Chronicles of My Brief Kyoto Encounter Part 1

May 10, 2005
9:26 PM

I arrived at Kyoto about 6:30ish in the morning. I thought the place was sort of barren at first. There weren't much people and a certain type of silence hung in the air. I walk the whole length of the train station twice, walking back and forth looking for the bus information center. I asked a bus driver; he slightly confirmed my stocked knowledge, from previous readings, that I am at the back or south side of the big groovy glass JR Station building. He was unsure as well since he`s a tour bus driver, not a city bus driver. I still think he should know where the bus information center is.

So, that`s why the place was kinda... uglier than I expected. It`s like, "I fucking spent 10 hours on a night bus just to see this?!" And then I spotted a north-south pedestrian bridge and took the escalator going up to it. Suddenly, everything around me lit up, I lit up, the vending machine lights were no longer grim, and the sound of stroller wheels on tiles didn`t sound lonely; all because there were more than 0 human beings within an imaginary circle around me of 10-20 meter radius. Finally!

The Kyoto JR Station is mighty huge and ultra modern. It has this huge open air, no ceiling mall-like leisure center on the 5th floor with a flight of stairs like that of the Spanish Steps in Rome. The station turned out to be architecturally breath taking. Very. The station wasn`t very packed yet though. I mean, I was alone in the huge expanse of the 5th floor with just one other photographer dude on the 5th floor and 2 escalator technicians.

After looking around for a potential locker, I decided to get one on the second floor because the basement lockers were too tucked into a dark-ish corner. My feng shui vibes weren`t chiming happily down there. But it`s just mental you know... And then I go back down outside to look for the damned bus info center.

I finally found the bus info center. Inside was also a coffee-bake shop. Oh man. It was such a refuge from the cold, lonely outside. Finally, human beings within 1 meter radius. I felt lost outside because I had no idea where to go and how to go about. All my plans for the day evaporated into the dry, cold air that caused me to flake like a fish and spawn ugly dandruff for 1 week. So, I got my bus map and three all-day bus tickets and sat down for a while, trying to see where I could go first within the vicinity of the station.

Before walking on and about I stuffed my bag inside the locker only to realize that I left my bottle of water and bus map inside. You pay Y300 to use a locker. When you open it, and close it again, you have to feed the expensive locker coin slot another Y300. I spent Y600 in a matter of 3 seconds. And it`s not for food.

Nishihonganji Temple it is. I attempted to walk to the temple since it was near anyway and I wanted some adventure, thus I did not board a bus. After less than 10 minutes I arrived at what I thought to be Nishihonganji. But I arrived at a different temple similar to it but on the eastern part. Of course, I only realized this as I got back to the train station.

I tried to walk around the block instead thinking it`s too early to come in the temple despite the open gates. After rounding the second corner I was officially lost.　I tried to make the most of it and walked the back streets instead, still trudging towards the general direction of the station. It was a so-so experience although there were a few interesting houses in the area. It was fun pretending that you are not lost, or lost on purpose. There were a lot of people passing by on bikes though. Mostly high school students. Yes folks, Japanese high school students ride bikes to school even with their short skirts somewhere around 2-4 inches above the knees. (Junior high school students, the girls at least, wear shorts too, only knee-length　or slightly below the knees. Funny how the higher your year level, the higher your skirt hemline becomes.)

I arrived at the station less than 30 minutes later only to find that there are hundreds of junior high school and high school students and a class of grade 1 students. Wow, finally there`s more life around this station. Then things became livelier. I just realized I love people so much... Although I do so from afar in a "I am observing you like a specimen" kind of way. Heh.

I finally decided to board a bus to Nishihonganji temple and take a few photos inside. After that I went to this Umekoji Park which was just a flat mass of grass lang with a paced walk and trees where old people do walk-a-thon. I just wanted a place to sit in. Snapped a few photos and those of an old man sitting 2 benches away from me. Secretly, of course.

I moved my ass back to the station to pick up the bag from the locker and checked it in at the Utano Youth Hostel. After that was a tiring walk from temple to temple. I`m getting tired of writing so I'll update you with the photos I took instead. (I will, next week, when I get the films developed.)