Canon Japan Tour (Day 12) Kyoto
Hello, travelers. This is Kumi. I guided Canon Australia's Japan tour for two weeks. Let me show you how we enjoyed the tour. This is about Day 12.
This was definitely the most extreme day. Can you guess what time we gathered in the lobby? 4:50am. Yes, very early morning! No one opposed to the idea. This is just amazing!
We got on the Hankyu-kyoto Line to Sai-in station and then took the Randen from Sai-station to Arashiyama station. This photo was taken at 5:02am.
You need to be very careful because there are four different "Arashiyama" stations. If you visit the famous bamboo forest early in the morning, Randen's Arashiyama station is the most convenient.
If you have a lot of time during the day, you could take the JR San-in Line to Hozukyo station, then take the Sagano Scenic Railway back to Arashiyama torokko station to enjoy the view.
https://www.sagano-kanko.co.jp/en/
It was very dark...
Hi ladies!
It's very difficult to find the entrance to the forest when it's dark (During the daytime, you can just follow the people). So if you go there in the morning, you should check out this Google Streetview and remember some signs. It's just before "Yojiya Cafe Sagano Arashiyama."
https://goo.gl/JqACCo
Haha!! No one is here yet!
This is very special!
I always thought it would be lovely to visit here early in the morning, but I had never tried.
I'm so happy to have this opportunity to have fun with these passionate photographers!
They are trying to take some unique photos.
The camera is on the ground and I assume they used a remote. After this, we all gathered here and looked down the camera for the group shot.
If someone uploads the photo, I'll post the link here.
I tried to be creative and took this photo from below. Cats may be looking at the world like this. Meow.
We walked through this beautiful Arashiyama Park and...
came to the Hozu River. (*The name changes to Katsura River after Togetsukyo Bridge)
Three of the members happened to post the same boat.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq_rid5FcwK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsCBXeGH_G4/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrPQru4g81E/
This is not a competition. We always learn from each other and get very much inspired.
While they were taking the boat photos, I was playing with the sun and shadow.
Haha. The sun looks like a comet. :P
This Togetsu-kyo (bridge) is a very popular sightseeing spot in Kyoto.
As this is still 7:50am, we didn't see many people.
For your reference, these are daytime photos from Sunday, November 10, 2017.
I went through this area by bus and took these photos from the window. I was going to get off at Togetsukyo bridge, but I got overwhelmed and gave up the idea.
We walked to the Hankyu Line's Arashiyama station and took the Hankyu Arashiyama Line to Katsura station, then changed to the Hankyu Kyoto Line to Kawara-cho station.
Then we took the Keihan Main Line to Demachi-yanagi station.
Oh? Do you read Japanese!? LOL
From Demechi-yanagi station, we took the Eizan Main Line to Yase-Hieizan-guchi station.
Yase is such a beautiful area, especially in autumn. Anyway, the first thing we did in Yase area was to get Ruriko-in Temple's tickets. We went to the ticket tent around 10am and the tickets said we can enter anytime after 11am. This is great. On the Internet, people were saying they needed to wait for 4-5 hours on weekends, but as we came quite early, the timing was perfect for us.
We had some free time and explored this area before lunch.
Hi guys! How the view there?
After lunch, we visited Ruriko-in Temple.
https://matcha-jp.com/en/690
Ruriko-in Temple has a very unique history. It used to be a holiday house of a successful business person/politician, Gentaro Tanaka (1853-1922). Later, the house was renovated as a high-class Japanese restaurant called Kikaku-tei (喜鶴亭). When the restaurant went out of business, Komyo-ji Temple decided to buy the property to save the architecture and the garden and this place re-started as Rurikoin in 2005. Therefore, its official name is "Komyo-ji Ruriko-in."
Look at the leaves on the pond!!! This is naturally-made artwork!!
This is the most famous room at Ruriko-in. It looks so peaceful but...
there are so many people taking turns to take photos.
After Ruriko-in, we took the Eizan Line to Demachi-yanagi station.
They are happily waiting for the bus.
Finally, we arrived at Kinkaku-ji Temple!
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html
It was a villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), and it became a Zen temple after his death.
The temple isn't painted in gold. It is covered with gold leaf!! Oh, don't try to peel it. LOL
I found some of the members' Kinkaku-ji photos.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGlDWnltdV/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrtRTvOnSrt/
Having matcha tea at Kinkaku-ji Temple was very peaceful and relaxing.
We were truly blessed with colored leaves during the journey. :)
This was definitely the most extreme day. Can you guess what time we gathered in the lobby? 4:50am. Yes, very early morning! No one opposed to the idea. This is just amazing!
We got on the Hankyu-kyoto Line to Sai-in station and then took the Randen from Sai-station to Arashiyama station. This photo was taken at 5:02am.
You need to be very careful because there are four different "Arashiyama" stations. If you visit the famous bamboo forest early in the morning, Randen's Arashiyama station is the most convenient.
If you have a lot of time during the day, you could take the JR San-in Line to Hozukyo station, then take the Sagano Scenic Railway back to Arashiyama torokko station to enjoy the view.
https://www.sagano-kanko.co.jp/en/
It was very dark...
Hi ladies!
It's very difficult to find the entrance to the forest when it's dark (During the daytime, you can just follow the people). So if you go there in the morning, you should check out this Google Streetview and remember some signs. It's just before "Yojiya Cafe Sagano Arashiyama."
https://goo.gl/JqACCo
Haha!! No one is here yet!
This is very special!
I always thought it would be lovely to visit here early in the morning, but I had never tried.
I'm so happy to have this opportunity to have fun with these passionate photographers!
They are trying to take some unique photos.
The camera is on the ground and I assume they used a remote. After this, we all gathered here and looked down the camera for the group shot.
If someone uploads the photo, I'll post the link here.
I tried to be creative and took this photo from below. Cats may be looking at the world like this. Meow.
We walked through this beautiful Arashiyama Park and...
came to the Hozu River. (*The name changes to Katsura River after Togetsukyo Bridge)
Three of the members happened to post the same boat.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq_rid5FcwK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsCBXeGH_G4/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrPQru4g81E/
This is not a competition. We always learn from each other and get very much inspired.
While they were taking the boat photos, I was playing with the sun and shadow.
This Togetsu-kyo (bridge) is a very popular sightseeing spot in Kyoto.
As this is still 7:50am, we didn't see many people.
For your reference, these are daytime photos from Sunday, November 10, 2017.
I went through this area by bus and took these photos from the window. I was going to get off at Togetsukyo bridge, but I got overwhelmed and gave up the idea.
Then we took the Keihan Main Line to Demachi-yanagi station.
Oh? Do you read Japanese!? LOL
From Demechi-yanagi station, we took the Eizan Main Line to Yase-Hieizan-guchi station.
Yase is such a beautiful area, especially in autumn. Anyway, the first thing we did in Yase area was to get Ruriko-in Temple's tickets. We went to the ticket tent around 10am and the tickets said we can enter anytime after 11am. This is great. On the Internet, people were saying they needed to wait for 4-5 hours on weekends, but as we came quite early, the timing was perfect for us.
We had some free time and explored this area before lunch.
Hi guys! How the view there?
After lunch, we visited Ruriko-in Temple.
https://matcha-jp.com/en/690
Ruriko-in Temple has a very unique history. It used to be a holiday house of a successful business person/politician, Gentaro Tanaka (1853-1922). Later, the house was renovated as a high-class Japanese restaurant called Kikaku-tei (喜鶴亭). When the restaurant went out of business, Komyo-ji Temple decided to buy the property to save the architecture and the garden and this place re-started as Rurikoin in 2005. Therefore, its official name is "Komyo-ji Ruriko-in."
Look at the leaves on the pond!!! This is naturally-made artwork!!
This is the most famous room at Ruriko-in. It looks so peaceful but...
there are so many people taking turns to take photos.
After Ruriko-in, we took the Eizan Line to Demachi-yanagi station.
Then walked to Shin-aoi-bashi Bus Stop.
They are happily waiting for the bus.
Finally, we arrived at Kinkaku-ji Temple!
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html
It was a villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), and it became a Zen temple after his death.
The temple isn't painted in gold. It is covered with gold leaf!! Oh, don't try to peel it. LOL
I found some of the members' Kinkaku-ji photos.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGlDWnltdV/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrtRTvOnSrt/
Having matcha tea at Kinkaku-ji Temple was very peaceful and relaxing.
We were truly blessed with colored leaves during the journey. :)
As we started very early today, we went back to the hotel quite early and had dinner at the hotel. It was a relaxing evening.
