As we were looking for a train station, we came upon Randen Arashiyama station. From the street (it was night time) we could see the light patterns on poles. Upon coming closer, it was the Kimono Forest! This is off the beaten path and almost like a hidden gem as Kyoto has TONS to see!
As we were coming out of the bamboo forest, there was a rickshaw driver.
The traditional rickshaw is a cart that the driver actually guides and pulls. http://ebisuya.com/en/index.html
We asked how much and he said for 5,000 yen a person for 22 minutes. He took us a few blocks and showed us the local hotel where celebrities stayed. We also went by the Togetsu bridge!
I’ll have to be honest, Jasmin put alot of thought into this trip. She was really the one who changed the way I travel. She looked up all these great spots that I would have passed over to visit a car shop.
One place I didn’t expect was the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. While it is just a “forest” trail, I have never seen bamboo like this. So it was an unique experience.
It started to get dark and unfortunately, I had my digital SLR, but no tripod. So my photos started to become blurry (beginner photographer if that).
People will tell you Kyoto is traditional style Japan. It was the old capital of Japan. Gion is one of the districts within Kyoto.
Jasmin wanted to visit this place because her colleague and friend told her it is very pretty and traditional… maybe even untouched. After walking through some streets, we came upon the Gion Shin Bridge (really small), but the stream of water lead to the Shirakawa canal. There was a heron in the stream and it looked calm, so I had to take a picture of it.
It was nice and relaxing to walk those streets. They were narrow and the buildings looked traditional (my way of saying old school).
Kiyomizu-dera is one of the famous temples in Kyoto (there are many tho).
It is an UNESCO World Heritage site!
After getting off the bus, we walked up a slightly inclined street. Along the way, many vendors and store fronts! It was busy.
Finally we came upon Kiyomizu-dera, you can see the steps leading to Nio-mon (the entrance) and Sai-mon right next to it.
After taking pictures and offering prayers, we walked down some stairs and seen the Otowa Waterfalls.
There was a long line, but once you get to the waterfall, you grab a ladle from the storage and reach for one of the 3 sprouts.
One of the Temples Jasmin set us to visit was Sanjūsangen-dō Temple, the Thousand Armed Kannon. Bus was crowded, but we got off and walked across the street to the temple.
We were asked to remove our shoes and NOT VIDEO TAPE OR TAKE PICTURES OF THE STATUES.
So there are a 1000 life size statues in there. All different and very interesting to see.
Here is a stock photo I found online.
We took the went to the Shinsaibashi station to jump on the Midosuji subway line headed for Umeda station (Umeda station serves the local subway lines).
Umeda station is an interchange station with JR’s Osaka station. These are next to each other and within walking distance.
From Osaka Station, we boarded the Limited Express Thunderbird bound for JR Kyoto Station.
KYOTO STATION IS HUGE!!!! It is gorgeous!!! It is super cool. Huge shopping complex. Kyoto is known to have 100s of Shrines and Temples. Jasmin chose some pretty good ones. The funny thing is that we didn’t use the JR or trains this day. We got a one day bus pass and went from there.
Kyoto City Bus pass. Then the intense map showing the different routes, the different ways to get there (train or bus) and the stops themselves. The map is intensely busy. Should have bought the subway and train pass as later we would use both.
*quick note – we did not see the train depot or Escalator mountain. We only used the bus on this day.
We checked out a few Temples and shrines.
It has been 10 years since I was in Osaka.
We couldn’t check in til 4pm. So we left our stuff at Shin Osaka station and decided to get take the JR Tokaido Sanyo Line as it is a direct train to Osaka Station.
Once we got to Osaka Station, we had to look at the map on which train would bring us to Osaka Castle. We jumped on the Tanimachi subway line and that took us to the Tanimachiyonchome Station. Osaka Castle was a block away.
I remember coming up to the corner of the Osaka Museum of History. We walked to the corner of the Park and the over view of the Moat was gorgeous!
-osaka castle moat video
I accidentally merged pictures from a different folder with my Osaka Castle pictures, so many are gone (I’m an idiot!!! smh). I do have video though!
After getting some food from the mini Food trucks there, I went to go to the bathroom. The bathroom that was outside the entrance to the Castle itself was squatter style.
There was a short line to buy tickets and go in. The ticket itself was 600 Yen.
We slowly got inside (yes it was that busy) and went to the top. Great views of Osaka from a 360 perspective. As you make your way down, each floor had some history. Two of the floors had some historic relics from the days of the samurai and so they asked people not to video or take pictures. There was some very cool paintings of the battles!
We woke up and packed up our stuff. Our hotel is right next to Hamamatsu station, so it wasn’t much of distance. The best way to travel city to city in Japan is Shinkansen! So we bought those tickets.
The main post can be found here : Journey to Carshop Friend.
But this I wanted to go more into detail as Kuze-san and Kubo-san have helped me so much and have met with me as much as possible.
I met with Kuze-san on Facebook and when I planned to go to the 30th Leopard meeting, he said he was going to meet me there. We were to exchange gifts then.
The night I arrived in Akihabara, he contacted me saying that he was unable to go to the meeting. I told him I would be back in Tokyo towards the end of my trip and it would be great to meet him. I also told him to tell Mr. Kanazawa I wanted to visit Carshop Friend that time too.
He asked me what I was doing tomorrow and I said nothing, he said he can meet me and take me there. So that is what happened.
Kuze-san and the Kubos arrived at the place we were staying at. We exchanged gifts and Jasmin said she wanted to explore and go shopping in Akihabara, so we split up before getting to the JR station.
He brought the Kubo family as well. We had a good conversation on the train there, but we also had lunch at one of the JR stations we stopped at.
I also met Mr. Kanazawa that day. He is the owner of Carshop Friend, the Nissan Leopard Specialty shop. Going to his shop and meeting him was something that many of us true leopard enthusiasts set as a goal.
This was important to me on many levels, but I also made good friends!