Saturday, February 2, 2013, 11:00a -- Sight seeing in Kyoto and the Bullet Train!

Friday was our final full day in Japan. The group decided to spend it in the city of Kyoto where there are so many things to see and do. We took the Shinkansen (also known at the bullet train). What a cool experience that was! The train travels so fast that we arrived in Kyoto withing 15 minutes (on the regular train, the trip would have been about an hour with all the stops).

First up in Kyoto was the Kyoto Museum for World Peace. No pics allowed inside the museum but I have some of the cool artwork before entering. The museum depicted the various wars that Japan was involved in during the 20th century. I was able to listen to a narrative of each of the displays in english, so I was able to get a lot out of the experience. It was very eye opening seeing all of this from the Japanese perspective. They took a very honest approach to exposing the atrocities and basic human rights violations carried out by the Japanese military. The museum is dedicated to enlightenment for the sake of encouraging peace.

Next we visited the Golden Pavilion Temple, also called Kinkaku-ji in Japanese. It was built in 1397 and was initially intended to serve as a villa for retirement for Shogun Ashikaga. Later, his son converted the building into a Zen temple. The Golden Pavilion was burned twice and was reconstructed after five years. At the temple, I purchased a fortune out of a vending machine (yeah, kinda tourist like). The fortune was not so good, so I tied it on a fence with the other bad fortunes and bought another one. Pretty cool that you can get rid of your bad fortune so easily. I also lit a candle and made a wish -- each candle has something inscribed that is reflective of the type of wish you want to make.

At the end of the day, we shared a Japanese style dinner complete with floor seating. The food was all served on a stick (a bit like state fair food, some said). A very nice close to a very nice trip with a very nice group of people!

I have a bit more to share, but it will have to wait until I arrive back in the states. It it soon time to make our way to the airport for the journey home.

Love to all,
Kathy

Pics:
1 & 2) Shinkansen
3, 4, 5) Kyoto Museum for World Peace
6) My not-so-good fortune
7) My fortune tied up with the other bad ones
8, 9, 10) Pics around the temple area
11, 12, 13) Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion Temple)
14) Group shot at the temple
15) My wish candle (and others)
16-20) Shots at our dinner