Having “done” the big city and the nature, it was time to take in some culture. Kyoto and Nara are the “old” parts of Japan with many of the most beautiful and most famous temples. I didn’t see all of them but I did pretty well! The difference in character between them was fascinating.

Pretty much straight off the Shinkansen I headed to Kiyomizudera. This was, by far, the busiest and most crowded temple of the trip ((There was one in Nara that came close, but the busy-ness was isolated. Here it was everywhere!)). Quite an odd atmosphere for a temple in any case.

Views away from the temple were also worth taking. You could see much of Kyoto from the top.

As is typical in temples and Japan in general, you have to take your shoes off before you enter. I liked the contrast between the formal, the casual and the furry. I deliberately brought slip-on shoes to Japan to make this kind of operation easier but fate conspired against me and I ended up wearing my walking shoes on days when, perhaps, I should have taken the Vans.

After Kiyomizudera I headed downhill and found a whole host of other, smaller temples. This one had hundreds of lanterns all around.

My favourite temple in Kyoto was the Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji). The first thing to note about the Silver Pavilion is that it’s not silver.

They never quite finished it. But what they did finish was very tranquil and beautiful.

One nice thing was that it was much bigger than it looked. After the sand garden were some ponds, more temples.

And some more views back over Kyoto.

Even mundane elements looked attractive in the long, evening light.

At the other end of town is the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). This one actually lives up to its name, having plenty of gold on show.

Compared with the Silver Pavilion, however, what it lacked was subtlety. You walk in the gate and it’s there, right in front of you.

Big. Golden. Pavilion-y.

To be fair I’m selling it very short. There was more to it than just the Pavilion, and it was all well worth seeing.

The final temple of the trip was Ryoanji, which had a different feel and pace again. This was was more about the gardens, though there were temples in the grounds.

One of the central points was a large sand garden. Lots of people just sat in contemplation.

It was bright and in direct sunlight at the time I was there, so I sat around the corner in the shade!

The next instalment will be of Nara which is a smaller but older capital city.

For my last day in Nagano Prefecture I had set my sights on Kamikochi, known as one of the most scenic parts of the Japanese Alps. However, the night before I had pretty much given up all home. It had been raining heavily and it was so cloudy that you couldn’t really see the mountains around Matsumoto ((Mountains hiding, of course, had already become a bit of a theme for this trip.)), much less those any higher up.

But the next morning things looked very different. It was a bright day, with a clear blue sky and a slight chill in the air — it was, after all, October. The forecast still wasn’t promising but I thought it was worth the risk.

Luckily I was right.

Much like my trip to Yosemite last year, I didn’t stray too far from the main, well trodden parts. I’d love to have had more time, but you know how it is…

I started at the main Bus Terminal (who says travel isn’t glamorous?) and took a coach up the twisty roads to the Kappa Bridge area. A Kappa, incidentally, is a sort of troll or water sprite if you believe Wikipedia. People crossing this part of the river with things balanced on their heads look, if you have poor eye-sight, a little like a kappa, hence the name of the bridge.

As a contrast to Tokyo you really couldn’t get much more complete. There were times when there were no other people visible at all! But one thing that did, surprisingly, creep into view was this snow monkey.

They are, perhaps, most famous for living near an onsen (hot spa) which is a few hours drive from where I was in Kamikochi. I was, therefore, surprised when this one sauntered out from the forest and onto the path. It wasn’t tame exactly, more indifferent to the people who were all stopped in their tracks and taking pictures.

It walked along for a little bit and then jumped back into the trees.

Even without more macaque’s there was still plenty to see. The mountains, the autumn foliage ((Marge: Next to Spring and Winter, Fall is my absolute favorite season.
Just look at all this beautiful foilage.
Lisa: It’s not “foilage,” mom, it’s “foliage.” Foo-liage.
Marge: That’s what I said, foilage. It doesn’t take a nucular scientist
to pronounce foilage.
Lisa: [growls])), the greens and reds contrasting with the blue sky. Really beautiful.

By the time I got back to the bus terminal it was pretty much dark. It had remained pretty much fine the whole day. I’m really glad I made it.

This is already turning into a trip of contrasts. Tokyo was all rush and all people, all the time. Mount Fuji (or at least Lake Kawaguchiko) was quiet, with very few people and little noise except the occasional clank from the bike chain. Matsumoto, a city near the Japanese Alps, strikes a balance somewhere between the two.

The main feature, right in the centre of the city, is Matsumoto Castle. It’s one of the oldest and best preserved castles in Japan.

It looks quite stunning with the sun setting. Because it’s mostly black it is also known as the “Crow Castle.” Contrary to a fact that I may have made up at the time, it was not built by crows.

It’s interesting to contrast a Japanese castle with one from Europe ((As will quickly become obvious, this is not something I know much about. But I feel qualified to discuss as — taking notes from Eddie Izzard — all Europeans live in castles.)). Matsumoto castle is made of wood and is not located on a hill, though there is the moat and some of the defences are similar, such as the arrow slits and apertures where unpleasant objects can easily be thrown down but not up. European castles have a mass, a presence but none of those that I’ve seen have the aesthetics and lines as this one.

Of course, no visit to a Japanese city would be complete without looking at some temples. I think this is the first time I saw statues like these with fetching little hats and bibs, though I would see many more the next week in Kyoto and Nara.

On the Saturday morning I went to a flea market. I always thought of Japan being gleaming and modern with people shunning old stuff, well, except for the really old stuff. But thrift clearly plays a part for many Japanese people.

There were huge crowds and kids running riot. Things for sale ranged from clothes to food to toys. This guy was clearly proud of motorised toys.

The following day I left Matsumoto city looking to get back to nature. That’s what tomorrow post will be about.

The Japanese, at least those in the big cities, clearly have a “work hard, play hard” mind-set. I can recount the stereotype of the salaryman carefully arriving at work before and leaving after his boss, or going for drinks with his colleagues at the expense of his family.

Of course I didn’t really see that. While they were working I was sight-seeing.

In the evenings I saw gangs of men in suits in bars. But really the defining factor was that everywhere you looked, no matter the time, there were people asleep. On tube trains. On benches in parks. On seats in exhibition centres.

Of course, not all Japanese people are sleep. Some are just chillin’.

And others are just zoning out.

I probably could have taken a full memory card of sleeping people but in the end I only took a few.