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| Japan 2017 - Day 4 - Kyoto |
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I barely scratched the surface of Kyoto. I basically only had 1 and 1/2 days of exploration of Kyoto. And given that many of the historic sites close around 4 or 5 that is not even close to enough time there. Of the 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Kyoto, I saw 3. And then there are tons of things other than UNESCO sites to see. And then there is just the vibe and people of this city. Of all the places I visited Kyoto had the biggest bicycle culture. Everyone, young and old, rides their bicycles all over the entire city, rain or shine. And it is very rare to see a parked bike with a lock on it. They just park it in a rack and walk away. They even have pay to park bicycle lots in the more crowded areas where there otherwise aren't good places to park. Kyoto introduced me to Yakatori, skewered and grilled meat. Traditionally it's chicken, but other meats and items are found on most menus as well. It is also were I discovered an alcoholic beverage named Awamori. It's a rice distillation that comes from Okinawa and differs from Shōchū in that Awamori is made exclusively from rice and has a higher alcohol content. Sake, unlike both Awamori and Shōchū is brewed and has a comparatively low alcohol content. The Temple in the photos below is Kinkaku-Ji, otherwise refereed to as "The Golden Temple". I put it as the least favorite of all the places I visited on this trip. Not so much because it is unimpressive itself, but because it is always ridiculously crowded and you are very restricted in the route you have to walk. If you look for photos of it on the web you will see that mine look pretty much like everyone elses. This is because as a tourist you have very limited viewing options. I'm glad I got to see it, but in all honestly I sort of wish I'd chosen a different site to see that afternoon. At the bottom of this gallery are 5 photos of some rather unique cars. I was walking back to the Air B&B and stumbled upon what looked like a repair shop with a sign that said Tomita Auto. It is in the building directly behind where I was staying. What caught my eye was the 2 Triumph TR3s sitting in the open garage door. As I walked up I saw 2 other cars that were very interesting looking as well. I walked in and the place appeared to be empty. I yelled “Hello” and a man came out of a door that looked to be a store room. I asked if I could take photos and he smiled, said something in Japanese while he nodded, and made a sweeping gesture with his arms. I took this to mean shoot all I wanted. I have to be honest and say that I had never heard of Tommy Kaira or Panther. But it turns out they were both small high end craft car manufacturers. Both of the cars I saw, the Kiara ZZ and the Panther J72, are pretty rare. There was one other car partially under covers and after reading up on Tommy Kaira I'm convinced that it was probably a ZZ ii. |
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