Kyoto English Lesson

Kids from the Sayama Elementary School

We were wandering through the gardens of the Nijo Castle when we were accosted by this group of fifth grade (I think) students who asked very politely if we would take a few minutes to converse with them in English so they practice their language lessons.  We agreed, of course.  They were adorable and very earnest.  They had a lesson plan that they pulled out and one little boy who appeared to be their leader checked off each question as they asked it.  They spoke in turn.  They introduced themselves and asked where we were from.  They asked if we like Japanese food and about some of the sights we had seen.  Their English ranged from very good to tolerable.  When we left them they handed us a gift, little packages that contained some art work they had made.  It was a delightful experience, even in the rain.

The castle is obviously a favorite cultural attraction for schools.  There were busloads of students of all ages walking around.   

Arriving in Kyoto

Above the shrine at Gion

We took the Shinkensen bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto.  Going through the train station and finding the right track was a bit nerve wracking, but we got on the right train just as it was about to take off.  It was smooth and comfortable.  We could see the beautiful fertile countryside, the ocean on our left and the mountains on our right.   However at the speed we were going (150-180 mph) I got dizzy after a while from watching things whiz by.   It’s about two and a half hours from Tokyo to Kyoto.  Cute hostesses walk through the cars selling snacks if you want them.  Mostly noodle dishes.  The train seemed mostly filled with businessmen.

We spent the day wandering around until my feet gave out.  We visited the Kyoto Imperial Palace, which has lovely gardens around it.  We saw lots of people also visiting, many on bicycles, which actually seemed a smart way to get around.  The grounds are extensive.  We also visited the Rozani Temple, which is also the site of the residence of Lady Murasaki, the author of the Tale of Genji.  Lady Murasaki  lived in the 11^th century and her book, which I read many years ago, is considered one of the first novels in the world.  Some people say she invented the form of the novel.   In any case she’s a wonderful story teller and it was inspiring to see the house and gardens where she wrote.  Unfortunately one is not allowed to take pictures in the house, which is a shame as it’s quite beautiful.

Today we conquered the Kyoto bus system.  It’s really the only way to get around Kyoto, there are only a couple of subway lines and they only go to a limited number of places.  And not to some of the most interesting.  There is one bus that circles most of the major shrines, temples, castles and shopping areas so I finally have a good sense of the city.  We stopped in the Gion section of the city that is sort of the Greenwich Village part of Kyoto.  Lots of trendy shops, coffee shops.  There’s also a lovely shrine there.  I offered a prayer there for a happy year as today is Rosh Hashona. 

I’m also amazed at how the Japanese use space.  Our apartment which can’t be more than twenty feet square and probably less has a double bed that you can pull a shoji screen type set up around for privacy, a love seat that makes up into a fold out bed (if we had brought a few small children) and full equipped kitchen and enough storage space for all our stuff.  Amazing.  Tonight we were tired of eating in restaurants so we cooked dinner at home and feel very at home here in Kyoto.

Thoughts on Leaving tokyo

Thoughts on leaving Tokyo

Autumn comes in

On a melancholy wind.

Rain falls on the koi in the pond.

Japan is supposed to be a declining economy and maybe it is but it’s hard to see it in Tokyo.  Every morning hordes of workers pour into the high rise office buildings looking serious and determined.  At night they crowd the restaurants and bars in often raucous groups and spend freely.  The high end shops are also crowded with buyers.  There are towering construction cranes all over the city as tall new buildings rise.  There also doesn’t seem to be much effect of the earthquake-tsunami from earlier this year although there are a few signs that people are cutting back use of the power grid.  But the lights on the Ginza still shine brightly at night.

What Does Jim Know?

One reason I catalog subways is that they're easily defined (Tokyo, dense system, third rail; Kyoto, smaller system electrified by pantograph) while few other things are, particularly when you come to contemporary issues.  The old is beautiful, often awesomely.  And we see examples of that in the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.  But what's happening at the moment?  Journalistically you can test your preconceptions against what you see and flag inconsistencies.  But the lack of detectable inconsistencies doesn't prove you right.  So I arrive thinking that Korea is a growing economy with a government that appears to be be getting better and Japan is probably a static economy at best (and maybe modestly shrinking) whose government seems to make Washington seem effective.  Maybe so.  The Japanese appear comfortable.  Things are expensive, the streets are paved and the trains run on time.  Odd the travel forces me inward to assess my ignorance -- or perhaps yet another facet of my narcissism.

Arriving in Tokyo

Pictured at the top, from the Imperial Palace and below the Ginza

Arriving in Toyko

It took us nearly two hours to get to Inchon airport leaving Seoul and over an hour to get from Narita to our hotel in downtown Tokyo so that all took longer that our one hour fifty minute flight, but we’re here.  It’s big, more in a Los Angeles kind of way than a New York City way.  It does have an extensive subway system and after we got in Sunday afternoon we took the subway to the Ginza area with all of its high end shops and restaurants.  The Wall Street Journal seems to run a story every other week on the high cost of dining in Tokyo and I’m sure if you go to a business type restaurant for Kobe steak that is true.  We had dinner at a cute tempura restaurant for under twenty bucks and it was terrific. 

We bought tickets today for the Shinkensen high speed train to Kyoto.  We leave Tokyo tomorrow.  We ran around a lot today and took a walk around the Imperial Palace.  (You can’t go in, it’s all restricted.)  But the grounds are lovely. Then we went on to the Meiji shrine.    It’s in a big Central Park like setting.  It was raining a bit but we took the fairly long hike into the park to see the shrine.   I’m glad we did, it was lovely.  A traditional Japanese courtyard in surrounded by large palace halls.  People leave prayers there and I said a birthday prayer for my father who will be 96 years old this week.  Again, we had a cheap lunch at a pho restaurant.  To order you put your money in a machine with little pictures for each dish.  The machine spits out a ticket with your order, which you then hand to the server and seat yourself at a counter.   Speaking of food, I had a traditional Japanese breakfast this morning, dried fish, rice and pickled veggies.  It was yummy.

The Japanese live up to their reputation for sybaritic pampering.  Wonderful toiletries at our hotel.  And when we went up to the business center to print out some material there was a massage chair that felt wonderful.

Final, final Korea thoughts

Korea 9.25.11

Just a few final thoughts about Korea while we’re waiting at Inchon Airport for our flight to Tokyo.  Yesterday, on our last day in Seoul we had a few interesting adventures.  First we followed the guidebook which told us about a subway stop that was at an “interesting vista” of the city.  So we went in hopes of taking some good pictures.  Although we walked all the way around the station we saw nothing but the usual Seoul cityscape.  However, at the stop was something called Lotte World that is sort of a cross between Las Vegas, Disney World and the Mall of America.  It was huge.  Acres and acres of space.  There was a full size model of the Trevi Fountain and a jazz band playing.  There were lots of other vaguely Italian Renaissance statures.  There was a theme park, an ice rink, a gazillion screen cinema, a live theatre and probably lots more we didn’t see.  There was the huge Lotte Hotel that is considered a top hotel and the Lotte Department Store that reminded me of Marshall Field in its prime.  Everything from designer clothes to housewares.  A total sensory experience.  I bought a pair of walking shoes as I’ve already gone through the pair I brought.

Then on the subway on the way home we sat next to a Korean woman who started  to chat with me.  I responded with shille hages sum nida which is Korean for excuse me, one of the few Korean phrases I picked up, I don’t speak Korean.  She responded in English – Japanese?  No I replied a little Chinese.  That got us nowhere.  Then she said habla Espana and pulled out a Korean-Spanish language text that she had been studying.  It was filled with little cartoons illustrating various phrases in Korean and Spanish.  Jim immediately began chatting with her in Spanish and though his Spanish was better than hers we continued to chat in a combination of English and Spanish.  Then she and another Korean woman sitting next to her decided to adopt us and although we felt we had a good mastery of the subway by then they insisted on showing us our transfer point and walking us to our next train.  We arrived home (the hotel) safely.

Last word.   Every Korean subway stop has clean, modern free public bathrooms.  Why can’t the US?