Your Japanese word of the week is...

"jutai" which means a "traffic jam". But before we go any further, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy new year!

Anyways, back to the traffic........ these past three days (Jan 2 - 4) I was in Kyoto with Carl & Amy (the current Shiramizu interns) and Okano-san, a Shiramizu member who wanted to join us.

It turned out that having him along was incredibly helpful and I can't thank him enough. Not only did he arrange our accomodations, but he decided to drive there and back. That meant we didn't have to take the train to the various sights around Kyoto as well as saving us on Shinkansen fare.

The day started at 7am on Jan 2nd. I met Okano and we headed off down the highway towards Kyoto. Carl & Amy took the bullet train there, completing our nearly 6hr roadtrip in a little over 2hrs. Speed is everything...

But no matter, the sun was out, we had U2 blasting, and we stopped at various sights along the way.

Well, ok, there was really only one sight worth seeing- a Mt. Fuji not choked by pollution or drowning in rain clouds.

If I'm honest, I never understood the awe of Mt. Fuji. It's just a mountain surrounded by mountains surrounded by buildings. But driving towards it, I realised that it's the obvious and imposing size of it that makes it interesting. It always manages to stand out no matter what vantage point you look at it from. Whether its the constant snowy cap or how all the mountains around it look like they're holding Mt. Fuji high above the rest, it just sits there lording over the rest of Japan.

With a few stops on the highway and sitting in a short traffic jam, we arrived at Kyoto Station around 3pm and met Carl & Amy. We didn't do much except drive around looking for an ATM that wasn't closed (nearly everything is on holidays from Jan 2 - 4 in Japan, even, apparently, electrons) and finding the hotel. Oh, I also saw an Evo IX MR, which was wicked...

By that time, we just decided to check-in and meet one of Okano's friends for some great okonomiyaki and karaoke.

First impressions of Kyoto? It's a city proud of its history that has reluctantly let modern culture infiltrate its grounds. Similar to Vancouver in the lowness of most buildings and the wideness of the main roads, Kyoto looks really uncomfortable with itself. Seeing the spaghetti knots of power lines string their way into blocks of tile-roofed houses is an unattractive way of mixing new and old. But hiding among it all are pages and pages of history... Oh, and I saw a Bentley Continental Flying Spur, which was wicked...

Day 2 started at 8am and we packed it with lots of stuff. After some breakfast, our first stop was the Kiyomizu-dera. The Buddhist temple is famous for things like a perilously droopy stage in front of the main hall and the Otowa waterfall where three streams of water fall into a pond and drinking from them individually bestows wisdom, health, or longevity. But not all three as some believe being greedy invites misfortune.

It was also at this point that I realised I've been to Kiyomizu before, as I distinctly remember having my picture taken drinking from one of the streams..... obviously it wasn't wisdom otherwise I would've remembered it wasn't my first visit...... oh well.....

I should also say that visiting shrines and temples after the new year are very popular for people wanting to ensure a prosperous start. As such, Kiyomizu was extremely packed but we made do. Finishing the walk around Kiyomizu, we headed to our next sight. On the way, I saw a Caterham, which was wicked...

I accidentally stumbled into Kiyomizu's colour-void area...

Next stop was the Byodo-in, a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Kyoto city famous for it's large Phoenix Hall. The entire area used to be a gigantic villa and it was converted into a Buddhist temple in 1052. Though all that remains of the villa now is the Phoenix Hall which houses a huge wooden sculpture of the buddha Amitabha covered in gold foil. You can also find the Phoenix Hall on the back of a 10-yen coin.

The small bridges that lead to the Phoenix Hall...

Fittingly, Amitabha is the "Buddha of Infinite Light" and the hall (more like a room considering its size) used to be covered with things like mother of pearl in order to reflect as much of the meagre light entering the hall as possible. Above the front door is also a small window designed to illuminate the statue's face which, along with the fact that you have to crane your neck upwards to look at it, serves to enhance the feeling of awe as you look at Amitabha.

Unlike wine, however, it hasn't aged well and many of the carvings and paintings on the walls have long faded away. It remains unrestored, which I kind of like, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site like the Kiyomizu Shrine. The sculpture itself is a national treasure.

The best part of the Byodo-in is the sheer size allows there to be lots of people without ever feeling crowded, something none of the other temples/shrines could do.

Some detailing on a Byodo-in building...

After a quick lunch, it was off to Rokuon-ji, better known as Kinkaku-ji or the "Golden Pavilion Temple".

The temple was commissioned by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu as a retirement home and was converted into a temple by his son. It's often spoken of in relation to the Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion Temple) built by Yoshimitsu's grandson in an effort to emulate Yoshimitsu. The latter, however, was never covered in silver.

The pavilion itself sits among a very beautiful garden and in the middle of a serene pond, aptly named the Mirror Pond.

It was also burned down in 1950 by a monk.....

It was rebuilt and in the last 15 years has had everything from the gold foil to the roof restored. Still...

After Kinkaku-ji it was a short hop to Ryoan-ji, a temple most famous for its rock garden. I first heard about this in grade 9 and so it's been nearly 10 years coming that I see this.

The premise of the rock garden is that while there are 15 rocks in the garden itself, the most that can been seen while seated is 14. It is said that becoming enlightened allows all 15 to be seen.

I must, however, be honest with a few things.

First off, I was initially intrigued because I thought it was designed so that you couldn't see all 15 from ANY angle. In reality, you are limited to only one side of it. Though I suppose that makes it significantly easier to hide at least one rock from view.

The other thing is that as I moved from left to right sitting in different positions, by the halfway point I picked out exactly where the missing rock was. I have no idea if being enlightened and "seeing" the rock allows for its "visualization" but I'd like to think so... kind of makes up for missing the wisdom water at Kiyomizu heh....

Despite all those things and the sheer number of visitors trying to see all 15 rocks, I really liked it because it and the surrounding grounds are really very peaceful.

The grounds at Ryoan-ji.

By this time, it was almost 5pm and rushed though we did, we didn't make it to Ginkaku-ji before it closed. But we saw quite a bit that day and after a bit of dinner and souvenir shopping, we went to bed.

The third and last day started at 8:45am when Carl, Amy, and I walked to the nearby Nijo-jo Castle. It normally opens at 8:45 but because of the same Jan 2-4 holiday we and the electrons were on, changed its opening hours to 10am. I took a picture of the (closed) doors....... Oh, I saw a new Nissan GT-R too, which was wicked...

Lastly, before leaving Kyoto, we stopped by the Kamogawa River Park, a neat little park at the fork of Kamogawa River which runs along one side of the city. In the park is a fun stepping stone path that allows you to cross the river and some cool stone sculptures of turtles and fish along the way.

I also have to mention the Shin-Meishin Expressway which we used for the early leg of our return journey.

I loved this road because it exemplifies the Japanese penchant for engineering their way out of everything. Where there was a mountain they built a tunnel. Where there was a gorge they built a bridge. In fact, they went so far to streamline the process of moving machinery along the road that it is almost entirely flat, despite it punching through endless hills and valleys. The Omi-Odori bridge actually connects directly to a tunnel so that the road on either end of it is level!

It's also paved with silky smooth asphalt and even on the bridges there are no road seams. It's also WIDE! Two hard shoulders and two massive lanes. And empty- even at 12pm!! Oh, I saw a Porsche 550 Spyder too, which was wicked...

What with gentle curves, smooth pavement, and immense length, it would be easy to test the limits of whatever you're driving.......

It's hard to express just how badly I wanted to drive that road....

But the fun was shortlived as we neared Tokyo and hit traffic that stretched out journey to nearly 10hrs. Driving through the interchanges in Tokyo also gives you some idea of just how complicated the road network is. On- and off-ramps snake in all directions and roads loop around and through each other, sometimes 4 or 5 stories above a similarly busy local road network below. It's amazing they even managed to fit it all in... Oh, and I saw a Ferrari 360 Spider, which was wicked...

All in all though, it was a great trip and definitely something that needs to be done to get a sense for how deep the history runs in this country. Because while Tokyo has historical sights, it certainly can't convey it like Kyoto can...

I'd also like to say I'm quite happy I bought my camera. Despite the cloudy weather and drizzle for the better half of day 2, I left it to do its thing and I would say about 80-85% of the pictures came out well. A couple of them have overexposed skies but considering how dreary the light was all day, I can't really blame it. Only a handful of times did I need to fiddle around with the settings to get the shot I wanted.

Of course, I've tweaked all the pictures here slightly, but I think they turned out ok......

This last one I just pointed-and-shot but I quite like it for some reason.....

Next up, the Tokyo Auto Salon 2009!!