Japan Is Doomed

Tuesday 20th March
Very late on Monday 19th, a plan was formed by myself and Johnny, an Asian studies student on a holiday from South Korea, at the K’s House hostel in Kyoto. Instead of disappearing off to different parts of the city, we would instead join forces to form a traveling duo more powerful than any this world has ever seen before! What followed on from this alliance of titans can only be described as an epic quest. Or possibly a day long trip around some great temples and shrines in Kyoto. Either will do.

We set off at a reasonably good time considering how late everyone had been drinking, hopped on a train and headed north-east of the centre of the city, towards what is probably the most famous landmark in Kyoto - Kinkakuji. The golden temple.

However, that was quite some walk from where we left the train and there was plenty of exciting things to see on the way. Itching to snap some photos in the brief sunlight, we headed for the first shrine we could find. It turned out that prolonging the wait for Kinkakuji paid off. What we stumbled upon was a small shrine with a small, but amazingly crafted garden. What made this place so remarkable was that, in prime tourist season, it was totally and utterly empty. Not like the graveyard from yesterday’s post, with a few people here and there. Not even like a cinema when it’s showing a Ben Stiller movie. No, totally and utterly 100% empty.

Moreover, it was totally silent too. Even three days into my stay my ears were still ringing from the eternal 100 greatest roadwork sound effects CD on loop that someone insists on playing outside my flat at 3am. It was nice to just stand on the island in the middle of the lake and hear nothing. I’d almost forgotten how that sounded.

Eventually we tore ourselves away from the silent garden and headed to Ryoan-ji, a temple and shrine complex, not too far from Kinkakuji. Basically, once you step inside it, everything you can see for the next hour or two demands you take a picture of it. You know what that means…

It means I took a whole load of photos! Hurrah! Bear in mind that what we’re currently looking at is just the first part of the temple complex itself. We’ve hardly even got to the meat of it, yet.

It really was a stunning place. Every single building and construction, from the tallest temple to the smallest statue, were beautifully hand crafted, and surrounded by perfectly maintained gardens, with immaculately trimmed hedgerows and trees so symmetrical birds became confused trying to land on them and had to make emergency stops at nearby airports.

I lost count of the number of times I said “We just don’t have this sort of thing in England”. Sad but true I’m afraid. I’ve never seen a hedgerow that flat before. Or a river that quiet. My theory is that I actually walked in and was immediately drugged then shown a video whilst I was stumbling about in a haze. If I never update after this, I’ve been got by the Kyoto temple mob. Avenge my death.

Sadly this update is becoming far too wordy and I haven’t even got onto the most spectacular (albeit predictable) moment of the trip, so I’ll stop now with three final photos. They’re all black and white, to end this update on a classy note. As ever, all photos are in the gallery!