Our next installment of Japan brought us to Kyoto. Kyoto is not only know for the environmental accord to reduce CO2 emissions to curb global warming (just in case you didn't know Mr. Harper and Bush) but also as one of the ancient capitals of imperial Japan. Luckily, the Allies took this place off the short list for the A-bomb as it is a very beautiful and laid-back city at the foot of the mountains! For that reason, Kyoto is home to 2000 plus Buddhist and Shinto temples and shrines (our total of visited temples and shrines over three days: one intentially and one coincidentally as it was the site of a market we visited). There are many wooden homes here and the residential streets are very narrow and cozy, evoking images of old Japan. We learned that because of all the wood structures, they do not have fireworks in Kyoto. One of the funniest things we heard was that Kyoto is considered the country!? It's a city of 1.5 milliion people but they consider it the country. Ah...Japan, you make me laugh sometimes.

Our first day in Kyoto was like most travel days into a new city. Again, we came on the uber-fast shinkansen train (we really need one of these in Canada!) and found our way to our guesthouse. The cutesy guesthouse only has 8 beds and is in a 70-year old Japanese house. What did I do first? I hit my head on the doorframe walking in! We settled in a tried to make a plan to visit the city. A month earlier, I had sought out the advice of my step~brother who had been here before. He wasn't too helpful as he told me "Everything is good in Kyoto". Turns out he's right, but he didn't really help us make decisions about the must sees of this city. In the end, we ended up walking through the old imperial park grounds that had the emperor's former residence (that is before it moved to Tokyo) and then onto the centre of the city. We walked around the beautiful downtown along a canal and then along Pontocho street which is were geishas can still be found entertaining gentlemen. We think that we spotted a few apprentices as they weren't fully decked out but were still in kimonos. In the end, all we did was walk around trying to get the vibe of the place.

For our second day in Kyoto, we left the city. We are milking our railpass for all its worth and we went to Himeji about halfway between here and Hiroshima. Himeji is the home to Japan's most beautiful and largest castle. (see http://www.himeji-castle.gr.jp/index/English/) Arriving in Himeji, we borrowed bicycles from the tourism office to peddle around town quickly. We visited the castle and its grounds. This took essentially the whole day. When entering the castle, we had to take our shoes off and walk around in slippers~very cozy! From the top floor, we had a wonderful view of the surrounding city and the mountains around us. We picnicketed in a park that had a flea market and a circus in it. At one point, two elephants (and their trainers) walked past us and each reached out for our bag of peanuts and our sandwiches. We quickly pulled them away because we didn't want them to get punished but we would have gladly shared with them. Returning to Kyoto, we explored the ultramodern train station with its skywalk 11 stories above the main concourse. But the biggest highlight was spotting the Astroboy statue! Oh the memories of watching Astroboy reruns on CKND Channel 12 in Winnipeg (although we didn't have cable so it was blurry channel 9).

Today was an overly ambitious day, but very pleasant though. My first stop was the Manga Museum (Japanese comics) where I learned the history of manga. They had a huge library of manga to read but sadly it was all in Japanese although that doesn't come as a surprise. I felt like Chris Farley in this sketch (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/237653/chris_farley_japanese_gameshow/) -"I don' t speak Japanese!" It was impressive the huge amounts of people, young and old, men and women, who visit the museum to read through the volumes of magazines there. Michaela started her busy day and a traditional craft museum. I think my choice was better especially when I was done and got to bask in the sun while drinking coffee.

We then went for a nice relaxing bike ride up along the river to the market and to the Kinkakuji temple (aka the Golden temple - see http://www.shokoku-ji.or.jp/english/e_kinkakuji/). We also stopped in at the Nishijin textile centre (you can google that one if you want) to see a kimono fashion show. After the show, Michaela learned how to weave her own piece of cloth. Afterwards, we peddled to an onsen, Japanese bathhouse. Michaela was disappointed that the baths weren't co-ed, but the visit was quite pleasant. The baths were extremely hot and we lasted not even 30 minutes. I luckily found the outdoor bath which was nice and relaxing. Sadly, we didn't know any of the bathhouse etiquette (Japan is big on etiquette with everything) so we made fools of ourselves.

All in all, we are loving Japan. We find the Japanese like Canadians-very polite and respectful. This is welcomed after our experiences in the rest of Asia. Of course, we are making the most of our last few days of travelling before returning home. The idea of going home really hit when my work emailed me inquiring if I am going to return. The things that we have seen and done over the past 10 and a half months all seem like dreams now whereas even last month everything felt like our reality.

j & m