a few ladies and asked for help. They could not figure out even the simplest of English. I was amazed they did not know the essential English words, and their native Japanese was good enough for their life there. To another girl, we asked again, and all she said was Kyoto. We realized that the subway was bound to the central Kyoto station. The subway design was so that you could not come out once you were on the platform. I wonder why it was so. There should have been an exit, but we did not see any. The only way out was to take a train, and we took the next one. I rechecked Google and realized I misread the bus station to a subway station.
For about a millennium, the Imperial Palace has been the seat of the Japanese Empire, which was why I decided to see it. The first thing that caught my attention was the vastness of the palace complex. One cannot just run away from that complex. The palace complex comprises many structures for individual purposes, and we are not allowed to enter inside. A structured tour was available post-noon, but we will not stay that long. We walked from one structure to another, basking in the architectural magnificence. The thing that unites all these structures is the sweeping, long, inverted arch-shaped roof, which we see everywhere in Japanese historical structures. I imagined the precision required to get the proper joints from these long arches. A minor tilt in angle means improper joints. The craftsmanship of the highest quality was straight in front of my eyes. When we were there, it was bloody cold with chilling winds and intermittent rain. The occasional sunshine was a bliss to warm up. Having realized my mistake in looking at the transit options, this time, I was right to take the bus straight away to the temple.
Kiyomizu-dera was a lively place. There were tourists everywhere. Throughout my time in Japan, I was looking for a shop to buy a Kimono for my niece. And the thing that I realized is that if you want to shop, you must plan it. The shops here open around 10 am and close by 6 pm. Unlike in India, where we could shop at night, it is impossible here. The only shops open at nighttime are supermarkets and 7-Eleven stores. On the road leading to the temple, I saw Kimonos hanging, but those were rental shops where they dress you up in one. Kiyomizu-dera is a mesmerizing temple complex. A place that makes you amazed. I think the time I was there, April or the Sakura season, made it even more beautiful. Sharp blue skies, orange structures and green leaves all around meant all the right notes were ticks in the RGB spectrum.
Just looking around in itself was very pleasing. A place of surprise here was Zuigudo Hall. It is a place symbolizing a mother’s womb, especially Buddha’s mother. We decided to go inside and were asked to go through, taking hold of a rail as the only guide in this pitch-dark space. I meant darkness dialled to the max. Open your eyes wide, and you will not see anything. My eyes would have dilated to my lifetime high. The kind of darkness that knocks your sense of madness. It is exceedingly difficult to recreate eyes open darkness of this intensity. As you walk, you will end up in front of a thin ray of light falling on a stone. As you see this, you are allowed to make one single wish. This experience was exactly the opposite of what I had in the ropeway cab amidst dense white fog. It made me rethink my perception of vision. The absence of light is not the reason for the lack of vision. It is the contrast that gives us the vision.
The next one in Kiyomizu-dera was Otowa waterfall. It is not a waterfall but a freshwater stream split into three—one for a long life, another for success in studies, and the last for a fortunate love life. A queue was there to get near the stream, and we were quite curious to know what stream was for each. Funny enough, there was no marking for which stream was for what. I drank from one of them. One of the streams is redundant for me anyway. The other two could have been nice, but I do not know from what I drank. One could pause and drink from all three, but that would be considered greedy. So, without knowing what Kiyomizu-dera had blessed me with, we decided to leave the temple with that uncertainty and spend our last few minutes in the streets of Higashiyama, which is at the foothill of the temple. This was my last opportunity to get a Kimono, and thankfully, I got one. We had to leave once everyone bought the souvenirs since we had a morning flight to catch. The streets of Higashiyama are historically significant and beautiful, but we had to go. We again got the direct Rapid from Kyoto to Kobe. It was here at Kyoto station; while waiting for the train, a few girls heard us speaking English and asked us where we were from. In a way, they were stunned at our English.
Kansai Airport is the last of the few experiences I wanted to write about. It was terrible. I have never been in such a long queue for security checks. Even before that, the baggage drop took us an hour. I have felt that all those airport staff should intern at one of India’s international airports. Japan is a treasure trove for people to experience history and modernity coexisting together. Indians especially would be spellbound at the Indianness in the historical roots of Japan. One more thing that caught my attention is the cemetery. The Japanese tradition is to burn the bodies, just like in India. The ashes are then put in a small square plot in the cemetery. If you plan to go to Japan, you only need a smartphone, internet, JR pass, IC card, and stamina to walk a long way. On average, I walked 15 km daily during the three days I roamed.