Kyoto, Japan November, 2010
The children are stirring in their futons. Though the sliding door to their room is still closed, I hear muttering and giggling. A good start to a day in Kyoto.
Outside the morning traffic is heavy, but luckily there isn’t someone yelling through a megaphone like yesterday. We are living in a rental apartment at the corner of Marutamachi-dori and Kitashirakawa-dori, on the East side of the city, north of the center. It is a reasonable walking distance to Kyoto University where John is working, and smack dab in the middle of about 50 major temples and historic sights. Through a remarkable stroke of good fortune, this is also a crossing for 6 of the major city bus lines, making it simple to get anywhere in the city from the bus stop right outside our door. The only downside is that John has to work all day- from 9am to 7pm at the office, then he puts in hours at home in the morning and evening, too. The kids and I are left to explore the city on our own, and there is a huge feeling of guilt (for me at least) that we are experiencing Kyoto leisurely, while John is slaving away to make that possible. Luckily, there are weekends, and the Japanese work ethic doesn’t seem to apply to working at home after hours or working on weekends. I think this is because you need to be seen working for it to count towards your status. Work at home or on weekends or holidays, doesn’t count for anything, so, no one does it. Yea to that!
Oh, megaphone woman is back, but since the windows are all frosted over (not from cold, but for privacy), so I can’t tell where she is or what she wants. Not that I could anyway. Yesterday, when walking through a neighborhood, we heard delightful wooden flute music and wondered where it was coming from. As we approached, we realized it was a speaker, and it was coming from a truck driving slowly down the narrow streets collecting cardboard for recycling, like an inverse ice cream man.
Kyoto is a modern city; cultured, refined, yet surviving on tourists who come here for its ancient treasures. One could quickly get jaded at the fees charged for entering the temples, for purchasing good fortune, to ring the temple bell. And yet, you don’t. It is lovely, and they are doing their best to keep it all intact and functioning. We love that you can buy pastry at a French bakery, coffee at Starbucks, and enjoy it while sitting in a 12th century Zen garden. Very civilized.
After arriving on Monday via the Shin-kansen from Hamamatsu, we met John’s colleague, Teji Sota, an eminent biologist at Kyoto University. Kyoto Station is a modern steel and glass structure that can only be described as soaring. And, a novelty for those of us that come from a land with winter, it is open to the elements. Teji whisked us an a quick drive through the city, past our apartment, up to the University, to his office (cluttered, and packed to the gills. Academics are the same everywhere). John had to fill out loads of paperwork for the apartment, promising all kinds of things that he nodded and pretended to understand. I spent my time trying to jolly up sagging, apprehensive, hungry kids. Anxiety manifests it self differently in us all, and a large part of traveling as a parent is understanding that, and learning how to cope.
After a quick lunch at a family style chain restaurant (think Friendlys) Teji drove us past the Kyoto International Convention Center. Kyoto is trying hard to promote itself as a place for conventions and conferences. Architecturally, this large complex is trying to mimic the temples and shines that make the city famous, but redefined in raw concrete. Kind of freaky, but the setting and gardens are nice. We drove to a nearby park to kill time until the rental office opened, and the kids loved the giant colorful carp in the pond.
Finally, after a long stop at the rental office while John sorted out the internet access, we arrived at out new apartment. It is smaller than our apartment in Hamamatsu, but far nicer, and came with an equipped kitchen. Yea! The children get their own Japanese style room with tatamai mats and futons, we adults are stuck with two twin beds, sigh. We went for walk to find a grocery store, then a quick dinner and bed.
Tuesday, John went off to work and the kids and I went exploring. The night before we has walked by two shrines and the Kyoto Handicraft Center. We set off to see what we could find. The shrine closest to are apartment, and not on my map, was deserted and the kids found it kind of creepy in its solitude. We did like the black bunny, but I haven't been able to find who or what he symbolizes. Anyone know?
The Kyoto Handicraft Center is an artist cooperative, of sorts. Seven floors of Kyoto crafts, a few souvenir shops, Kimono shops, a restaurant and on the top floor, a do-it-yourself craft area. This looked like fun, so we checked out what we could do, but decided that Jane might not be up to an hour of it, so we looked into a souvenir shop on the second floor where we found a huge variety of cool erasers. The kids love these and they will make great gifts when we return home. I would have loved to explore the other floors, see the vast selection of woodblock prints or hand dyed scarves, but after Jane made a dash behind the counter of $30,000 pearls, I figured we'd better not push our luck. Better to come home for lunch. After eating, I decided that I had to get these kids out to run somewhere. The easiest place to get to was the Imperial Palace Garden. That meant taking a bus, but we had to do it sooner or later. Of course, the busses work differently here than in Hamamatsu. In the main city area, there is a flat fee, and lots of signs in English telling people how to manage. I noticed lots of people on the bus looking furtively at the bus maps they give out at the Tourist Information Centers. This is a city that survives on tourism, and they make it easy for Japanese, Chinese and English speaking tourists to manage. Made it to the Park and had a good romp. Found out that the Imperial Palace is closed, but that foreigners can apply and usually get granted same day admittance. We have yet to do that, but likely will next week. We've decided it is good to be the Emperor. The park is huge, with venerable old trees including the biggest Ginkos we have ever seen. Teji tells us that the Japanese eat the seeds.
We made it back home, after taking the wrong bus and having to walk quite a bit, tired, but feeling like we could manage here and come up with a way of spending our time that would make everyone happy and no one crazy.
