Hello Japan, mōkarimakka?

After a long trip from San Francisco, we finally arrived in Kyoto tonight.   I was spoiled flying on Asiana Airlines.  Cory had his first ever bi-bim-bab and kimchi on the flight and thought it was really tasty.  Sadly we didn’t get much time to walk around the massive Incheon airport in Seoul, but were happy our flights were on time.  We lost a day of our lives crossing the international date line. We’ll get it back when we head home.

Immigration and customs at Kansai were a breeze.  We were the only crackers in the foreign (gaijin) immigration line. The fingerprint scanner didn’t read my left index finger, but they were content to let me through anyway.  Efficiency is king here.

We even have a heated toilet seat with various water features. Mmmm.

The train ride on the Haruka express to Kyoto was about 70 minutes.  We couldn’t see much that late at night, save several office windows lit up at 10pm.  It’s not just a stereotype. Hard work and great food.  My kind of place.

We were relieved to arrive at our hotel. We have a great view of the mountains/hillsides around Kyoto and walking distance to Gion.  We even have a heated toilet seat with various water features.   Mmmm.

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/CoryJGolden