It's been 20 years since I was last in Kyoto. Both previous times I was here I was on tour with DJ's Klute and then Dieselboy. It definitely feels like a long time ago and many of my memories from those days have faded so when I arrived here yesterday nothing seemed familiar. In fact, my image of Kyoto was totally different than what I experienced yesterday.
I remembered the station building being more open, actually I remembered Kyoto as being a smaller, city with less 10 story buildings. Quite the opposite of what it actually is.
Kyoto is actually a big city. It's very dense and full of mid-rises, about 10 story high buildings, with temples mixed in. One of those temples is called Higashi Honganji
Higashi Honganji is an impressive temple with large buildings. These buildings will immediately grab your attention if you are anywhere nearby.
The complex is the main temple for the Shinshū Ōtani-ha buddhist sect.
The grounds date back to at least 1200 A.D. when the founder of Shinshū Ōtani-ha died and his ashes were entombed there.
The complex is pretty large and would require a few hours to explore, but I was on the way to my event so I had to continue on. As I continued on there were a few other cool looking gates to take pictures of.
As I mentioned, much of the city is dense and this is what you will see off of any main thoroughfare.
Not really the image of beautiful, traditional Kyoto I had memories of.
The view from my room.
Like most big cities there are living quarters and lively quarters. I found this out later in the evening when I went out for dinner.
The main street my hotel and my event is on is called Shijo Dori.
Shijo dori has all the high end shopping like Louis Vitton, Burberry, etc. but the side streets are where the cooler, boutique places are found.
For example this fragrance shop, Sabon.
This clothing store exudes cool.
This stylish donut shop, Koe, is on my list to go back to. Any donut shop that commands this level of design has to produce delicious donuts.
There is no shortage of places to shop at or eat at on or around Shijo dori so if you visit Kyoto this may be one of the places you'd want wander around.
Today I am hoping to be able to visit a temple or maybe Gion after work. Whatever I end up doing I'll post about it here on HIVE. Until then, thanks for reading and wish me luck at our event!
