Our first full day in Kyoto. We visit three beautiful outdoor sites. The first two temples are on the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto UNESCO World Heritage sites list.
- The Ryoan-ji temple with a famous Zen Rock Garden and beautiful lake.
- The Kinkaku-ji temple with the famous "Golden Temple".
- The Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, a popular site with visitors posing with the tall bamboo as backdrop.
We continue to have outstanding weather, and benefit from the extended bloom of the cherry trees that has occurred this year.
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| View of Kyoto from our window. Kyoto is surrounded by mountains on three sides, making for warm summers and cool winters. It was the capital city from 794 to 1868, fostering the development of the arts, science and cultural traditions. We found it to be a vibrant city, more bicycles than in Tokyo. Lots of restaurants, parks, walking along paths along the river lined with cherry trees, cultural attractions. |
Partial view of the rock garden at Ryoan-ji Temple. To enter the wooden floor area next to the rock garden you must remove shoes. Crowds were not too bad here. I sat at edge of this rock garden for a few minutes, and managed to have a meditative time, warm sun on my feet, relative quiet.
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Throughout Japan, particularly in Kyoto, accommodations for blind persons were evident. Here, is a model of the rock garden in miniature that could be experienced by touch. At street crossings, bus stops and in train stations there were raised rubber markings on the ground, just high enough to feel with feet to mark the right places to cross or board.
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| View of the lake at Ryoan Ji. Most Japanese garden ponds have an island. The tree blossoms float on the surface. |
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| The great Golden Temple at Kinkaku-ji. This was very popular attraction. Sally managed to take this poetic photo that shows the Golden Temple but omits our many fellow sightseers. Real gold leaf colors the temple. In town, you can also get ice cream with gold leaf as an ingredient, providing untold but highly extolled health benefits. |
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| Selfie overlap! |
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| A side temple pagoda, lush and tall trees in distance up the hill. |
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| Walking through the very tall Bamboo Forest. A bit windy; the sounds of bamboo clicking overhead. |
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| Pretty scene with pink rhododendrons in full bloom in front of the bamboo. We saw azaleas and camellias too, daffodils and the flowering trees. |
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| Lovely Japanese garden next to Bamboo Forest. A nominal admission charge to this garden made it much more serene. |
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| Front yard Buddha in neighborhood surrounding the Bamboo Forest, redbud in bloom. No pink flamingos in sight. |
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| Rickshaws were available for hire at this popular destination. |
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| Shallow river was being dredged near the town around the Bamboo Forest. Meticulous care of just about everything was in evidence wherever we went. No trash cans on trains or stations, people carry plastic bags to pack out any refuse generated. We also learned that in schools, kids actively participate in the cleaning and maintenance of their classrooms and facilities at the school, and they teach each other how to do these things. What a good way to foster a sense of community, and it shows. |
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As mentioned previously,
here is the entrance to the old
Shimadzu corporation building. |
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