The Other Half of Our Dream Vacation

Kyoto is known as the city of 1700 Buddhist temples and 300 Shinto shrines. Be sure to visit a few. Nijo Castle is 400 years old this year. The Imperial Palace is a must-see, as are Ryoanji Temple and its rock garden, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and Gion Corner with its cultural demonstrations. If at all possible, take time to visit Amanohashidate. It is a sight rarely seen by foreigners and well worth the effort. Take time to walk around Kyoto and get to know the Japanese people, too.

Quick Tips:

Banks offer the best exchange rates, but are sometimes difficult to locate and often are opened at times other than when you might expect. Plan ahead and carry enough yen to cover your expenses. Credit cards are accepted in major cities in restaurants, large department stores, hotels, and railway ticket offices. However, if you travel to the rest of Japan, you'll find that the only thing accepted everywhere is yen, and not U.S. dollars.

Restrooms come in two main styles; Japanese and Western. Western, meaning what we're used to in the USA, are not always easy to find. Most JR trains and train stations, the larger hotels and department stores and restaurants in cities, will have them (at least one). It's best to carry your own paper and handi-wipes just to be prepared.

Best Way To Get Around:

Before leaving the United States, we purchased vouchers for Japan Rail Passes. We flew non-stop from San Jose to Narita Airport in Tokyo. At Narita, we traded the vouchers for JR Passes. We traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto on a Shinkansen (bullet train), which took less than 3 hours. Then we took two other, slower trains and arrived in Kumihama Bay about two and a half hours later.

The JR Pass proved to be a bargain and was extremely convenient to use. Our original plan was to return from Kumihama by train to Osaka, board a plane to Haneda Airport, take a shuttle train to Narita, and fly home to San Jose. We discovered that it was a lot easier and faster to take trains from Kumihama Bay to Kyoto, Tokyo, and Narita.

To get around Kyoto, we either rode trains, walked, rode buses, or took the subway. There was never a need for a car. Unless you can read the Japanese road signs and are used to driving on the left side of the road, facing the oncoming traffic, stay away from rental cars. Japan's transportation system is the best in the world.

Best Things Nearby:
Amanohashidate, located nearby on the north coast of Honshu, is one of the three most scenic spots in Japan. Kyoto, Nara and Kobe are conveniently reachable by train for daytrips. Boating and fishing are very popular in Kumihama Bay on the Sea of Japan.

Best Things About the Resort:
The people who work at the resort are the friendliest and most helpful that we've ever experienced. The rooms are great. The expense of the accomodations was moderate compared to the other alternatives with comparable furnishings.

Resort Experience:
We expected to have a small room with two twin beds, a private bathroom, and a tiny closet. Typical hotel rooms in Japan do not have a lot of space as space is at a premium. When you have a population half that of the United States in a country the size of California, it is understandable that rooms will be small.

But the room was larger and much more accommodating than we expected. We did have two twin beds, but we also had a full leather couch and overstuffed leather chair with a glass coffee table, a long desk/counter/dresser, color cable TV, small refrigerator, hot water maker (for tea, instant coffee, etcetera) and a deep closet. We had another area with a tatami-covered floor which had a low level table and four seating cushions, during the day, and two futons spread out for the night, offering us a choice of sleeping accommodations. The bathroom came with a shower/tub combination, sink and western style toilet with heated seat, heated bidet and heated spray rinse.

The on-site restaurant offered a full menu of Japanese and western meals. The food was delicious and artfully presented. Service was always excellent. We usually placed our breakfast requests the night before, including what time we wanted to eat so we could make our connections on time. Everything was always ready on time.

The hotel staff went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable, often anticipating our needs and offering ideas to improve our plans. We were staying in a beautiful resort area, which was somewhat remote, requiring us to travel varying distances each day to see all the sites we desired to see. They helped us with train schedules, sometimes suggesting alternate routes in order to fit everything into the limited time we had. Each night we would share our plans for the next day and they would alert us to any flaws they detected. Each morning after breakfast, they had one of the staff take us to the train station. Each evening, when we arrived at the train station, either they were already there waiting for us, or we would call the resort and in eight minutes they would arrive to take us "home".

It's no wonder that resorts in Japan so seldom are offered for exchange. When you're treated as well as we were, you look forward to returning year after year.

• Unit Type: Studio
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Very Good
• Service: Excellent

When we travel we are always looking for new and different places to eat. Given our choice we want good food that's artistically presented, in clean surroundings, at convenient locations, and at affordable prices.

With so much to see and do in Kyoto, taking time out to eat is not a priority, but it is a necessity. While passing through the extensive underground shopping arcades, "Porta" and "The Cube" that connect the JR Railway and subway Kyoto stations, we discovered a mother lode of great restaurants.

From then on, we ate there all the time, trying different restaurants each day. We enjoyed Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish cuisines, all at very reasonable prices and with a minimal loss of time from our over-crowded schedules.

That's what I call a win-win situation!

This castle was originally built in 1603 by the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, and it was completed in 1626 by the third Shogun, Iemitsu, who transferred some structures from Fushimi Castle, which was built in the Momoyama Period (1573-1614). Consequently, the lavishly decorated Nijo Castle is representative of the height of Momoyama architecture. In its day, it served as a symbol of the power and authority of the Tokugawa military government.

When Yoshinubu, the 15th Tokugawa Shogun, returned sovereignty to the Emperor in 1867, the Castle was given to the Imperial family. In 1884 it was renamed Nijo Detached Palace and in 1939 donated to the city of Kyoto, renamed Nijo Castle (Nijo-jo) and opened to the public in 1940.

Nijo Castle, in its entirety, has been designated a historic relic. The Ninomaru Palace itself is a National Treasure, and 22 other structures, including Higashi-Ote-mon (the Eastern Main Gate) have been named Important Cultural Properties. The Ninomaru Garden has also been designated a Special Scenic Spot. On the side of the Higashi-Ote-Mon of the Castle remains a guardhouse used for the regulation of visitors. In the shogun's absence between 1634 and 1863, gate guard duty fell to the caretakers of the castle who were stationed there in alternating years, fifty persons at a time. Though the residences of the caretakers have disappeared, the guardhouse, built in 1608 remains as a rare example of their type, and has been designated an Important Cultural Property.

One of the castle's most intriguing features is its so-called "nightingale floors." To protect the shogun from real or imagined enemies, the castle was protected by a moat and stone walls. How deep the shogun's paranoia ran, however, is apparent by the installation of these special floorboards, which creaked when trod upon in the castle corridors. The nightingale floors were supplemented by hidden alcoves for bodyguards.

The total area of the castle is 275,000 square meters; 7,300 square meters are occupied by buildings.

Unlike the Imperial Palace, visitors to Nijo-jo are allowed to enter and pass through the interiors of the buildings.

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a period of over 1,000 years. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital from Heijo-kyo in present day Nara to Nagaoka-kyo in Kyoto. He moved the capital again in 794 to Heian-kyo, which was built in the center of present-day Kyoto City. The city measured approximately 5.3km from east to west. It was constructed in a grid-like pattern, resembling a go board. The Emperors who succeeded Emperor Kanmu held court at the Imperial Palace in Heian-kyo, which served as both a political and cultural center. The Imperial Palace was situated in a fixed place, called a dairi, which was rebuilt every time it was destroyed by fire. While the Imperial Palace was being rebuilt, it was customary for the Emperor to move temporarily to the residences of members of the aristocracy. Later on, this custom came to be called sato-dairi. In the late Heian period, the dairi was not frequently used and the sato-dairi came to be used as the de facto Imperial Palace. During this period, the dairi was destroyed time after time by fire and warfare. It eventually fell into utter ruin, never to be rebuilt again.

The present Kyoto Imperial Palace is one of the sato-dairi palaces and came to be used often around the time when the Heian-period dairi was destroyed. From 1331, when Emperor Kogon was enthroned, and until the capital was moved to Tokyo in 1869, this sato-dairi served as the Imperial Palace. Over this period, the Imperial Palace was often destroyed by fire and then reconstructed. When it was rebuilt, having been burned down in 1788, the Shishinden and other major structures in the Palace compound were rebuilt in the traditional Heian style. In 1854, when the Palace burned down again, the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered that an Imperial Palace identical to its predecessor be immediately rebuilt, and the work was completed with exceptional speed by the following year. This is the Palace that still stands today.

The Kyoto Imperial Palace, which is surrounded by tsuijibet, or earthen walls with coping tiles, extends approximately450m from north to south and 250m from east to west. It encompasses a total area of approximately 110,000 square meters (approximately 27 acres).

Amanohashidate, on Miyazu Bay about 2¾ hours out of Kyoto, is classified as an "Outstanding Scenic Place" by the Japanese and is known as one of the "Three Great Sights" in the country (the other two are Matsushima in Tohoku, in Northern Honshu, and Miyajima, in Hiroshima Bay). Actually, Amanohashidate is a sandbar covered with fantastically shaped pine trees. Literally, the word means "Bridge of Heaven," and the Japanese have been making trips to visit it for centuries. Its name comes from the Japanese legend that the god Izanagi-no-Mikoto and the goddess Izanami-no-Mikoto crossed the bridge coming down from heaven to visit the Konomiya Shrine in Fuchu.

To travel to this amazing scenic wonder, we took a 52-minute train ride from our resort in Kumihama Bay, and then boarded a double-decker sightseeing boat for the trip across the bay. Once on the other side, we passed through a small shopping area to a staging platform at the base of Mt. Nariai. Here we were given the choice of ascending to the viewing platforms in Kasamatsu Park, halfway up the mountain, by using either a cable car or an open chair lift. We opted for the chair lift, which seemed more exciting.

After arriving at the park, we happily took our turns on the viewing platforms to see a sight rarely seen by foreign visitors to Japan. In the traditional stance, we took an upside-down look through our legs. This, it is said, gives the effect of a bridge in the sky extending toward heaven, thus the name. Before leaving the area, we were able to visit Monjudo (the main building of Chionji Temple) and Tahoto Pagoda ("pagoda of many treasures"), built in 1500 and designated as an Important Cultural Property.

About a half-hour walk southwest of the Golden Pavilion is Ryoanji--home to what is probably the most famous Zen rock garden in all of Japan, laid out at the end of the 15th century during the Muromachi Period, by Soami. Fifteen rocks set in waves of raked white pebbles are surrounded on three sides by a clay wall and on the fourth by a wooden veranda. People come from all around the world to sit down here and contemplate what the artist was trying to communicate. The interpretation of the rocks is up to the individual. If you're looking for a peaceful place to relax and unwind, arrive early to avoid the crowds and noise. After visiting the rock garden, be sure to take a stroll around the 1,000-year-old pond.