Dan Is Awesome

We boarded the bullet train Shinkansen at around 8am this morning, and took a ~2 1/2 hour train ride to Kyoto. The bullet train is pretty much an airplane on the ground, they sell snacks and whatnot, and it goes pretty damn fast (video gets crazyfast around the 2 minute mark). Only downside is a ticket costs from $100 – $150, so it’s not a very practical everyday transportation method.

Kyoto is the old capital of Japan. The Emperor used to be there, then something happened and he moved the palace to Tokyo, and the Shogun (Warrior General guy) lived in Kyoto. This is all we really know about the matter. First place we visited was Ninomaru Palace, which was conveniently right across from our hotel. One thing about being in Asia, is that I have seen more temples and shrines than I really ever wanted to. This place was cool and all, but enough is enough.

A Shinto shrine was next on our tour. Shinto and Buddhism are the 2 largest religions in Japan, and it seems that a lot of people have mixed the two and made one super-religion. Christianity makes up only 1%, so there weren’t a lot of churches and stuff. Following the shrine we headed to a Buddhist Temple, which for a change, was pretty awesome. It was way up on the mountain side, and offered some pretty awesome views. Vic drank water that came from the mountain. Exciting stuff.

Overall, I’d have to say Kyoto was least fun of all the Japantrip. There’s a lot of culture here, but when you’ve been immersed in Asian-style culture for a year, a few temples are just not that cool.