“My Career`s off to Norway…”

Day 1: Tokyo to Kyoto
Part 1 – The Shinkansen (Bullet Train)

The trip started at 4am, the alarm clock of my phone signaling the start of the journey. The walk to the station was relatively quick and quiet, me and Skip both waking up slowly so not really talking much and the roads were quiet so it was quite pleasant. We got to the station by 5 and caught the 5.04 heading towards Tokyo. Changing at Nishi Nippori from the Chiyoda to the Yamanote we preceded to head for Tokyo Station. The trains were getting busier as we neared Tokyo, more commuters begining the daily routine as we were heading on the trip. At Tokyo we made the transfer to the Shinkansen section of Tokyo station. This was smooth and painless and we waited for our Shinkansen to pull in. We had about an hour to kill, we were both still waking up so not really saying much.

At about 6.30 the train arrived and we boarded and headed to our seats. Skip had the window seat, me the one next to it. The Shinkansen we were travelling on was the Nozomi (Hope), the fastest of the three classes of Shinkansen (Hikari and Kodama – Light and Echo). The trains are very much standard fare and are pretty much like a plane on the inside, with larger windows than those on a plane. When we were up to full speed, the noise was the same as a plane too.

The journey to Kyoto was to take about 2 hours, and it went very quickly. I was on the look out for Fuji but as we were heading West and we were on the left side of the train, we were unable to catch a glimpse. Added to this was the fact that the Shinkansen travels through many long tunnels on the way down, maybe because of the mountainous landscape that was always dominating the view.

The journey was marked by our first beers of the day, at about 7.30am we indulged in a beer. I opted for Asahi super dry, Skip for the Sapporo premium malts option. I have to say that it was the earlist beer I`ve ever had and that Asahi was definitely the superior choice. The decision to have a beer so early set the tone for the rest of the trip and was the first of many to come.

We arrived in Kyoto after stops in several places along the way, and headed towards the exit.

10 Facts that may or may not be true about the Bullet Train

1. The Shinkansen is so aerodynamic that time has trouble sticking to it.

2. Gravity is added to the wheels to keep the train stuck to the Earth.

3. It`s white, usually.

4. When travelling on the Shinkansen, you actually arrive 10 seconds younger than when you boarded.

5. They serve beer in specially developed-for-the-Shinkansen pressurised metal containers called “cans” at 7.30 in the morning

6. They had to make Japan bigger to be able to accomodate the Shinkansen. It was originally only 300kms long.

7. It`s lactose intollerant, quite ironic as it`s the colour of Milk (see #3).

8. It`s the worlds fastest white thing, after light.

9. It travels so fast it has to brake before leaving the departing station.

10. It reaches warp speed faster than the Enterprise.

Part 2 – A day in Kyoto

Upon leaving the station I felt a sense of being underwhelmed by what I saw, I had pictures of traditional buildings, narrow streets and lots of traditional sights. What confronted us was a very modern, very ugly and under construction viewing tower, an eyesore and also the tallest building in Kyoto. Below the eyesore was the usual collection of McDonalds/ Department store/Starbucks ensemble that always seem to surround the stations of Japan. Suprisingly, as I recall I dont think I saw a Nova but I`m sure that I was looking long or hard enough.

The initial disappointment over, and with a sinking feeling seeping in, we headed to a map and decided to check out the locations of the famous spots in Kyoto. These are Gion (Geisha district), Kinkakuji & Ginkakuji (Gold and Silver temples) and the Imperial palace. We decided to tray and take a picture of the map to help us out but the pictures didnt really come out that well. The first decision on a choice of location was to head to the Hotel, try and check in and dump the bags.

First though, some traditional refreshments. McDonalds. We were a bit brain dead and they had the breakfast menu on, so there was no changing our minds.  We filled up on McDonalds and set off again in the direction of the hotel, which was supposedly about a 10 minute walk from the station. The journey to the hotel took us past a large shrine, unfortuneatly I`m not sure of the name but it was very similar to most of the other shrines in Japan. We stopped for pics and saw a Crane in the bushes and decided to take a snap (I think the crane is the national bird of Japan).

The walk  or trek as it soon became continued north, towards the hotel. The main street we were walking on was very much like any main road of Tokyo, wide streets, lots of traffic, tall buildings. There were some very narrow streets and older looking buildings scattered about but not as much as I had hoped. After about another 20 minutes we stumbled across the hotel, a large 13 story building with a Starbucks conveniently located at the entrance. The check in procedure was quick and easy, the hotel itself was very grandiose, reminiscent of a posh hotel from the 70`s. It was very dark in the reception, like stepping back through a time warp.

We dumped our stuff, grabbed a map and headed for the Subway. We decided to head to the Imperial palace, and then on to the Ginkakuji temple.