Kyoto & Tokyo, Japan - Week 5 (From Florida to Japan)
- Apr 23
- 6 min read
Hello Family and Friends,
We had a very good friend from Florida fly all the way to Japan for a little visit.
Mary Brandon and her family are very good friends from Destin. Her daughter, Sammy Jo, and Nathaniel were great friends. They rode the school bus together every afternoon and the bus drivers were already planning their wedding.
This is the second time that Mary Brandon and I have met on our travels. We also ran into each other in New York and now Japan!
She only had six days in Japan and we wanted to show her everything. We started in Kyoto as we felt that it really showcases the old historical side of Japan. Day one included Kinkaku-ji, Nijo castle and the Philosophers walk. This is Brett's and I second time in Kyoto. However, there is just so much to see in Kyoto that both Kinkaku-ji and Nijo castles were new to us.
We were able to go inside of the Nijo Castle. When walking across the floors (we were barefoot) instead of squeaking it sounded like hummingbirds. With all the people who were there visiting it created a background effect that made you feel you were in a birdhouse. They didn't allow us to take photo or video while inside of the castle so you'll just have to visit for yourself to get the full experience.
On Day two we started at Fushimi Inari and ended in Nara. Fushimi Inari is famous for its thousand Torii gates that wind up the mountain.
Another little interesting thing about this shrine is that there are these foxes everywhere. In the Shinto religion they are the guardians of the shrine and wear red bibs to ward off evil.
Of course we had to show Mary Brandon the Buddhist temple and the deer at Nara.
The current model of the Buddhist temple is actually the fourth remodel. Every time it was re-built it was built a little smaller.
We visited Nara later in the evening which was both a positive and negative. There were fewer people which allowed us to really take in the sites. However, most of the vendors were also closed for the day which made it more difficult to buy keepsakes and deer food.
Probably the most unsettling thing that happened during our visit to Kyoto is that some guy, on the bus, yelled at us to "be quiet". Atlas actually listened to him and was quiet for the rest of the bus ride. Mary Brandon, Brett and I just continued with our conversation, but a little louder. I don't think we were talking very loud, but our standard US volume probably sounds like shouting in Japan. We were the only ones talking on the bus even though it was completely full. The Japanese people are typically just really quiet. Well let me be honest, Atlas is always the loudest person, even on the sidewalk.
The next day we left Kyoto and headed to Tokyo. On our train ride from Kyoto to Tokyo we actually saw a glimpse of Mount Fuji.
The next morning we got a little bit of a slower start to the day and spent some time at the park in Shinjuku Chuo Park. This is our third time to this very park as it is located right near our hotels and is a great space for Atlas to just be a kid for a little while.
While in Tokyo we definitely had to take Mary Brandon to experience the Shibuya Scramble, the busiest crosswalk in the world.
We ended the day with a night visit to Tokyo tower.
The Tokyo tower was built as a radio antena. However, after World War II they wanted to give the people something to be proud of and so they made it look awesome. It is slightly taller than the Eiffel tower.
From the Tokyo tower you really do get a sense of Tokyo as the concrete jungle with all it's skycrapers lighting up the night sky.
The next morning we woke up super early, for us, 7am. We wanted to be in line at the Tokyo Imperial Palace by 8:30am. Unlike the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the Tokyo Imperial palace is still active. The Emperor still lives there and hosts foreign dignitaries. For this reason they only allow 300 visitors a day. They start handing out those tickets at 9 am.
All visitors must be with a tour group. They have tours in multiple languages, but the english speaking group was way too big, making it almost impossible to hear the guide. So we jumped onto the Spanish speaking tour because there were fewer people. Mary Brandon and Brett listened to the pre-recorded audio tour and I understood about half of the tour in Spanish. We were only able to tour the outside grounds and not enter into any of the buildings.
After out tour of the palace, Mary Brandon and I then ditched the boys and went to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
Every part of the ceremony is intentional. Even the way that you hold and turn your tea cup. For example each cup is decorated differently. So while you are preparing your tea the decorations are turned to you the drinker. However, before you drink your tea you turn your cup twice clockwise so that the decorations are pointed towards the center of the room so that all others at the tea can see the cup's decorations.
The tea is usually served with a sweet treat. However the sweet is eaten first and then the tea is consumed separately. You don't consume them together. The tea ceremony came from Chinese Buddhism and the idea is that you do one thing at a time. First the sweet treat and then the bitter tea. You remember the sweetness of the treats as you drink the bitter tea.
Something else interesting about the tea ceremony is that you must eat everything presented to you. If you don't want or like what is presented you must hide it in your kimono. For each tea ceremony the host prepares a special saying that is hung in an artful manner in the corner.
She explained that being here at this time with these people only happens once in a lifetime.
We finished off the evening by meeting the boys in the entertainment district, Kabuki-cho, for dinner. Brett had been wanted some crab and we found an all you can eat king crab buffet with unlimited alcohol. Everything was so delicious! We actually shut the place down. They had to kick us out because they were closing.
The next day we took Mary Brandon to the airport to catch her long flight back to Florida. It was so much fun to have her visit even if just for a little while.
Comments