I.A.M. Kyoto Part 2: The Kyoto One Day Tour, April 16th

Hugging Pandasu on the bus tour.

I awoke at 3.45 in the morning to someone out in the street opening and closing the big metal shutters in front of their business. I dozed again, to be awoken another 15 - 20 minutes later to the same effect. If you have ever heard these shutters that they open and close in front of their entire store front, you will know the sound; it ... grates... garagaragaragaragaragggggrrrraagggggg. Sort of like that. And early early in the morning, it is not a pleasant noise to be awakened by.

Right next to my head was an air duct vent in the wall that stuck out. I could hear the five Axe Murderers above me snoring all night long. I awoke and dozed to their orchestrated symphony of varying decibels as it echoed up and down the pipes.

The pillow filled with rocks made my neck and face sore, but I survived that as well as the fact that even sleeping diagonally was not quite long enough for me and my shoulders and feet stuck out at both ends of the futon. But I survived that, too.

Then at about 5 in the morning I heard some women through the paper thin walls and that got my attention, but not enough to really understand what language they were speaking. Likely it was a foreign language as I couldn't pick out any words I really understood.

At 6am I heard through the pipes again from the floor above me the Axe Murderers above all up and moving around, laughing, joking, and teasing.

At 6.45 I got "the call" saying they were all downstairs and ready to go.

We walked 30 minutes to Kyoto station and some of the other women were kind of worried that NOW maybe I was really going to do them in because I was taking them through "questionable" parts of town. But they made it all in five pieces to our Tour Pickup point, The New Miyako Hotel. We dropped off our luggage, and walked 10 minutes to a Skylark restaurant for a great JPY 800 breakfast buffet that filled us up with good protein for the day.

Then we headed back to the hotel, and loaded onto the bus for the Kyoto One Day Tour by JTB Sunrise Tours. Here is how JTB markets it:

Experience Kyoto, Japan’s capital from 794-1868. Visit Nijo Castle, the residence of the Tokugawa era shoguns, and the gold-leaf covered Golden Pavilion, which houses sacred relics of Buddha and is surrounded by exquisite gardens renowned for their beauty. Walk through the Kyoto Imperial Palace and watch traditional Japanese artisans work their craft at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. Visit Heian Jingu Shrine, a partial replica of the Imperial Palace. Walk through Sanjusangendo Temple, Japan’s longest wooden structure, famous for its 1,001 human-sized Kannon statues, and browse through the specialty shops leading up to Kiyomizudera Temple for a sweeping view of the city.

Here is their itinerary with some photos that I took, stuck in between:

Nijo Castle

The Kyoto Residence of the Tokugawa Shogun built in 1603, Nijo Castle is noted for the contrast of its solemn appearance and gorgeous interiors.

Visiting the Shogun's castle in Kyoto was fascinating. The nightingale flooring, a security system designed centuries ago is unique, and utterly brilliant!

Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavilion)

The most authentic and exquisite Japanese style garden in the world, plus the celebrated Golden Pavilion.

The Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan is one of my favourites

Kyoto Imperial Palace

The ancient Imperial Palace clearly shows the Japanese taste for purity, simplicity and calmness.

The sakura in Kyoto were still in bloom so we were very fortunate.

This is one of the most beautiful publicly-owned gardens in Japan.
The Kyoto Imperial Palace is owned by us, the taxpayers, so it's "ours"!

Kyoto Handicraft Center

Enjoy buffet lunch (free soft drinks included except alcoholic drink) and shopping at Kyoto Handicraft Center.

Heian Jingu Shrine

Graceful old court life is reflected in the brightly colored shrine with its vermilion pillars and green roof, and in its enchanting inner gardens and ponds.

There are many kinds of Sakura. This is one of the bigger ones. But just as lovely. Wouldn't you love to have something like this on your lapel for an April Sakura Wedding?

It started to pour as we walked through the gardens at Heian shrine in Kyoto.

Sanju-Sangendo Hall

A renowned long wooden hall housing all of 1,001 statues of Kannon that date back to the 13th century.

Kiyomizudera Temple

A quaint old lane lined with pottery shops leads to the temple. Enjoy a sweeping view of the entire city from its lofty terrace.

It was crowded going up to Kiyomizu-dera, as usual.

This temple is one of the busiest and most popular in all of Japan.

When all was said and done, we made it back to the hotel, where we picked up our stuff, and wandered into the Kyoto Station. We found a good restaurant up in the department store, enjoyed dinner together, and then headed back down to the Shinkansen Gates where we hugged our goodbyes and they walked off into the sunset, happy, tired, but alive and in five pieces to ride the 19:29 Shinkansen back to Tokyo where they planned to meet yet another Internet Axe Murderer, Jaime, the very next day!

Pandasu and her "adepts", learning the Axe Murderer ropes.

I loved meeting all five of them, and I hope they have great memories and stories to take back with them to their homeland. I loved it!

If four "normal people" can hug an unknown MALE Internet Axe Murderer, I have to conclude that it was yet another mission accomplished successfully!

More photos can be found on Flickr.

I.A.M. Kyoto Part 1: Sharpening the Axe, April 15th can be found here!