Historic Kyoto

Along with Tokyo, Kyoto should be included in everyone's itinerary when visiting Japan. If Tokyo represents the modern Japan, then Kyoto gives you a glimpse of the traditional past. For over a thousand years, ancient Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan. Originally called Heiankyo (Capital of peace), it has more than 1,6000 Buddhist temples and 270 Shinto shrines.

After my day trip from Tokyo to the Hokone area, I caught the Shinkansen train from Odawara Station to Kyoto via Nagoya for a change of trains. As with Tokyo, I filmed most of the places with my Sony Handycam MiniDV camcorder, so I only have a few photos below to show.

Kinkaku-ji translate as “Temple of the Golden Pavilion” which is how it is refered to by many people. This is due to the temple exterior being covered in gold foil. Officially, it is named Rokuon-ji 鹿苑寺 which means “Deer Garden Temple”.

The three-story Zen buddhist temple was originally built in 1397. It was burned down in 1950 by a monk and rebuilt again from 1955. The Pavilion is beautifully set against the surrounding landscape, and the reflection in the pond in front.

This was the former ruling Palace of the Emperor of Japan. A simple Palace with a large park to enjoy strolling in. At the time of visiting, I had to join an official free guided tour to visit the Imperial Palace. Also you could not enter any of the buildings.

The famous video game company, Nintendo, was established in Kyoto in 1889. Before the creation of popular video games such as Mario Bros, Nintendo started out as a playing card company.

Nijo Castle was built by the Tokugawa Shogun in 1603. It is divided into three main areas: (1) the Honmaru - inner ward, (2) Ninomaru – second ward, with the main Palace, (3) the surrounding gardens. The castle was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994. It was the former ruling Palace of the Emperor of Japan.