Tokyo and Kyoto Episodes, Spring 2013

the best photos - more photos - informational photos - Japan 2013 page

• Visiting Tokyo during Hanami (cherry blossom season) is easy. If you want to visit Kyoto during Hanami, book your hotel at least three months ahead (or end up staying in a love hotel, as I did).
• Tokyo is the busiest and most frenetic city I've ever visited in my life. I spent a week tense until I went to Kyoto - much more laid back. Tokyo is full of museums and great food, but my best advice if you're visiting is to visit a smaller city or town.
• After visiting the copy of Rodin's "The Gates of Hell" in Ueno Park, I find that I've now seen all three of the original bronze casts of that sculpture (the other two are in Paris and Philadelphia).
• I got a class in Zen meditation at the Shunko-in temple in Kyoto. I liked our teacher: "This isn't mysticism. It's not even religion. It's mind training." And "Don't worry about tradition - sit however you want to and be comfortable."
• Going down the subway steps one day I nearly fell over at the regimented order I encountered coming up toward me. The exit was wide enough for two people to pass. I was the only person going down, and a 100 meter long single file line of people were ascending the stair. This was not because I was descending, this was simply how they were doing it: the other side was kept clear, even though there was no one in sight before I arrived. That single file line really did go about 100 meters back inside the station - through broad halls. Could not happen in Toronto. But Japan is a consensus society, and politeness is required. I saw less orderly subway lines on many occasions, but always better than Toronto: my suspicion is that this was so orderly because they were on the way to work, and you don't step out of line at work.
• The gardens are fantastic. High maintenance sculpted asymmetric perfection.
• I lined up for half an hour in the pouring rain at 0700 to have sushi breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market - the line was that short only because of the weather. It was brilliant.
• Their kaiten sushi restaurants (conveyor-belt sushi, fast food for the Japanese) makes most sushi restaurants in Toronto taste like crap. It's been hard to go back to Toronto sushi.