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Japan is a place
where you tell yourself "This is so like Japan!" until you start
thinking the whole world works like this. Whether it is the schoolboys
or the fashion victims, the temples or the conveyor belt sushi, the neon
or the feeling of being lost in translation, there is no place like Japan
where you feel the difference and in such a confortable way
### OCT 7 - OSAKA
Flying into Osaka. The airport is on an artificial island. Bus to the
hotel, very tiny room.
Walking around town. The city is unattractive, many high-rises, terribly
hot.
The Umeda Sky Building is an attempt of modern architecture, you can go
on top but the view is nothing special
### OCT 8-12 - KOBE
Attending 3GPP SA2, the usual delirium. What's up with the next gen of
telecom anyway?
Kalle has lived in Japan for a couple of years so we get to sample a variety
of Japanese dishes, various tempura, meat dishes, odd creations, and so
on.
On Friday, we indulge in a memorable Kobe beef
### OCT 13 - from
KOBE to KYOTO
Going in the morning for a walk in Kobe.Our hotel is on an another artifical
island in front of Kobe. On Saturday morning, in front of the conference
center, a squad of middle-age women are bent on the pavement cleaning
it of the smallers pieces of trash: eerie.
Feels like Asia, swarms of people going in all directions, and multi-level
walkways. Kobe is cute, walking around some part and some earthquake memorial.
Basically no foreigners around. Later taking a train to Kyoto
Walking in Sanyo Arcade in downtown. It is Saturday afternoon and everyone
is sporting the latest fashion. Boots and shorts and the rule over here.
Plenty of people biking
### OCT 14 - KYOTO
Going for northern Higashiyama area (Eastern Kyoto)
- Konchi-in temple, Nanzen-ji Temple, Eikando Temple
- Then walking north on the so-called "Path of Philosophy"
- Honen-in and Ginkakuji temple. The latter is extremely crowded, takes
away some beauty.
Most tourists are Japanese. Wonderfully decorated garden, very pleasant
to walk by. Often,
there is some smell of citrus or other herbs.
Dinner in a fantastic hole-in-the-wall sushi place recommended by the
LP: Tomi-Zushi, very easy to start chatting with locals although the average
Japanese speaks terrible English
At 10pm everything seems to fade, even Gion. The inner streets of Gion
only leave an array of clubs of dubious appearance
### OCT15 - KYOTO
Nijo-jo: castle, with delightful tea garden
- Nishi Hongan-ji: under heavy remodeling
- To-ji: wonderful set of buildings. Five-stories pagoda. The lecture
hall has 21 statues whose placement has some meaning according to Esoteric
Buddhism
- Train station: modern building with a couple of bizarre details
Taking a bus in the wrong direction and wasting some time to get back
on track
- Hiking up Kiyomizu-Dera, multi-level system of buildings; spectacular
views and colors around sunset. Meeting three fun and active Spaniards
Peeking in Ryozen Kannon by night
### OCT 16 - KYOTO
Today going for the Western area
- Nishiki Market
- Ninna-ji
- Ryoan-ji (with the most famous zen garden of Japan)
- Kinkaku-ji (with the reknown golden pagoda)
- Kamigamo shrine
### OCT 17 - NARA
Visiting Nara, about 45 minutes from Kyoto: another array of temples
- Kofuku-ji
- Todai-ji: majestic wooden building with a giant buddha inside
- Kasuga shrine, lost in the wood
- Kasuga-yama forest: not sure why this has been blessed as World Heritage,
seems just an ordinary hill where to hike for about 1 hour, and the view
from the top is just so-so
- Gango-ji
Going in the same sushi bar as Monday, meeting up with random japanese,
all very curious and eager to talk in spite of colossal language barriers
(seems the typical well-educated engineer speaks quite a poor English)
### OCT 18 - HIMEJI
& UJI
- Scorching heat in Himeji: how can it be so hot in mid-October? The Himeji
castle is not so special as they tell you.
Taking the shinkansen back (bullet train)
- Uji: hosts a major temple (Byodo-in) and a shrine (Ujigami). Byodo-in
is wonderfully kept, with a museum that reconstructshow visually it was
looking, when the wooden temple was colored by orange and red pigments
and the golden phoenix on the roof was still there in his original splendor
### OCT 19 - KYOTO
Just chilling out, walking to my favourite spots (in the rain), looking
for cool pictures, and some gadgets and books
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Pictures
Kyoto
Kobe,
Osaka & Himeji
Nara
& Uji
George's
pictures from the 3GPP SA2 week
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Recommendations
Sushi: Tomi-Zushi:
between the southern end of Karawamachi-dori and the river (it is on the
Lonely Planet)
Bookstore:
Random Walk, in the Sanyo Arcade
somewhere. Basically it has everything you would want to find: guidebooks
on Japan, novels of Japanese authors modern and classical, books on Japanese
culture, on Japanese architecture, art, comics, etc etc. Modern Japanese
magazines ... and all of this in English. Plus a huge section on international
paperbacks (in English also). Amazing
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UNESCO World Heritage sites
The larger
Kyoto area & Kansai sport in impressive number of UNESCO World Heritage
sites.
It is not clear
what's up with this Unesco World Heritage stuff, since, as any such selection,
the list is quite arbitrary (e.g. some temples really seem not to deserve
the title, and others such as Nanzen-ji should be in).
Nevertheless
UNESCO is now quite a popular brand exactly like any corporation (at least
I know someone who would like to join :-) and if nothing else their list
provides some guidance to figure out what to see out in the mass of available
attractions.
Lastly, UNESCO seems
to have selected a number of sites that are very difficult to reach, e.g.
in very remote locations outside Kyoto.... and also at least one per corner
of the map. Maybe they wanted to maximize travel as well
Anyway this is the
list, with an indication of how much these places are off the beaten path
(*) requires some detour
(**) requires a major detour or a dedicated trip
### Kyoto
- Nijo castle
- Kamigamo shrine (*)
- Shimogamo shrine (**)
- Daigo temple (**)
- Enryaku temple (**)
- Ginkaku temple
- Kinkaku temple
- Kiyomizu-dera temple
- Kozan temple (**)
- Ninna temple
- Nishi Hongan temple
- Ryoan temple
- Saiho temple (**)
- Tenryu temple (*)
- To temple
### Uji
- Byodo temple
- Ujigami shrine
### Nara
- Heijo palace (*)
- Kasuga shrine
- Todaj temple
- Kofuku temple
- Gango temple
- Yakushi temple (*)
- Toshodai temple (*)
- Kasuga-yama forest (*)
### Himeji
- Himeji castle
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