Final Thoughts on Kyoto

Final Thoughts on Kyoto

Overall I really enjoyed Kyoto - although we were only there for a few days we were able to see and experience a number of things that provided a broad look into traditional Japanese culture.

Things we did not do that I would have liked to:

-Ninja House. There is a place near Nijo Castle that used to be a home for ninjas. There are trapdoors, secret rooms, and all kinds of weaponry. We were told that the tour of this place required an English translator and we did not know how to go about getting one so we skipped it.

-Philosopher's walk. There is a cherrytree-lined path along a canal that is supposed to be very impressive.

-International Manga Museum. This is a new museum dedicated to Manga, which I believe is the Japanese word for comics. As discussed earlier, many Japanese people really enjoy Manga and Anime (animation) and it is a large part of their culture. We attempted to visit the Manga Museum but it was closed on a Wednesday for one reason or another.

-Geisha/Maiko dance performance. We had the option to see a Geisha dance and performance in connection with our tea ceremony but we opted not to see it as it was a lot more expensive. Later we found out that it was "well worth the money". Oh well, I guess I'll settle for the YouTube version.

-Miyajima Shrine. This actually is near Hiroshima. We had planned on visitin this Shrine but missed the last ferry out.

Things we did/saw that I would recommend:

-Nijo Castle

-Golden Temple

-Ryoan-ji

-Kaeseki

-walk through Gion

-Tea Ceremony

Things we did/saw that I could have done without:

-Imperial Palace Garden

-Yasaka Shrine

-most of the Kyoto nightlife scene

That's it for Kyoto. Next entry I'll move on to our next destination - Nara