Tokyo 2019 - Day 4, Kyoto

Hello everyone and welcome back to Day 4 of my summer Tokyo 2019 trip. Okay, first things first, this entry may be a little bit of a misnomer as as majority of the day is spent not in Tokyo but rather, in a completely different prefecture, Kyoto. On Day 1, we hit up Nakano for its legendary Broadway Mall. Day 2, the highlight of the trip, came with our annual visit to Wonder Festival. While Day 3, saw us hitting up otaku-central, Akihabara. So far everything went as planned until this faithful day where all the plans initially made for this day was thrown out the window in a last minute plan that came up just the day before we flew to Japan. Yes, it was that last minute of a plan and one that I do not regret for a second as I will explain below. 

I believe the recent events that transpired in Kyoto, or to be more specific, affecting Kyoto Animation requires no further explanation. The event is one that is tragic not just to the anime-community but, to the general community as a whole. So here I was given this very rare opportunity, one that I would probably never ever experience similarly in my life ever more. I am now in Tokyo, should I dedicate an entire day for my 5 day trip down to Tokyo to pay my respects to KyoAni?

By modern roads, the distance between Tokyo actual and Kyoto is a little over 450 kilometers. That is indeed quite a distance but, of course, this is Japan we are talking about and we have the shinkansen (bullet train). Board the Nozomi on the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen line and you are able to get from Tokyo Station and Kyoto Station in 2 hours and 5 minutes! A one way trip costs 13,000 Yen and for (foreign) travelers, you can get a deal on a return trip for just 21,000 Yen. So costs aside, I simply had no excuses not to pay a visit to Kyoto. And so I did. I did just that. Waking up early in the morning, I worked my way to Tokyo Station with pre-purchased tickets in hand. It would be my first time riding a shinkansen and it would be the express Nozomi nonetheless so, you could tell I was rather excited about the prospects!

A little under 3 hours later and 9 stops later, we had gone all the way from Tokyo Station to Kyoto before finally arriving at Rokujizo station. This was the closest station to Kyoto Animation's studio before making a short walk to the actual site itself. The skies were as clear as it could be that day and the Kyoto summer was certainly not letting up with its blistering heat. It may have been really hot on that day but the 550 meter walk from the station was a surprisingly quiet one except for the occasional burst of me complaining about the heat.

Some time later, we finally arrived at what remained of Kyoto Animation's studio which was burned in the tragic arson incident. Staring at the cold lifeless building with the white fences erected surrounding it, things felt rather surreal. Without context, one would have never guessed the horrible events that had occurred at this particular site short of knowing a fire broke out. 

Even now, things seem to be a little hard to grasp for me and seeing the site itself simply served to magnify the impact of what had transpired. I will not go into a long rant about the tragic event itself both as a loss to the anime-community and of general human lives. There are others who have spoken in greater length and detail that I have and were infinitely more eloquent than I will ever be. 

Having surveyed the site and paid our respects, we then headed back to Rokujizo Station. Having visited Kyoto before, I had unsurprisingly already paid a visit to a great number of the tourist attractions in and around Kyoto including farther off locations like Nara. Not wanting a repeat of the same with the time we had remaining, we decided to hit up a location a little lesser known but no less important. 

That location would be the Byodoin Temple, one of the most iconic and historical Buddhist temples in the whole of Japan. And one that is surprisingly overlooked by many visitors. In a way, I could partly understand why. For starters, the temple itself was not particularly large or surrounded by stunning picturesque landscapes. Then there is the fact that access to it did require quite a bit of walking from the nearest train station which on a sunny summer day felt like forever.

When we finally did arrive though, boy was I shocked at the overall quality and condition of this temple. Having competed recent renovations, everything short of the original temple was impressively modern and up to date with great landscape and architecture complementing the main shrine. The fact that there were not too many visitors at the temple grounds too was a big plus!

The funny thing is, I had just watched a documentary featuring this particular temple on my flight to Tokyo and as fate would have it, here I was. Even more coincidental was the fact that I actually wanted to visit this particular temple of all the iconic building that were featured in the documentary I had watched. So in a way, I guess this would be considered fate? 

The calm and serene temple grounds almost served to clear up any bad vibes from our earlier visit and, for some odd reason, I felt surprisingly refreshed after completing the rounds around the Byodoin Temple. Especially since the last bit of it comprised of the excellent Byodoin Museum and souvenir shop. With the visit finished, we headed back to Kyoto Station to do some quick souvenir shopping. After all, you cannot exactly pay a visit to one of Japan's most historical cities without getting some of its famed souvenirs right? 

Souvenir shopping complete, we boarded the next Nozomi out of Kyoto Station straight back to Tokyo Station. On my trip here, we were still fairly lively. Chatting and playing a decent amount of School Idol Festival (there was an event ongoing, of course) along the way. But on the way back, we simply had a quick lunch onboard and rested quietly all the way till we were back in Tokyo. Looking back, this last minute, almost crazy, one day trip to Kyoto is one that will live on as one of the more memorable days in my many days spent in Japan. And I say, here is to many more days like these! 

With just one more day left before having to fly back, it was all important to cram as much as I could in the last day. Stay tuned to the last day of my summer Tokyo 2019 trip as we put a conclusion to one of my most densely packed Japan trips thus far. Until then, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!