Return From Down Under, part 2 continued

Back up to Friday

Saturday November 22, 2014


Back in Kyoto!

Up bright and early on Saturday morning, I hastily dressed, packed the last of my things, and checked out of the hotel before heading to Hiroshima Station. Having booked my tickets on my arrival in Tokyo ten days prior, I stopped off at the Little Mermaid bakery to grab something to take on the train with me. Much to my disappointment, they had no cheddar and camembert rolls this time. Grabbing some other breakfast-like foods, I headed to the Shinkansen platform. 90 minutes after departing Hiroshima, I arrived at Shin-Osaka Station, where I would have to change onto another Shinkansen to make it to Kyoto. I had no rush, there was fifteen minutes between trains. After a short wait, I was off on another Shinkansen for the 10-15 minute trip to Kyoto, and I was rewarded as I approached by the sight of the temples around the station area and the autumn leaves that were already out in full force. This time however, I zigged when I should have zagged after jumping off the Shinkansen and went through the wrong gate and was kind of lost until I suddenly found a sign to the Granvia Hotel, which would again serve me as my home-away-from-home for a week.

After quickly checking in and leaving my luggage with the concierge, I turned around and jumped on a limited express train back to Osaka. There was a week-long Yamato 2199 event on promoting Ark of the Stars starting at the Ario Yao Mall, and I wasn’t going to miss out on that. The only problem I had was that aside from changing trains to go to Takarazuka for the Osamu Tezuka Museum, I’d never been in Osaka, and had no idea about how to get around there. Fortunately, I had my wifi and Facebook Messenger, and Tim Eldred was only too happy to point me in the right direction. After a crash course on the private railway lines in Osaka, I found myself at Ario Yao mall.

 

Ario Yao Mall, host to the Yamato 2199 event.

The billboard announcing the 9-day event and appearances by Kikuko Inoue (Starsha) and Aya Uchida (Yuria Misaki).

It initially looked like I was in the wrong place. I asked a door attendant whether I was at the right place for the Yamato event, and he replied he didn’t know. That door turned out to be for a department store, and the next door was the mall. So, I headed in, and soon enough I found my quarry – the five-meter Yamato model which was repurposed from Yamato Resurrection (which I would see again two weeks later outside Shinjuku Station).

 

The 5-meter Yamato from the side…

… and the front, showing the bulge that distinguishes its design from the Yamato 2199 1/100 models.

Gleefully sending closeup photos from my phone to Tim Eldred and Luis Cotovio (my collaborator on the 2199 commentaries), I also spotted other parts of the event – a model-building area where big kids and little kids alike were building Mecha Colle Yamatos. To the stern of the ship there were character and ship profiles from the 2199 website in A4-sized picture frames, not only showing the majority of the ships and characters from the original 26 episodes, but also introducing Ark‘s new characters. A message from Tim asked me if I’d seen Naoyuki Katoh’s mural. When I said no, Tim told me to “Look up!” and there it was, one of the murals that Katoh-sensei had painted at a 2013 hobby show. (Tim was online at that moment finding other photos that had been taken here.)


Look up! One of Naoyuki Katoh’s murals, painted live in 2013.

Having gotten my photos of the ship, I ventured around the mall trying to find the other things that had been advertised, notably a merchandise stand and the Virtual Reality experience of seeing Yamato through an Oculus Rift headset. After going to one end of the mall, I turned around and headed back to the other, where I found both those things and the stage for the event’s prime attraction on opening day, a Q and A with Starsha’s voice actress, Kikuko Inoue.

 

The event stage, prior to Kikuko Inoue’s appearance.

The Yamato 2199 store next to the stage, selling everything from clear files to the Soul of Chogokin Yamato.

As a fan of Kikuo Inoue’s other voice works, especially Belldandy in Ah! My Goddess, and knowing something of how fun events with “Kiku-chan” are, I wasn’t about to miss out on the experience.

Here’s the gist of how the event went (my comprehension of Japanese is very poor, so I could only get the basic gist of it):

“Kiku-chan” is introduced and enters the stage, beginning with her steadfast routine, “Konnichiwa, watashi wa Inoue Kikuko des, watashi wa jyu nana sai!” (“Hello, I’m Kikuko Inoue, and I’m seventeen years old!”), which is religiously met with good-hearted derision by the audience with a response of “Oy! Oy!” calling her out on it, which she responds to with an in-jest “Hai, Hai!” (“Yes, Yes”). Unfortunately, at these events there’s a strict no-camera policy, so there were no opportunities to photograph Inoue-san while on stage.

From there, they talked about Inoue-san’s varied career, from her breakout role as Kasumi in Ranma 1/2 to her iconic role as Belldandy in Ah! My Goddess through a number of her other roles such as Mizuho Kazami in Onegai Teacher, Grace O’Connor in Macross Frontier, and Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. From there they went into discussing the iconic Starsha in Yamato 2199, and what the upcoming movie would be about, despite her character not factoring into the story. From there began a long Q&A session, which was done by lottery.

After listening to a few questions, which I had no hope of following, I found that the adjacent Virtual Reality Experience would require installing the shopping mall’s app on a smartphone, so I decided to pass on that. Disappointing, but not a lot could be done about it. With the wifi intermittent at best, I couldn’t have downloaded the app anyway.

After buying a couple of items from the stand, including the program for A Voyage to Remember and a couple of bonus photo cards (postcards printed on photographic paper), I decided to undertake the return journey to Osaka. There was another big Yamato model in town, and I was determined to see it. And they were reportedly selling Ark of the Stars advance tickets there!

 
The 1/100 Yamato at the event near Osaka Station.

After following Tim’s directions to get to this location, I found myself at the event (courtesy of an elderly Japanese cyclist who showed me exactly where I wanted to go), just across the road from Osaka Station. It was a joint tourist event promoting tourism in Kagoshima and Nagasaki, two of the places I’d been in the past week. Walking past numerous stalls selling Kagoshima and Nagasaki products, most notably seafood, I found my quarry – the 1/100 Yamato – or as we found out, one of two – the other being in Tokyo on the same day. Once I’d bought my ticket, got my bonus gift (a card with artwork of Yuki and Kodai) and a free box of giant-sized Yamato 2199 tissues, I snapped the model from every angle I could. After that, I headed back to Osaka Station, jumped over to Shin-Osaka Station, and took a Shinkansen back to Kyoto.

The end of the day was rewarded with a trip to my and Terry’s favorite eatery in Kyoto Station – the Gavly Kobe Beef Burger stand. And it was just as mouth-watering as I remembered it. After that delicious burger, I called it a night.

Sunday November 23, 2014

So began my first day actually in Kyoto. I decided to visit an old breakfast haunt, the Cafe du Monde/Mr Donut directly across from the Granvia lobby. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as tasty as I remembered it being the last time I was there, but still palatable.

After noting the Kyoto leaves report on Japan-Guide for the past few days, I thought it wise to follow a similar path to the one I took last year, first to Arashiyama, where the leaves of the Tenryu-ji Gardens and of Daikaku-ji were hitting their peak. My third must-return-to location, Daigo-ji, would be a Monday visit, as it lay on the opposite outskirts of Kyoto.

Instead of taking the bus to Arashiyama this time around, which would have been slower than walking (it was a public holiday weekend in Japan), so I opted for the train instead. Crowded as all heck, but at least trains run on time, don’t run into traffic jams, and when aren’t Japanese trains crowded anyway?

After a fifteen-minute train ride through the western part of Kyoto, I arrived at Saga-Arashiyama Station. There’s no such thing as a quiet tourist day in Kyoto, and this was the second day of the peak leaf-viewing season, as far from quiet as you could get. Thus it took quite some time to get out of the station.

 

JR Saga-Arashiyama Station.

The unusual Arashiyama Steam Locomotive and Piano Museum.

The first thing to greet my eyes upon leaving the station was the Arashiyama Steam Train and Piano Museum. A quaint combination, was my first thought, and after getting some snaps of the steam locomotive outside the building, I noticed the adjacent building which was advertising tickets for the Arashiyama Scenic Train, which I learned were already sold out for the entire day. Upon entrance to the adjacent Steam Train and Piano Museum, I found out it was actually a collection of steam trains on display with a grand piano for live music. But I was put off that they thought it was a good idea to cover all the steam locomotives in Christmas lights… so I made my way toward Tenryu-ji, which was my first planned stop.

Along the way, however, I came across a restaurant in a side street that had quite a queue outside it. Turns out it was a steak houise called Otsuka. Given the tiny size of the restaurant and the huge queues, it didn’t look like I’d get in any time soon so I decided to move ahead.

I came out onto the main street of Arashiyama, and found it was really hard going because, unsurprisingly, there was a sea of people stopping at the food stands and restaurants, looking in gift shops, though many of the women were dressed up in amazing kimonos.

Just as I took a different route to Arashiyama this time around, I also took a different entry to Tenryu-ji, one of the biggest temples in the Arashiyama area, famous for its gardens more than the temple itself. This time, even the carpark was a sight to behold, as there were scores of Japanese Maples showing off their vivid colors, a magnificent pre-show to the main event inside the temple.

 

People photographing the maples in the outer grounds of Tenryuji.

What Tenryuji looks like on arguably its busiest day of the year.

What surprised me was that despite it being more crowded than when Terry and I visited in 2013, it was actually faster to go through the queues. This was probably because the main hall, which had been closed for renovations back then, was open again and consuming half of the present crowds. Making my way inside, I walked around the corner to get my first view of the pond and its garden.


Tenryuji’s Sogen Garden in full autumn color.

Truth be told, it looked like I’d missed the peak by a day or two, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still an incredible sight. It was amazing, despite the clouds and the sun not wanting to play nice while I was photographing it. I took a lot longer appreciating more of the gardens this time around. It was hard not to, with such an array of oranges, reds, golds, and yellows surrounding me. After satiating my appreciation of the gardens, it was time to head to my other destination that afternoon – Daikaku-ji.

Unfortunately for me, Daikaku-ji is on completely the opposite side of Arashiyama. With Terry along the previous August, I had someone pacing me to keep going despite the hot and humid climate at the time. This time I kept my own pace and rode the last half kilometer on the bus.

 
Daikaku-ji’s gardens this time around had a vivid dash of color.

The entryway and the grounds were just as I remember them, save for the handful of Japanese maples around the temple grounds now sporting vivid crimson leaves. This temple has some of the best miniature gardens I’ve seen in between the many annexes of the temple building. There was even a sizable flower arrangement display around the various parts of the complex. However, at this time of year the best part of Daikaku-ji is the lake and its surroundings, a part of the temple grounds I didn’t venture to on my last visit due to fatigue.


The unusual contrast on Daikaku-ji’s lake of the colorful leaves and the dead lilies.


A bridge framed by red maple leaves.

The first problem was actually getting out there. You have to go back out the main entrance and down the road to another entrance. From there, the pagoda, the lake and the vivid colors of the surrounding maples and ginkos are all yours to enjoy. So I took a leisurely stroll through the grounds in spite of the fast approaching dusk. It’s a bit odd with the dichotomy of the brilliant colors of the trees surrounding the lake and the dead remains of the lilies atop it. With light dimming fast, it was necessary to get around the lake while taking as many photos as I could. Afterward, it was back to the bus stop for a long ride through slow traffic back into the city.

From there it was back to the room to rest up.

Monday November 24, 2014

Not for the first time on this trip, but for the first time in my two stays at this hotel, I ordered room service for breakfast. I was expecting the usual hotel fare of small meals. I obviously did not learn my lesson from Fukuoka and got way more food than I expected. Not that I could find anything wrong with it. Oiishi!

My first stop for Monday was to be one of the more far-flung Kyoto area temples, possibly less frequented or less well-known by foreigners: Daigo-ji. It’s one of those temples that people may know about if they’ve bought or perused a travel guide book. The best-known of its structures, Bentendo Hall, adorns at least one book that I’ve seen, and it’s sometimes used by websites illustrating the Kyoto area. But since it’s a long way from central Kyoto, I can’t help but wonder if a lot of people from outside Japan put it in the “too hard” basket.

Unlike last time, where Terry and I decided to go on from Fushimi-Inari Shrine, swap over to the subway a few stations away, and then get a community bus to Daigo-ji, this time I found the direct bus and took it instead. The trip takes in the vicinity of 20-30 minutes, and on this day it went into the car park and serviced a temporary stop, which they must do around this time of year and during other public holidays.

Unlike my previous visit on a hot and humid August day, this time there were huge crowds. Tour buses galore were in the parking lot. I would only be able to go to the lower Daigo again this time since Upper Daigo, which was a good long walk uphill, was closed for repairs).

One major bonus for English-speaking tourists that wasn’t there on my last visit is that on this visit at the main gate to Lower Daigo, they had a small wi-fi area, that allowed you to download a Daigo-ji app to your smartphone (Android or iOS). This app provides multiple tour guides (with English audio) for navigating the site depending on how much time you have and what’s available (it includes a half-day tour plan for Lower and Upper Daigo, so I’m keeping this app for the next time I’m here). It also provides maps and a section providing information on the history of the temple and seasonal events. This was a major and pleasant surprise, especially with an English language version. Kudos to Daigo-ji’s management for offering this service.


Daigoji was a lot busier this visit.

Daigo-ji is out of the way, but it really is worth a visit. I came to that conclusion after my first time there in 2013, and during the peak leaf-viewing season, it rises to a completely different level. Of course, the highlights are the red maples around Bentendo Hall. Finding a photo spot was difficult with so many people here. Even though it looks like I’d missed the peak of the leaves by a few days (a couple of trees had already shed their leaves), it was still an incredible view.


Bentendo Hall in autumn was well worth the 15-month wait to see.

After heading back to town, I wandered the streets for a while and decided to kill in the Kyoto branch of Yodabashi Camera and see what Yamato goods I could find. Sure enough, they had the various volumes of 2199 on Blu-Ray, as well as Resurrection and the MV discs, but it was still a day early for them to have A Voyage to Remember. Heading into the model area, there were some unusual beasts including resin casts of Yukikaze and Okita’s flagship (what we know as Kirishima in Yamato 2199). Same as the Akihabara store, it had plenty of both classic series and 2199 models, scale kits as well as mecha colle.

From there I decided to walk to my next destination, Kiyomizudera, for a night viewing. Because I had an hour or so to kill, I made the decision to walk the two miles to the temple. It was cool enough and I felt like I could do with the exercise. An estimated 40-minute walk took me 55 minutes due to a combination of the camera bag on my back and my general lack of fitness, combined with the uphill leg going up the three-year walk.


On the way to Kiyomizudera.

Just as the familiar staircase to the temple appeared in the distance, I saw a very long queue for tickets to the night viewings. So it was wait-mode time, standing in a coldness I’m not used to back home. After about three quarters of an hour, there was finally some movement, and within about twenty minutes I was in possession of a special night viewing ticket.

Making my way up the stairs, I was greeted by huge crowds and the familiar buildings of Kiyomizudera lit up. Photo opportunities were limited. A flash will kill the picture’s contrast, and without some way to stabilize the camera a shot without flash will blur. I still haven’t had the time to really learn how to use my camera properly, so my options were limited.

Making my way around the buildings and through the huge crowds, it initially looked as though the Kiyomizudera Stage was closed for repairs, which would be a major downer since it’s the prime target for photography at any time of the day. Upon getting there though, I found it was merely an adjacent building that was closed.

After getting a couple of snaps from the stage to the pagoda at the opposite end (which certainly didn’t turn out), I made my way around the side to the observation point just past the main temple. With the huge numbers there, I only had a small window to get against a railing and steady myself to attempt a shot of the stage and the surrounding maple trees. One of the shots managed to come out, and then I proceeded back toward the exit. It was getting colder than I was comfortable with, I’d been on my feet in several hours, and I was hungry. So I made my out of the temple complex, and took a bus back to Kyoto Station.


Kiyomizu Stage at night. Someone seems to be firing a Satellite Reflection Cannon (Tim suggested it was North Korea).

After a bowl of ramen for dinner at King of Ramen in the Cube eatery on Level 10, I exited across the skyway and got some photos of the various Christmas decorations around Kyoto Station. While Hakata Station had its decorations concentrated around the entrance, Kyoto Station made good use of its architecture and had them spread across the giant station building with a tree in the middle of the complex.


Kyoto Station’s Christmas Tree.

Finally, having taken enough photos of the Christmas decorations, I headed back to my room and called it a night.

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