So I made it to Japan on Friday night after a six hour flight to Kansai (Osaka) airport, a one hour long backup/wait in immigration, a one hour line I had to stand in to pick up my JR Rail pass, a 65 minute train ride from Kansai to Kyoto and a 10 minute cab ride from Kyoto Station to my hotel. So despite the fact I landed at 4:00, I didn’t reach my hotel until almost 8:00 p.m. Not a particularly efficient start.
Anyway, once settled, I fell asleep while trying to read and did not wake up until 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. So after breakfast, I decided to check out the neighborhood. My hotel is in a really cute part of Kyoto called the Sanjo. There are bridges over the nearby Kamo River, which are home to ducks and herons. Most importantly, I am literally a 5 minute walk from the Sanjo train station, which will be incredibly helpful in meeting up with my tours. There are all sorts of little restaurants all around the hotel. And the best part … there are blocks and blocks of gorgeous Sakura (cherry blossom trees) right beside the hotel. And on Saturday, the cherry blossoms in Kyoto were at their peak.
Now because I was out on the street fairly early, there were only a handful of people wandering around checking out the cherry blossoms. However, by midday when I walked back past the area again, the hordes had descended so it was a good call to get out early and snap some pictures in the brilliant sunshine.
So after the pictures and walk around the neighborhood, I got ready ready to head over to the Gion-kobu Kaburenjo Theater where I was going to watch the one hour Miyako Odori, a 150 year plus spring tradition in Kyoto that sees geiko (geisha who have reached the highest level of geisha) and maiko (apprentice geisha) perform eight different dances that showcase the changing seasons from spring to the following spring. Geisha are trained in traditional Japanese performing arts like dance, music and singing and are proficient in conversation and hosting. The tradition of geisha continues to be very popular in Kyoto and the small town of Kanazawa and the opportunity to see the geisha perform is a rarity so the performance sells out almost as soon as the tickets go on sale even though the performances run for most of April. I had the date the tickets would go on sale marked on my calendar for months so was able to score a ticket.
Anyway, the theater was only about a 20 minute walk from my hotel so I set out at 11:40 since the performance started right at 12:30. Once I reached the theater, I wandered around, took some pictures and then headed inside. Now the good news was that they had English headphones that would provide an overview of each of the eight dances so I wouldn’t be sitting there wondering what the heck was going on. (And the headphones proved to be really helpful). The bad news … no pictures during the performance, but I found a way around this by grabbing some screen shots from video posted on the Miyako Odori website so you can get an idea of what it was like to be in attendance.
So once I was shown to my seat, I took a few pictures of the inside of the theater, turned on the headphones and waited. And right at 12:30, the doors closed and the performance began. There were drums and shamisan (a three string, high pitched guitar like instrument) and singing to open the first dance as the geisha danced their way down the aisles and onto the stage. The second dance celebrated Spring with lots of cherry blossom scenery. The third dance celebrated the impact nuns had on the country. The fourth dance celebrated kindness and the rewards that can come from being kind. The fifth dance involved a true story of a wealthy man and his bodyguard. The sixth dance celebrated fall, with gorgeous fall foliage surrounding the stage. The seventh dance celebrated winter with snow falling onto the stage. And the last dance (which included all of the dancers from all of the dances) celebrated spring again with the stage decked out in cherry blossoms.
The music, dancing and singing was fabulous and thanks to the headphones, I was able to follow along with all of the stories each dance told. The costumes were absolutely gorgeous. It was a really fabulous experience.
So after the one hour show was over, I walked back towards my hotel and ended up stopping for some lunch. I opted to go with a bowl of udon to tide me over before my evening tour.
Now the evening tour was going to be a bit of a combination of a tour to see the Sakura along with picnicking under the trees (this is called Hanami where Japanese essentially picnic under the cherry blossoms). The tour was leaving from the Demachiyanagi station, which, as luck would have it, was only one stop from the Sanyo station so that made it super easy for me.
I arrived at the meeting point at 4:15 as instructed, but by 4:25 no one had showed up. I decided to walk back to the main entrance to the station and … viola … I found the guide (H) along with Kathleen (a gal from the tour company who was going to take some marketing photos) and Sebastian from Peru. I showed H the instructions I had been provided for meeting up with the guide and told him I had been at the other location since 4:!5. And in true Japanese style, H apologized multiple times for the mixup.
Anyway, once things were straightened out, we set out across a bridge over the Kamo River (it flows throughout Kyoto) and cut through an alleyway mall that was incredibly cool. The mall contained all sorts of shops. There was a used book store, a second hand shop where Elmo was playing the piano, a dried foods shop, a famous tofu shop, a grocery store, a fruit stand, a clothing store, a kimono shop (which are worn on special occasions by Japanese women such as weddings and graduation ceremonies), a candy shop and on and on. Apparently, there are alley malls like this throughout Kyoto. And quite frankly, the alley mall was like a one stop shopping area. It was pretty cool.
From here, we crossed the street, walked through a small neighborhood, crossed another street and entered one of the gates for the Imperial Palace. Now H had kept it secret as to where we were going to take in the cherry blossoms, but I was really excited when we entered the Imperial Palace since it is not one of the locations I was planning to visit on two of my tours around Kyoto.
Anyway, we made our way through the ancient gate (H did not know how old the gate was, but the gate made out of wood and looked incredibly old), and walked along the expansive grounds. Now the palace is only open to the public two times a year (this was not one of those times), but the grounds are open to the public 24-7.
And at this time of year, I would have expected the grounds to be packed with people, but H said that the grounds are not one of the most popular places to see the cherry blossoms, which is why he picked the location.
We ended up wandering almost the entire width of the grounds past the burial ground for the Japanese emperors and a very famous red pine tree that looked as if a bonsai expert had pruned the tree before veering to the right into a large garden area where there were dozens of cherry trees in bloom. This was the first area of the grounds where there were actually more than a handful of people. At this point, H told us to wander around and check out the cherry blossoms and he would go set up our picnic area.
So I took off and wandered around the area taking in gorgeous cherry blossom trees, picturesque bridges and a darkening sky. (It is supposed to rain tomorrow.) It was interesting to see that some of the trees were completely loaded with cherry blossoms, some were already starting to shed their blooms and others were in the early stages of opening up. And apparently, the cherry blossoms are very late this year because of a cold snap in late March. (Yay for me. I had expected to arrive at the end of the cherry blossom season, but because of the cold snap, I am smack in the middle.)
Anyway, by about 5:30, H was set up and we headed over for some snacks. There was sushi (vinegar herring, not my favourite, and a white fish … very good), dried squid (yummy), traditional Japanese snacks including crunchy little wasabi bites with peanuts, potato sticks, and potato chips seasoned with seaweed (also yummy). We also had desert which consisted of a bean curd cookie covered in powdered sugar … not a fan. And of course, no picnic could be complete without sake. Now I am not a sake fan, but apparently, I have been drinking the wrong kind of sake. This sake was spectacular. In fact, H refilled my glass no less than three times.
So we ended up sitting under the cherry blossoms, eating and drinking for about an hour before H said it was time to go. (And good thing, because we were rapidly losing daylight.)
Once we were packed up, we walked back the same way we had come and then stopped at a tiny little restaurant to try green curry noodles. Now I was already stuffed and the idea of eating more food did not appeal to me, but when in Rome ….
So by 7:00 we were each presented with a huge bowl of green curry noodles that included shiitake mushrooms, green onion and of course the noodles. I ate about a ¼ of the bowl and then said no mas. Now the dish was OK and all, but is not something I would have ordered for myself. I love green curry, but the thick noodles in the dish and thick starchy green curry gravy was not my cup of tea.
We wrapped things up by 7:30 and walked back to the train station. I said goodby to everyone and headed off from my quick trip to Sanjo. I was back in my hotel room by 8:00 and was ready to call it a night. Tomorrow, I have a 7 km hike that I am a bit nervous about given the weather forecast and the fact that the hike is a LOT of hills and through some rocky terrain. Hopefully, I will survive it.