Favourite 2019 travel photos. Kyoto, Japan. October 2019.
Pagoda
Kyoto
After the rain in Kyoto
A day trip to Kyoto was always in the cards for my trip to Japan. I had decided to stay in Osaka to allow more time to explore the food culture of that city, knowing Kyoto was just a comfortable 45 minute train ride away. The question of my trip wasn’t “if” Kyoto, but “when” Kyoto. After a fall typhoon bent eastward sparing the region a direct hit but still making for a pretty impressive wind and rain storm, it allowed me to hop a train the very next morning from Osaka to Kyoto.
Getting a jump on the crowds that descend on Kyoto’s attractions, in particular, its shrines and temples, my early morning train and a short walk got me to Fushimi Inari shrine to enjoy it in a relative state of tranquility.
A taste of Japanese craft beer
On my first Sunday in Japan, I felt a bit adrift. Fall Sundays for me are usually spent in my basement, a collection of delicious snacks and excellent craft beer near at hand to sustain me for a day’s worth of watching football. I didn’t really have any desire to spend my precious time in Tokyo seeking out a bar to watch NFL football in, but I had a plan for visiting some excellent craft beer bars and thought that would be a nice way to enjoy an afternoon.
After filling up my belly with a healthy amount of sushi at a fun conveyor-belt place in the neighbourhood, I made my way to the taproom at the Baird Brewing Company. While there was no football on, the World Cup of Rugby was underway so I had a prime seat with a group of ex-pat New Zealanders watching their country take on Namibia.
So many memories
I really had nothing to worry about. While I hesitated booking this trip and then felt intimidated trying to plan for it, once I touched down in Japan, everything just clicked. This is a country that I wanted to visit for some time, but doing so as an extended solo trip gave me pause for thought. Would I get homesick? Would I be lonely? Would the language and cultural barriers be too much for me on my own? Would any of that make this trip difficult in a way that would limit my own enjoyment of a much needed vacation? As I write this a few hours before catching my flight home, none of that ever materialized. And that’s all due to how wonderful Japan and its people are.
This was a trip full of memories. Hiking through the mountains outside Kyoto and listening to the previous day’s typhoon rains streaming down the hills, visiting temples and shrines, eating exquisite sushi, attending a playoff baseball game, exploring Tokyo, eating my way through Osaka, hanging out on a beach in Kamakura and thinking about my family and friends… Every day gave me something to remember.
This won’t be a trip where there’s one primary thing I take away. It has been a trip that is already forming a collage in my mind of conversations, tastes, sights, and most importantly, feelings. I have felt it all here. Awe in the presence of the physical and natural beauty. Sheer happiness visiting a crazy izakaya. Bewilderment while figuring out cultural norms and then pride in a sense of growing confidence as I figured things out. And a whole lot of pure, unadulterated joy at being so far from home and enjoying my time here to the fullest.
I am prone to easily falling in love with some of the places I visit, but even given that, I can honestly say that I have fallen in love with Japan and it has left a beautiful mark on my heart. Its people have been unfailingly warm, kind and generous to me; they have made me smile and laugh, and made me want to be better to others I meet, the way they have been to me over the past two weeks.
Two weeks hasn’t been enough time as there is so much more I want to see, experience and taste (especially, taste!). But it was also perfect. The soles of my shoes have been worn down, I’m starting to long for home and the people (and dog) I miss, and my heart is overflowing from what I have felt here in Japan. This trip could not have been more perfect.
Thank you Japan.
Bluenose Traveler 