Tonight was more Tokyo highlife. Literally, as the Tosu’s took us to observation deck of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. It is the highlight of the new Roppongi Hills district. The observation deck was really cool with windows all the way around the 52^nd floor, offering 360 degrees of great views. We went at sunset and watched the city darken and then illuminate. Akio and Yusuke checked out the Sky Aquarium, while the rest of us looked at a contemporary art museum on the 53^rd floor. The city views were the highlight though.

            After the observation deck, we went downstairs to a French restaurant in the Grand Hyatt. I was told it is the best restaurant in Tokyo and Sadako knows the manager of the hotel, so we got extra special treatment. I pretty much gorged myself on beef and seafood, although I tried some new things too. Most notably, Eisuke put me up to eating escargot, which was the first time for me. Not bad. One cool thing about the restaurant was that many of the walls were wine coolers. I asked one of the waiters about them and learned that the restaurant has over 3,000 bottles of wine, 100% French. Desert was delicious too and Yusuke helped me create some desert using the chocolate fountain. It was a spectacular dinner to cap our week in Tokyo.

Kamakura is known for its numerous temples and shrines, and on the recommendation of our hosts, we went to check it out.  It’s about an hour’s train ride from Tokyo on a commuter train.  The trip is pleasant and we watched the change in scenery along with the (sometimes crazy) footwear of the other passengers.   Boots are big here, as are knee-high socks with heels (reflecting the appearance of boots), and overall I feel that Japanese have a really fun sense of fashion.  In Tokyo there’s sophisticated dressers (but not boring), and of course there is the more statement-oriented dressers sporting bright colored shoes, crazy layers of clothes, etc.  Anyways, since I tend to look towards the floor when on commuter trains (to avoid awkward eye contact) this makes for some fun shoe-watching.

            When we arrived at the Kamakura station we were delighted to find an assortment of informational sheets on various sites and walking routes in the city.  I was impressed with the quality and usefulness of the information included on these small sheets.  Each one had a map, history, transportation time and options (including bus route numbers), hours of operation and admission fee (if applicable).  I’ve picked up a lot of maps and tourist pamphlets over the past year, and these may have been the best of them all.  This method is way more convenient than the usual map or city booklets which usually contain a lot of information you don’t need.  Matt and I chose a few leaflets with walking routes and a couple with information on the places we planned to visit.  And off we went.

            Kamakura is a touristy town, but not in a bad way.  Unlike some places, there are actually a lot of things to see here and getting around is easily done by foot or bus, and the crowds weren’t bad at all.  We started by walking down Wakamiya-Oji, the main street through town from the train station towards the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.  Small shops lined the road selling everything from fresh manju to all kinds of pickles and the standard souvenirs to more unique items, like hand-dyed textiles.  In the middle of the road was a long, tree-lined promenade leading all the way to the shrine.  After a year with no seasons except summer, it finally felt like autumn. 

The promenade continued from the entrance up to the shrine, flanked on either side by ponds bursting with water lilies, buildings, including a small museum, and a few vendors selling snacks and artwork.  Closer to the shrine many artists sat sketching and painting the scene from the hill in front of them.  At the base of the hill was a large pavilion.  A Shinto wedding ceremony was taking place and the participants seemed to be stoically oblivious (or perhaps just indifferent) to the dozens of people passing by, many of whom were taking pictures. 

            An inviting staircase led up the hill to the main building.  A happy flock of trees graced the hillside, and cheerfully covered the area around the shrine.  We walked up the stairs, enjoying the bevy of activity happening around us.  Many people were buying Ema, small wooden plaques on which to write prayers and wishes.  The Ema are hung in front of the shrine so that the Kami (gods) can read them.  We saw many families with small babies dressed in what looked like christening clothes.  Apparently there is a similar type Shinto ceremony for blessing new babies.  The Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine was an enjoyable place to visit because it had such a welcoming atmosphere, accommodating those visiting for whatever reason, even just curious tourists like us.

            We left the shrine by way of another path that took us past another temple tucked back in the woods.  It was beautifully framed by the forest, and as we walked away the trees slowly closed in around it.  Following the path, we exited the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu area and walked down a side street towards our next destination: Hokokuji Temple.  We had no big plans for our day in Kamakura, so we took our time walking.  On the way we spent a few minutes watching a butterfly flutter amidst a cluster of flowers.  The butterfly was so big that every time the wings closed it dipped for a second before the next flap.  And so it zigzagged horizontally through the big blooms until finding a satisfactory spot to sip some nectar.  The delicate red petals provided a nice compliment to the curves of the butterfly’s solid black wings.  More fauna was to be enjoyed in the steam that ran alongside the road: wild carp.  They looked ancient, and their thick bodies looked toughened to the harsher environment of this stream as compared to the usual garden ponds I’ve seen such fish in.  We watched them swim for awhile and it seemed that they were watching us back.

            Hokokuji Temple was, not surprisingly, very beautiful and peaceful.  We spent some time walking around the grounds and enjoyed the bamboo garden in the back.  These bamboos are Moso, the biggest species of the plant, and they looked so elegant with their clean, strong lines.  Presently, Matt and I both started to feel our tummies grumble, so we headed off back towards the main part of town to find some food.  Our search consisted of examining the obligatory bowls of plastic food in window displays outside of each restaurant.  I’m not sure how this is a good judge of a restaurant since I’m sure all the plastic cuisine must come from the same place, but at least we knew what was available to order.  We chose a friendly little spot and ordered a couple bowls of soba noodles, which happily came with little mocha balls on the side.  The simple but tasty meal fit the feel of the town.

            It was a mellow day for us, and also our last full day in Japan.  The afternoon in Kamakura sped by and before we knew it we had to catch the train back into the city to meet the Tosu’s for dinner.  There was still so much more to see, but it didn’t feel as though our day-trip had lacked anything.  I like places like that—where there is enough to keep you engaged without having to do everything.  There we still over a dozen temples we had yet to see, Yuigahama Beach, and probably dozens of tasty restaurants and snacks to sample along the way.  The best way I can think of to describe the feeling is that it’s like Thanksgiving, where you know there will be more to eat later (turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie for breakfast).  You had a great meal and good company, but it’s just the beginning of the holiday season. 

Sports day is a once a year event that happens at primary schools throughout Japan.  The students all get together, cheered on by parents, to compete in, well, sports.  We went to check out Yusuke’s sports day today, and had a really good time.  First of all, it was the most organized school event I have ever been to.  Now, I love my little old Pacific Union Elementary, but from what I can remember that place has nothing on the school we visited, particularly in terms of a well-run event.  Sports day commenced with a “parade of classes” around the track.  Personal flags for each student (made by moms) waved in the air.  The students orderly lined up for the opening speeches and then divided into four pre-set teams.  Each team had students from every grade, making them more or less even.  The events started with a mundane type of oversized ball relay, but then the foot races started, and that’s where I was thoroughly impressed.  Race heats were done by grade.  For each grade there were maybe about 50-70 runners, running 5 at time.  They all lined up behind the starting line.  The race went for halfway around the track.  The first set of runners took their mark, a shotgun was fired, and the kids started to run.  Some were better than others, but they all gave it their best shot.  Upon reaching the finish line each runner was met by an assistant (another student) who would escort them to a place in the appropriate line for their place (1^st, 2^nd 3^rd, etc).  As this happened the shotgun would go off again and the next set of runners would start racing.  In this way what seemed like a painfully big number of racers smoothly completed their races with seemingly little effort. 

From a spectator standpoint this was more interesting to watch because there was always something happening on the field.  In between races there were little dance performances, one by each grade, and a few other relay games.  One of my favorites involved a broom stick.  The kids lined up in rows of four.  The row in the back was marked with tags.  The row in the front held a broomstick.  At the starting signal, the first row ran out to the first cone, which they had to circle before running ahead to the next cone, which they also had to circle before running back to their team.  As the broom-holders would circle the stick the kid at the end would practically fly off due to the centrifugal force.  (Note to player: put fast kid at end of stick to make a winning team.)  This was fun to watch.  Running back towards their teammates, the broom-holders dragged the stick under their teammates as they jumped up to avoid tripping over the stick.  The stick was then passed over everyone’s heads back to the front of the line and the process was repeated until the last row had gone.  By far the most popular event we saw was a multi-grade relay run which had the whole crowd cheering loudly.  But my personal favorite was still the stick game. 

Once again we flashed our handy JR Rail Passes and made use of our pre-paid fares to head all the way up to Fukushima.  My grandmother’s parents were from here, and I was curious to see what it looked like.  I knew the town would obviously look different than 100 years ago, but I knew I could at least get a feel for the place in terms of landscape and weather.  Our destination was 288 km from Tokyo, though it only took an hour and a half on the bullet train.  It was drizzling steady when we arrived, and after picking up a map from the info office at the station, we ran across the street in search for umbrella.  This was easy to be found.  However, as we walked out of the store and opened our new umbrella both Matt and I were dismayed to discover it was child-sized and only big enough to maybe keep our faces dry.  But then it stopped raining (so it goes when you’ve just bought an umbrella).  Fukushima is north of Tokyo, and consequently a bit cooler.  There are sweet little mountains surrounding the town which, according to the tourist brochure I picked up, come alive with reds and oranges in the fall.  We wandered around town for a bit before deciding to head towards Mt. Shinobu.  There are some old Buddhist carvings in the rock there and we figured that sounded like the most interesting thing to see in this small town.  It was a pleasant walk past well-loved houses and buildings.  Once at the base of the hill there was a lovely sidewalk followed by a stream.  Periodically there were bird-info plaques (for the avian enthusiasts), and periodically a bench to rest on, or to wait for birds.

Before we’d reached the carvings we came across a cemetery.  At first glance it appeared to be small, but upon further notice as we walked up the hill, the cemetery was actually quite large.  Walking up the hill we admired the style of memorial stones as well as the view of Fukushima.  The carvings were just a little bit further around the hill (actually adjacent to the far side of the cemetery).  They area was small and the details had been washed away by wind and rain long before we arrived, but it was interesting nonetheless.  I wondered if my grandmother’s family had ever come to this hill to check it out.

And then, since we didn’t know what else to do in Fukushima, and because there was a dark cloud speeding across the sky, Matt and I turned around and walked back to the train station.  It was a simple day, but I hadn’t been expecting much.  And I’m happy to have seen where my ancestors used to live.

Although not a formal tour, today was a blitz through many scenes of Tokyo life. In the morning, Joylani and I headed to Akhihabara, nicknamed “the electric city.” Basically, it’s a whole district of Tokyo that sells electronics. I didn’t necessarily want to buy anything, but just wanted to see the stores and check out the products and new technology (most of which I assume won’t make it to the US for several more years). Also, I realized that electronics and sushi are the only two things that are cheaper in Japan, and in my opinion that’s two pretty good things if you can have anything cheap. After Akhihabara, we headed to Nihonbashi, which is the financial district. As you may have guessed, I had to check out the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Like Korea’s KRX, the TSE has gone totally electronic and the trading floor has been converted into a museum. There was a good photo gallery chronicling the history of the exchange and a small but nice museum going over the history of capitalism in Japan. It was definitely the most interesting exchange we’ve visited so far, although the BSE is up there too. We then walked around nearby Ginza, an upscale shopping district of luxury and high-end brands. We didn’t spend too much time as it was honestly too expensive to even look at.

            In the afternoon, Sadako picked us up and took us to Mitsukoshi, a high-end department store. She showed us what she described as “real Japanese culture.” We saw a whole floor of traditional Japanese kimonos and another of pottery and ceramics. It is also worth mentioning that Sadako creates kimonos and has an annual exhibit at Mitsukoshi, where she displays here work. She is actually quite accomplished and has created kimonos for many heads of state (or their spouses) as well as for members of Japan’s aristocracy and imperial family. After that, she took us to her home and demonstrated some of her techniques to Joylani. We had tea and snacks and then went out to an awesome sushi dinner with Dr. Kojima. Luckily, he and I both love sushi and we ate everything, from fried eel spine to fresh sea urchin to amazing sashimi. I think I’m gonna miss Japan

After a long nap following our early morning at Tsukiji, we got ready to go watch some sumo. We waited with Yumi for Yusuke to come home from school, snacked, and then the four of us left. From my understanding, there are five 15-day tournaments a year; 3 in Tokyo, one in Osaka, and one in Fukuoka. So we’re lucky that we’re  both in Tokyo during a tournament and that Yumi wanted to take us. Although each day of the tournament goes from 8:30am to 6pm, the top wrestler only fight in the final hour. We got there at around 4, so I had some time to look around the arena as well as observe and learn from a few matches before the main events. As far as the tournament structure, each wrestler only has one match per day. I think there’s different divisions too, so there are rankings within each division. The matches are incredibly quick, lasting only a few seconds. Basically, you lose if you step outside of the circle or are pushed/thrown/tripped to the floor.

Although the match itself is quick, the preparation takes several minutes. First, the dirt floor is swept by men (women aren’t allowed on the floor, because they’re considered impure). Then the two wrestlers come up, grab some salt out of a big sack on the floor and then toss it on the floor (to purify the floor). Then they go to the parallel chalk lines, face each other, squat down like a lineman, lift and stretch each leg, then they both retreat and do it all over again starting with the salt. This is done three times and on the fourth time, they repeat the same process, but instead of walking away they put their fists to the floor. Once both wrestlers have touched the floor, the match starts, so essentially the last one to touch the floor has control when to go. There are 82 official winning moves, but most of the matches we saw were won by using their opponents momentum against them, but most went straight for each other, grabbed their opponents’ belts, and either got their opponent off-balance or just straight muscled them out of the circle. It was really exciting to see all the rituals of the match and how quickly each match was decided.

            After the all the matches had finished, we headed out to dinner. But not to just any dinner, but a meal at a sumo stable. All sumo wrestlers live at “sumo stables,” sort of residence/training compounds run by yokozunas (sumo champion). You could probably think of the wrestlers in a stable like an Olympic team, in that they train together but could potentially compete against one another. Anyways, the Tosu’s were invited becasue Yusuke goes to school with the daughter of Asahifuji Seiya, the yokozuna that ran the stable we visited. The stable was in quiet Tokyo neighborhood and just looked like a really big house. We rang the bell and a young beefy guy wearing only shorts welcomed us in. Immediately beyond the foyer was a large room with a sumo ring in it, the training room. We took an elevator up to the dining room, a large room with a long floor table surrounded by cushions.

guests eating and sumos cooking in background

me and sumos

A few people were sitting and eating already, while there were also several shirtless sumos milling around. At the head of the table was the famous Asahifuji Seiya, who was introduced to us (and referred to throughout the evening) simply as “master.” I guess how it works is that since the lesser-skilled wrestlers have earlier matches, they return straight home right away and begin cooking for the top couple wrestlers, master, and his family and guests. So we sat and ate, as these guys shuffled around serving us food and drinks. They could not begin eating until we had finished. Besides the few simple questions in English, I didn’t really understand any of the conversation, but it was a fun night. Below are photos of us with the master, Ama (he ended up coming in second in the whole tournament!), and Aminishki (another top wrestler).

us and yokozuna master Asahifuji Seiya

us and Ama

us and Aminishki

There’s not too many things I’ll wake up before 5am for, so you know I had high expectations for this morning. At five am, Yumi, Joylani, and I took a cab to the Tsukiji Fish Market. By 5:30, we had met up with Yumi’s friend, Keiko, and were heading into an area of the market closed to the public. Luckily for us, Keiko had a friend who worked inside the market and got us visitor passes. Inside the complex were dozens of warehouses and inside the first we entered were hundreds of fresh tunas lined up on pallets. Huge ones ranging from 75 to 200 kilos- that’s like almost 500 pounds! Buyers were finishing up taking notes and completing their “homework” as we arrived. Soon enough, a bell rang which signaled the start of the auction. The process went quickly, with each fish being sold within just a few seconds. The auctioneer spoke so fast, almost dancing to the rhythm of  his own words.  It sounded like singing more than talking or yelling, and reminded Joylani of watching an animated pastor preach. Hands shot up from the mass of men intermittently, as bids increased. As they were sold, workers stuck paper tags on the damp scales of the tunas to identify the new owner, and the tunas were dragged away by men wielding sharp pole-hook-thingies. It was a dangerous place to be, with hooks swinging about, giant tunas sliding across the floor, and motorized carts zipping around to transport the fish.

mmmm….tasty…that’s also what a few hundred thousand dollars of tuna looks like…

auctioning the tuna

you gotta move the tuna once you buy it

After the fresh auction had ended, we headed to another warehouse where frozen tunas were being auctioned. The frozen ones had come from greater distances, anywhere from the far-reaches of Japan, the South Pacific, and even the Atlantic. The auction process seemed to be the same, but the buyers seemed to do a lot more research. Perhaps because they were frozen or perhaps because they were bigger. Keiko’s friend told us even fish of the same size could fetch wildly different prices, depending on the quality. (Apparently the best tuna tends to be fished from off the coast of Japan.) And when the fish are selling for tens of thousands of dollars, it pays to do your homework. The bidders would cut a tiny bit of meat from the tail, pop it in their mouth to thaw it, and then rub in their hands to feel the texture and see the color. They also used flashlights and look at the meat at different angles. It was all to try to estimate the fat content of the fish, which determined the price. After watching that auction, we walked back through a warehouse of stalls where the wholesalers sold their new purchases to buyers. It was cool to see so many different kinds of seafood in various stages of preparation. We stopped by Keiko’s friend’s stall and watched an 80-kg tuna get turned into four huge steaks, using what looked like a sword and then a saw.

tunas from Asia, America, and even Africa

bidders doing their due diligence

unbelievably big tunas

cut off the head, the tail, and then cut twice lengthwise and you got four huge tuna steaks

After the market, we ducked into one of the small sushi shops within the market. It was just a small single-counter place, but photos and signs indicated it had been open for over a hundred years. The sushi was awesome, probably the best I’ve ever had. Yumi and Keiko kindly guided us through the assortment of goodies coming our way as part of the sushi-set. The usual sashimi and nigiri was the most tender I had ever had. Then we had a lot of unique things like eel, sea urchin, and other live shellfish. It was fresh and unbelievable good. It was definitely worth waking up before 5am.

It sounds like the fun ends here, but it didn’t. Much to my delight our hosts led us out of the main market area, and we headed to another area full of all kinds of wonderful things from cooking utensils and hardware, dried goods, and fresh veggies. Note: this is the point where Matt’s [food] market abilities poop out and he is, and I quote, “going to die.” (Yes, even in Japan where the groceries are incredible. After he finishes with the seafood section and a quick pass through the cereal isle, he’s a goner.) However, today Matt was outnumbered 3-1 and I contentedly followed Yumi and Keiko through the market without a little voice outside my head reminding me of his imminent demise. Apparently this was also Yumi’s first time in this part of the market, but Keiko was pretty familiar with the place, and led us around to some of her favorite stalls.  We sampled pickles, and tried some tasty dried beans that somehow reminded me of raisins in their sweetness (thought the texture was much different).  We learned about the seasonal mushrooms, and i saw what wasabi (horseradish) looks like before it is served on your plate. The worst part about walking around this market was knowing that we have nothing even close as great at home.

pickle time!

The Tosu’s lined up a city tour for us and since today is the equinox, which is a holiday in Japan, Eisuke had the day off from school and went with us. It was mutually beneficial as we got a personal guide to our tour, if you will, and we helped him with his English in preparation for his TOEFL test and some admission interviews coming up.

Our first stop of the day was at Hama-Rikyu Gardens, a large park and garden in the south of the city. I forget the details, but it was a pretty old place built and owned by the Japanese imperial family. It was a nice quiet place, despite its downtown location. It had a view of the bay, ponds with bridges, a teahouse, and a ton of plants and birds. It was a nice place to begin our tour of Tokyo. Afterwards, we headed just across the street and took an elevator to the 52^nd floor of a building with an observation deck. We could look straight down onto Hama-Rikyu, where we had just been, as well as look out at most of Tokyo. It was pretty hazy out, but it helped me realize that Tokyo is unlike any city we’ve been to on this trip so far. Most major cities we visit have a couple blocks of skyscrapers (or anything above 20 stories for that matter). But Tokyo is an entire city of skyscrapers and tall buildings.

Joylani and Eisuke walking in Hama-Rikyu

Our second stop was the Tsukiji Fish Market. This is the place where all the big tuna auctions go down. Today it was closed due to the holiday, but Yumi is taking us there tomorrow and we will get a chance to see it in its busy state. It was interesting to see this big market deserted and set the stage for the action tomorrow when all the fish auctioners, buyers, and shopkeepers come back to work. Although the market itself was closed, many of the nearby restaurants were still open. Our tour group split up for lunch and Eisuke helped us find a delicious little place, specializing in tuna donburi (the Japanese name escapes me). Picture a bowl of sushi rice topped with raw tuna, egg, roe, and a few other goodies. If you are thinking delicious, then you’ve got the picture. I’ve never had it or even heard of it, but it may be one of my favorites now. After lunch, we headed to the Edo-Tokyo Museum (Edo was the pre-1867 name for Tokyo). It was an extremely interesting and thorough museum, even though it was just a city museum. But since so much of Japan’s history has been centered on Tokyo, we learned a lot about Japanese history too. From the shogunates to the Meiji Restoration to WWII and the Japanese Miracle, we learned how Tokyo and Japan had evolved. The museum covered a wide range of topics within history, and was refreshingly not just focused on the usual political stuff.  Sections covered daily life, the war, and art (the display on the emergence of literature, sort of the first manga, was really interesting). Exhibits included very informational commentary to go along with an excellent collectin of artifacts ranging from block prints, dioramas, clothes, etc.

After the tour, we headed back home until dinner. Once again, Sadako and Yumi had spent much of the day preparing for another feast. Again, it was delicious and we got to try a lot of new things. Joylani’s Uncle Mike and the Tosu’s have really shown me that even though I’ve eaten Japanese food throughout my life, there’s still a ton of things I’ve never heard of or tried before. One of my favorite discoveries of the night was makeral that Sadako’s sister had brought. In short, the fish is cooked for a while in a sho-yu based sauce til it has soaked up the flavor and become stiffer, tough not dry.  It was similar in texture to smoked fish and made for an excellent “beer snack” at the men’s end of the table. But tasty makeral wasn’t the only good thing at dinner. We ate the best tempura that I never thought was possible: deep-fried yet light and crispy, and not heavy in the stomach afterwards.  This mother-daughter pair are truely amazing cooks. To round out the good meal was a table full of good company, and we continued to have a good time getting to know everyone better as well as learn more about Japan. The tour was good and dinner better, making today a fantastic first day in Tokyo.

Tonight we rolled into Tokyo, our final stop in Japan (and all of Asia, for that matter). Not only were we going to see Tokyo, but we were staying with some old family friends. My grandparents have been friends with a woman named Sadako since my dad was a kid. She lives in Tokyo and so do her two children. Her daughter, Yumi, graciously invited us to stay with her family while we were in Tokyo. Disembarking from our train, Yumi met us on the platform and took us to her home in central Tokyo.

We were welcomed with a huge, delicious, homemade dinner. Since we’ll be here for a week and the same names will undoubtedly keep coming up, I’ll give a rundown of everyone at dinner. Sadako, my grandparents’ long time friend was there. And then Yumi and her husband, Akio. Then they have two kids, Eisuke, 15, and Yusuke, 7. And there’s Dr. Kojima, a very close friend of the family. The dinner was closer to a banquet than anything else. Sadako and Yumi had been preparing and cooking all day.  The food was amazing, and a description of it wouldn’t live up to all that goodness.  It was like Thanksgiving but with Japanese food.  Not only did we try a lot of good food, but Akio’s a wine guy and uncorked a bottle of 1989 Bordeaux. After dinner, we were stuffed and tired from a day of traveling, so we went to bed early. But I know it’s a going to a fun week in Tokyo.

It is only three and a half hours by shinkansen from Himeji to Tokyo, but today was a full day since we decided to stop in Kyoto en route. It definitely was not enough time to see such a city, but we got a nice taste of it. After picking up some lunch and storing our bags at the enormous train station, we headed over to the Imperial Palace. It was closed, we assumed because it was Monday, but now that I think about it, I wonder if it’s still in use and ever open to the public. Nonetheless, we enjoyed strolling around and sitting in the huge park surrounding the palace. Despite being in the center of Kyoto, the park was quiet and peaceful.

From the palace grounds, we headed over to Nijo Castle, which covered the area of several city blocks and had a scenic moat surrounding it. Inside we checked out the main palace. It was a pretty interesting place with lots of original stuff inside. Perhaps most interesting were so-called nightingale floors, designed to squeak when walked on so residents would be aware of the comings and goings of visitors (they really “chirp” rather than “creak”). Though the original 16^th century paintings adorning the interior screens are housed in the neighboring museum, the reproductions were still stunning. We also walked in one of the several gardens surrounding the castle, before heading back to Kyoto Station to catch our train. Reading back over this, I realize that my writing is incredibly brief and lacking the depth that comes with details. But perhaps that’s most appropriate for our brief look at Kyoto.