A Week in Kyoto

Day 1- Setsuko walked me to the station and I was off. Bound for Kyoto, negotiation site of a protocol studied in universities the world over by environmental studies students. I was looking forward to it.

Arrived half an hour later at Kyoto Station, where the architecture student in me ran wild. It's intense, a design studio professor's dream. I spent the better part of that rainy day wandering through, over, and under it. Google image it - it's worth it.

Day 2 - On to Kyoto's historic side, with a tour of the Imperial Palace. Kyoto served as the capital of Japan beginning in the 8th century, and was the home of the Japanese imperial family from 794 to 1868 - so says my guidebook.

I can tell you that the palace is beautiful in it's minimalist perfection. The gravel is combed and the trees obsessively manicured.

Day 3 - Got my first glimpse of Japanese castle architecture at Nijo jo - castle of the first Tokugawa shogun. This guy must have had to watch his back. The floors are designed to squeak and hidden chambers concealed bodyguards prepared to defend their lord at any moment.

I then went to a temple on a hill. It was warm and the walk steep, so I sat on some shaded steps to picnic. As I was finishing, two of the people I had most wanted to see while in Kyoto began to - slowly - descend the stairs opposite me.

Geishas! Painted, kimono clad "artists". This surprise meeting wouldn't be my only on that day. Back at the hostel - over dinner - met two fellow travelers. Together we went to a show at Gion Corner. Among the acts was a Kyomai - traditional Kyoto kimono dance - performance. The English program instructed us to enjoy the elegant movements of the dancers. I did.

Day 4 - Now that I had taken the prep course, I was prepared for advanced Japanese castle architecture: Himeji. Rode the train for an hour and there it was. Oh man - the Japan of fairytales and childhood imaginings still stands on its original stone foundations in this place.

See the pictures - my words can't do it justice.

Day 5 - The day of movie sets. First off to the bamboo groves of Arashiyama. Remember the characters of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" flying through forests of green? I observed from the ground licking green tea ice cream and watching the Japanese school kids give smiling peace signs to their friend's camera phones.

Next to the prayer scene from "Memoirs of a Geisha". A hill full of orange torii (gates) beheld the boisterous meeting of this American and a fro sporting 24 year old Canadian. We had a good time - we toned it done though once we were told to hush. Opps. Nursed our bruised decorums at a conveyor belt sushi place back at Kyoto Station.

Day 6 - Time for a green day. Strolled for hours in Kyoto's impressive Botanical Gardens. Favorite things were the display Bonsai trees and the massive conservatory. Those and the snake I spied by a pond too full of duck eggs to move.

Day 7 - Gold week - a week of public holidays - was upon Japan, and in celebration a Yabusame demonstration was held at the Shimogamo Shrine. Mounted archers dressed in traditional garb struck targets no more than a foot square. The crowd cheered with well-deserved admiration at every successful aim.