November 2016, part one - Kyoto

I visited Japan for the first time in November 2016 and it bothered me a little that I only talked about my experiences with some people and didn't try to make a wholesome story for the people that I didn't talk to about my trip.

I will go straight to the point and say that it is really worth it to visit Japan. If you have the will to travel, time and money. No matter what types of countries and cultures you prefer I guarantee you that Japan is unique and you will find things here you wouldn't find anywhere else in the world.

Kiyomizu-dera temple

People asked my why I chose Japan, why am I so fascinated by it. If you had to choose to visit one country in the world, which one would it be? I do like Japanese comics (manga) and animated movies and the pictures presented in them simply captured me. I'm also interested in the way of living of Japanese people, their beliefs and how things work over there with everything having its place in life.

Lanterns after sunset in Kyoto

Japan - land of contrasts

It might seem like a cliche but Japan is really a land full of contrasts and paradoxes. It is presented as a country where rich history and modern technology meet and yes, this contrast is one of the strongest and you can see it everywhere. Few other contrasts represent for example modern toilets with heated seats and a bidet versus traditional squatting toilets. Or cleanliness on the streets despite the fact that you can't find a trash bin easily.

Five random facts about Japan (that I experienced):

1. Japan has the thinnest toilet paper in the world

2. Japan has the most expensive bananas in the world

3. Japan has the most vending machines at square meter in the world

4. Japan has the most Kit-Kat flavors in the world

5. Japan has one of the fastest and best organised traffic system in the world

Japanese land from the sky seemed to me like a plank floating on water, later I found out that it has quite many hills and mountains

We landed in Japan in November and as it turned out, it was a very good choice - a lot of sunny days and just a few rainy ones (it WAS snowing in Tokyo though, but I'll get to that :)). So the ideal time to visit is spring and autumn. In summer is it very hot and humid. In June you have periods of rain and in September-October there might be dangerous typhoons. So in most cases you choose between cherry blossoms or colorful autumn leaves, we chose the leaves :).

Despite the fact that most people will understand you if you use English, do not expect them to talk to you in English as well. To us it happened only in places like hotels and train stations, most Japanese people will talk back only in Japanese so be prepared to at least study few basic phrases, you will find it useful.

Kyoto

Our first goal was Kyoto. I was immediately stunned by the sheer size and architecture of the Kyoto Main Railway Station. Main Japanese railway stations are designed to not only provide you with getaway for your transportation needs but also for your shopping and entertainment. For example part of Kagoshima Station was a Ferris wheel and the one in Kyoto a hotel and a museum. The place was just enormous, with stairs lit up with a Christmas light show seemingly going nowhere (later I found out they lead to more shopping and eventually to the roof).

Kyoto - Main Railway Station

By the way, the Christmas tree in the station was decorated with motives of the city of Prague. It was because Prague is one of the sister cities of Kyoto and in 2016 to celebrate 50 years of sisterhood they decorated the tree with pictures of Czech churches and old houses.

Merry Christmas from Kyoto!

We were staying at K's House Kyoto hostel, quite known franchise of hostels. The accommodation was quite clean and for a good price. Six people in one room was just a little bit too much for me personally and in Japan they value every centimeter of free space :).

K's House Hostel Kyoto

When you see Japanese tourists in Slovakia taking pictures of everything (from statues to electric wires) you kind of get the similar idea in Japan and it changed my mind. It's because everything looks so much different you feel like on a foreign planet. So I also took pictures of all the things I could lay my eyes on and in result I got around 3,000 photos (you can check them out here and here).

Kyoto is full of tourists...

...and school trips

After seeing the Kiyomizu-dera temple we stopped at a restaurant to get some ramen (Japanese noodles). It's really cool how all Japanese restaurants have a plastic model of the meals in the store front so you know exactly what you are ordering. The food was nice and we also got black tea which the waiters were constantly filling up. I gotta admit they do really care good for tourists in general in Japan and make them feel at home, services were always top notch. And more countries should realize how important this is and what picture it gives the foreigners. It is true the prices are higher but for example you are not allowed to give a tip because it is considered rude.

Plastic food in restaurant showcase looks so real

On the second day of our Kyoto trip we visited the Imperial Palace (which was not that interesting) and Tofuku-ji temple with beautiful scenery of autumn colors which stood out much more than the big empty spaces of the Imperial Palace.

Few moments later after I took this picture from the bridge they had to put up a sign "No photo" because people were stopping by to take a picture and blocking the bridge :)

In the evening we also visited Fushimi Inari which is a very famous place with around 1,000 torii gates. However I was pretty tired and didn't make it all the way up to the main shrine (I did it in my second trip to Japan in 2019 though :0). The next day we took off to Kobe.