A Brief Stay in Japan

I flew into Osaka via Tokyo from Hong Kong so I had had a long day of travel. I had made advanced reservations at the New Nikko Hotel at the Kansai Airport for my first and last night's stay, but discovered that my plane from Tokyo was flying into the Itami Airport, not Kansai Airport, because I had changed planes in Tokyo and the second flight was considered "domestic" and therefore was flying into the domestic airport. As a result, I had to catch a seventy minute bus ride from the Itami Airport to the Kansai Airport and then take my baggage into the New Nikko Hotel. The staff at the New Nikko Hotel were wonderful and so was my room. I would stay there again and can recommend it highly to others. I explained my dilemma to the Concierge and registraton staff and they helped me to find a hotel near the Itami Airport for my last night in Japan prior to my return flight to Tokyo and on home to San Francisco. They also made arrangement for my excess luggage to be couriered to the new hotel, The Itami City Hotel in Itami, so that I did not have to take it with me to Kyoto the following morning. Every problem has a solution and the staff were superb at helping me solve a problem that I had created all by myself. The following morning, I caught an early morning ride to Kyoto which arrived at the Kyoto Station. I checked into my hotel, left my baggage and went to the Visitors Center on the ninth floor of the Isetan Department Store in the Kyoto Station so that I could plan my two and a half days in Kyoto. The staff at the International Tourist Center was extremely helpful in providing the maps, walking tour information, and bus schedules They also have internet access there which is very inexpensive! I wanted to go to the Silver Pagoda Temple and Philosopher's Walk ( a MUST-so wonderful-really beautiful serene temple grounds with an amazing raked gravel garden and beautiful tree-lined paths and then a serene walk along a stone path through a series of traditional neighborhoods besides a clear stream with Koi in it!!!), the Golden Temple (also a must) , the Moss Temple (which you need to gain advanced permission to visit before leaving home- but is AMAZING- you start with a very special meditative ceremony with about 100 other visitors, then the locals recite the heart sutra with the Buddhist  monks, and then you are free to walk through a series of gardens of hundreds of kinds of moss and trees with ponds that are all exquisite!), and the Miho Museum designed by I.M. Pei (an architectural phenomenon in a beautiful private setting filled with the private collection of world class art created by a mother-daughter team) which is an hour and a half outside of Kyoto via train and bus. I managed to do all of this in two and a half days. The bus rides through town to get to the temples enabled me to see the city (which is fabulous-I think it is one of my favorite on the planet now) and I did a fair amount of walking as well.  There were many other things that I wanted to see and experience while in Kyoto but I will just have to go back sometime when I have more time to explore. The first two days, I visited the temples. My final morning, I went to the Miho Museum and then once back in Kyoto, I took a train  to Osaka to visit the Aquarium, which is fantastic and worth a visit, and headed to the Itami City Hotel for the night. I resorted to taxis after my first train ride within Osaka and I am glad that I did. Osaka is very large and I would not have had the energy to drag my suitcase on trains and subways to get to and from the Aquarium way out to Itami for the night. It even took the taxi driver an hour to get me from the Aquarium to Itami after resorting to his equivalent of Thomas's Maps to find the location of the hotel. The hotel had a restaurant off its lobby that was quite good so I ate there and then returned to my room and collapsed into bed on my last night of my four month trip around the world. I was not ready to return home but there it was. I would have gone on for another four months if I could have, so my next step is to figure out how I can pull off the next trip!

I wish to thank all of you who have taken this virtual trip with me. I ended up exploring twenty-four World Heritage sites in the seventeen countries that I visited over 120 days. This was not premeditated; rather, it slowly dawned on me as I was feeling how extraordinary my trip was, with people so full of grace and generosity of spirit, surrounded by places of beauty that man had created through a reverence for life. Writing this blog has been the catalyst for me to slow down, dig deep, and really see, to be more observant and sensitive to my surroundings. You have been the reason that I documented my experiences in this public way, so bless you.

Namaste and much love,

Suzi