KYOTO, Japan — For something different on a Saturday, I decided to take the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, to see a part of Japan I’d never seen before.
According to Google Maps, the distance between Tokyo Station (where the Shinkansen train departs) and Kyoto Station is 282 miles. The trip took a bit over two hours, with a handful of intermediate stops.
That’s about the distance between Chicago and St. Louis. Imagine doing that in just a couple of hours — about the fastest you can drive that is four and a half hours.
The train stations are unimaginably bustling, even on a Saturday, when (presumably) most of the trips are not being made for work. I saw a fair number of non-Japanese in both stations, too.
On the way, I got another great view of Mt. Fuji:
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Here are a couple of the informational messages they give on the train:
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The first stop in Kyoto was at Kyoto Tower, which is conveniently placed right across the street from the train station.
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The elevators take you to the circular thing almost all the way up, which is the observation deck. The weather Saturday couldn’t have been nicer, sunny and in the low 70s. Here are views of Kyoto from the deck.
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As you can see, Kyoto is much smaller than Tokyo and mostly surrounded by mountains. The population of Kyoto is about 1.4 million, and the greater metro area about 3.8 million. This gives the city a more relaxed vibe. There’s less traffic and just a calmer, less frenetic atmosphere.
I stopped in a small local restaurant and had yakisobi noodles with beef, which were prepared and then put on a hot plate in front of me — sorry, was hungry and didn’t take any photos!
The next stop was Fushimi Inara Taishi, a Shinto shrine that was originally built more than 1,400 years ago. It’s on a hillside so you have to climb up to the top. And let me tell you, it goes on pretty much forever, or so it seems. It was quite crowded on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Here’s a bit more on this location, and here are some photos.
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The last photo shows just a hint of the beautiful blossoms that are iconic to Japan in the spring.
Having spent quite a bit of time at the shrine, there wasn’t really time to do anything else in Kyoto before heading back to the train station to return to Tokyo. Still, it was great to see parts of Japan outside of its biggest city. The bullet train (Shinkansen) is not only fast, it’s clean and efficient. Announcements are made in Japanese and English. Japan is without a doubt the cleanest place I’ve ever seen. Despite the fact that there are few if any public trash receptacles anywhere, people just don’t leave trash around. It’s refreshing.
Here’s the train I returned on. Not only is it fast, it’s pretty cool looking:
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One more full day in Tokyo remains, Sunday, before I return on Monday. Planning a bit of walking around and will post here again tomorrow.
AloJapan.com