Of all the stops on this 11 night Diamond Princess Cruise, Kyoto was billed as the highlight, “must-see stop”, and I knew before going this would be a long and busy day. What I wasn’t expecting was it to be like another version of Tokyo, although on a smaller scale, with countless wall-to-wall people most everywhere you went at the major attractions.
The Diamond Princess ship actually docked in Kobe, Japan, on this itinerary, however, which is nearly a two hour trip via shuttle bus to Kyoto, (each way) which made for a long day tour. As a result of the distance, our time in Kyoto was obviously rather limited, but we did go to three of the recommended stops on our nearly 10 hour tour from the ship, plus a handicraft market, with a nice sit-down lunch as well.
While I didn’t not enjoy Kyoto, after all of the hype regarding it (in fact it was intentionally spared from being a city destroyed by the Atomic Bomb in 1945 due to it’s history, temples, cultural significance etc), I was a bit disappointed with Kyoto; I guess it didn’t live up to the hype I was expecting. Keep in mind we were only there for a day, and not staying for a few nights, where our perceptions would most likely have been more positive. We just felt a bit rushed on this tour, and turned off by the extreme crowds; like trying to do Disney World in a day, complete with all of the other crowds vying for the same attention and space, and a forced shopping excursion in the middle of the day.
I had no idea how popular Kyoto really was as a tourist attraction; second in Japan only to Tokyo. We had a wonderful and delightful female Japanese guide, however, probably early 50s who hosted our whirl-wind tour around the city. On the 2 hour bus ride, she told us a bit about herself and family, as well as explained the Shogun Dynasty, which would be important on our second stop at Nijo Castle. She even gave us a quick lesson on how to count to 10 in Japanese, holding up flash cards with the phonetic pronunciation written for us in English!
RELIGION: Our guide said she is a Christian, and attended Christian schools while growing up, while her husband is Buddhist, which is the predominant religion in Japan. She explained how it was difficult for people to convert from Buddhism, as it is so entrenched in the Japanese culture, both from Temples associated with a family, ancestry, and daily rituals, as well as funerals and the afterlife; it seems taboo to change from it. While the Christian faith represents only about 1 percent of the population in Japan, Kyoto has a diversity of religions unlike other areas of Japan, and has Synagogues, and Protestant and Catholic Churches, though they are a distinct minority compared to Buddhism.
CROWDED KYOTO: Our guide said Kyoto has over 50 million tourists a year, with roughly 10 percent of them foreigners. 50 million tourists! That’s a huge and unbelievable number I thought! (That is until we arrived on our second stop of the tour, at the Nijō Castle, and saw the unbelievable crowds there! More further below.)
DRIVE TO KYOTO: First off, on our 2 hour drive from Kobe to Kyoto, we had a short stop at a nice highway rest area for a restroom and/or coffee break. Fortunately Steve (DOS) and I each had our own row of two seats as ours was the last bus on the tour, and it wasn’t completely full.
SHOGUN DYNASTY: Upon resuming our ride to Kyoto, our guide explained the modern Shogun Dynasty, or Edo Period and the impact of that on the Japanese culture, and the difference in the Shogun vs the Emperor’s role. The Shogun period for Kyoto ran for approximately 260 years, and the Shogun was the military ruler with power, using the Nijo Castle in Kyoto as a residence and show of power when they were visiting Kyoto, while the Emperor was more of a figurehead during this period, and lived in the Imperial Palace. The Kyoto Shogun period in Kyoto ran from 1603 until 1869, when the Shogun conceded power back to the Emperor, moving the Capital back to Tokyo. These “Shogun” and “Emperor” tidbits of history would be important at our second stop at Nijo Castle.
As we got closer to our first stop in Kyoto, our guide pointed out a couple sites in the city, including the Sanjo Station Railway Station (an important transportation hub), and the beautiful Kyoto Theater which we saw passing by.
Heian Shrine: The Heian Shrine was our first tour stop on the Kyoto Tour, and while busy with only 4 other tour buses where we parked, fortunately it was nothing like we would experience on a couple other stops later in the day. The Heian Shrine was built in 1895 to partially resemble the Imperial Palace of the day, when Kyoto was still the Capital of Japan. There are several buildings you can walk around, although several were lost to fire back in 1976 and have been or in the process of being rebuilt.
The Grounds at Heian Shrine are beautiful, and like all the places we have been so far in Japan, the Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom, although perhaps towards the end of the blooming season as many were starting to shed blossoms as witnessed from the mote which had many pedals floating on top.
I’m attaching a small gallery of the Shrine buildings, and gardens below:
Bonus Clips! I wan’t able to add video to the galleries, but here’s a couple short stand-alone video clips:
And yes Steve DOS did make it across the pond without falling in!
And Steve DOS wanted to get a video of the Cherry Blossom pedals falling off of the trees, but since he couldn’t get a video of that, I tried to emulate the pedals falling and blowing away! LOL!
KYOTO HANDICRAFT CENTER: On our second stop, for shopping, I did not see coming, and it could have been left off the tour entirely, in my humble opinion. I know a lot of tours offer some time at the end of the tour for shopping, or there might be a few shopping stalls at a destination stop, but not a full-stop hour at an over-priced handicraft center in two nice buildings, each three stories tall, in the middle of the tour as an activity. No thanks; it wasn’t my idea of seeing Kyoto on a limited time frame as it was, not to mention the tour company and/or Princess no doubt making a referral commission on this stop.
We, along with most other passengers on the tour browsed at some of the items, but quite honestly there was nothing we wanted, ranging from a $7 thousand dollar Samurai sword to cheaper table settings and assorted food items. I think Steve DOS ended up buying a magnet or two, but that was it; most of the items were higher end products and/or were too big or fragile to carry home. The rest of the time was spent waiting on the bus to return.
NIJō CASTLE: Our third stop on the tour was The Nijo Castle . This Castle has an interesting history, and it was home to the Emperor’s and visiting Shogun families over the centuries, first being built in 1601, and later expanded in 1625. It remained in use for over 260 years, until the last Shogun,Tokugawa Yoshinobu, returned the power back to the Emperor in 1867 with the Emperor moving the Capital from Kyoto to Tokyo the following year.
Once we arrived at Nijo Castle, I could easily see why some 50 million visitors go to Kyoto each year, as I felt like at least a million of them were visiting the Castle and city of Kyoto the day we were there! There were people and crowds everywhere, buses waiting to park, and at times I felt like I was back in busy Tokyo.
At Nijo Castle, we had to line up amidst the many other groups and independent travelers, while we waited for clearance our for group to proceed thru the entrance. Our traveling friend Tom was even given the job of holding up our tour number sign so people could more easily find our group!
Once we went thru the entrance, we had to remove our shoes, and put them in one of these giant bins until we ended the tour. This section was reserved for group tours, and it filled up fast while we were on our tour. Our guide told us to take a photo of our letter section so we’d remember where are shoes were!
Here is a gallery of photos from Nijo Castle:
Next up on the agenda was lunch, which was served in a nice banquet type facility which was part of a hotel complex, The Shozan Resort Kyoto. (Japanese web site, sorry I couldn’t find the English translation.) The lunch was included with the tour, which was a set 3 course “westernized” meal, seemingly fitting as it was all Caucasians on this tour. One thing they could have mentioned ahead of time, was there was shellfish served with the main entree of beef. Our traveling friend Ben is allergic to shellfish (the guide said it was lobster, but it may have been giant shrimp tempura), but fortunately he didn’t eat or touch any of the seafood, and his partner Tom finished it off for him.
We started with soup and salad, then the main course of steak and lobster or giant shrimp tempura, and then finished the meal off with some type of cake, with one soft drink included. It was a nice and leisurely sit-down meal, and a good break from the busy morning tour at NiJo Castle.
THE GOLDEN PALACE: After lunch, we headed to our next and final stop, the Golden Palace, before heading back on the two hour bus ride to ship. Kinkakuji, better known by its nickname “The Golden Palace” or “Golden Pavilion” is another huge complex and grounds, which is viewable only from the outside while walking around the massive acres of gardens and observing other buildings.
The Golden Palace shown is mostly a replica of the original palace, as the original one was burned to the ground by a former monk and resident. Bad Monk; maybe it was the rules?
The Golden Palace walk is in one direction only, and like many of the tours on this Japan trip, was not for the mobility-challenged passengers. It has been nearly a year since I had my knee replacement, and while I’m doing very well with it, I kept thinking about how I couldn’t have done this even a few months ago, and how hard it would be for those with a cane, much less a wheelchair, walking along the pathway, which ended with lots of stairs up and down back to the main entrance.
The Golden Palace was a nice walk, albeit a long and crowded one, and we took a few photos along the way, while DOS stopped at a couple of gift shops in search of some magnets or other Kyoto treasures, along with the masses of our tourists.
DOS did get an ice cream cone as well at the exit of the Palace Grounds. Oddly, we couldn’t find a Kyoto cap surprisingly; rather a generic Japan hat which I wore back to the bus. He also got us a couple waters from the large block of vending machines on the way out, for the ride back to the ship.
Here is a gallery of some photos we took at The Golden Palace and grounds:
Our bus ride back to the ship was rather quiet, as most passengers were tired out from the long and early day. We were one of the last buses to get back to the ship at 5:15pm, and there was a bit of a line to get back aboard. The last call for the ship was 5:30pm, but we weren’t concerned making it as we were part of a ship’s excursion which guarantees you’ll make the ship.
We went to our room, showered and changed clothes for dinner, as our dinner reservations at the Crown Grill Specialty Restaurant were for 7pm, shortly after we boarded the ship. We had a good dinner at Crown Grill as always, and DOS really made a meal of our Tomahawk steak! LOL!
After dinner we met our friends Ben and Tom, who had been on our tour with us today, and we shared a nightcap in one of the ships lounges, reflecting on our long tour day in Kyoto.
Final Thoughts on Kyoto: We had a nice tour day, but with the 2 hours travel each way to Kyoto, made for a long day. I wasn’t expecting the extreme crowds that Kyoto had, but it was peak season and is the second busiest tourist city in Japan after Tokyo. If I visited Kyoto again, I think I would prefer to stay there for 3 or 4 nights and take in Kyoto at a more leisurely place, and do some other activities next time; perhaps a cruise on the water, and/or visit less busy places. I definitely could have done without the one hour visit to the handicraft market for shopping too.
I would also plan on going during a non-peak time of year to visit (i.e. not during the Cherry Blossom season we went) as it was way too crowded to really enjoy it. Again, I had no idea before we went that this city of 1.4 million has over 50 million visitors each year.
Readers, please feel free to offer some Kyoto type suggestions on things we missed! Many Thanks for following our travels!