<\/p>\n

The first day or two of any trip to a new country, you really just spend some time getting your bearings. Here in Japan . . . not gonna happen. There\u2019s just too much to do, too much to see, and so little time. With rumors of a typhoon still lingering, I was riding the \u201csuperexpress\u201d train through downpours on the way to everything that is Japanese history, Kyoto.<\/p>\n

The traditional cultural center of Japan, Kyoto has seventeen UNESCO World Heritage Sites, about six gazillion Buddhist temples, and even though it\u2019s a thriving city of one and a half million, it has some kind of beautiful shrine around every corner it seems.<\/p>\n

There are literally too many places to describe. Each site one-upped the last with its unique flavor; an ancient moated castle, incense rising from a Buddhist temple, bamboo forests surrounding delicately manicured Zen rock gardens, and buildings seemingly floating in the middle of a pond. You get the point. I told myself I wouldn\u2019t get templed out, maybe it was the constant rain or the miles walked, but even the most determined sometimes go down. Kyoto will do that to you.<\/p>\n

Two things will stick with me as I head to Tokyo.\u00a0First, one temple seems to surpass the rest, the golden Kinkaku-ji. This three story pavilion is completely wrapped in gold and \u201cfloats\u201d in a pond, surrounded by lush forest. It\u2019s quite famous in Japan, and deservedly so, and it was crowded despite the rain and was still that wicked. The other, a more intimate experience, happened down a quiet alley when searching for a dinner spot. I was deciphering a window menu to look up and see a geisha passing by. Once I got my wits about me, she disappeared into a restaurant, not to be seen again.<\/p>\n

Typhoon or not, with its golden temple and real life geishas, Kyoto might just be the Japan I had always imagined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first day or two of any trip to a new country, you really just spend some time getting your bearings. Here in Japan . . . not gonna happen. There\u2019s just too much to do, too much to see, and so little time. With rumors of a typhoon still lingering, I was riding the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,2562],"tags":[880,20,897,842,878,879],"yoast_head":"\n