Travel: Japan – Hakone to Kyoto (Day 5)

Today was another travel day, and you don’t always expect travel days to be that exciting, but today was really kind of great. In the picture above, you should say if it was really kind of great, then you should be smiling, but as fast as that train moves, you can either take a picture or smile. It’s going pretty fast.

My travels today consisted of a 20-minute bus ride to the train station and then a three-hour train ride to Kyoto. It was peaceful and not crowded.

What strikes me about the countryside is that it is very much like Oklahoma. The only difference is that instead of growing wheat, they are growing rice. On any flat piece of ground, if there is not a building on it, there will be a garden, and in most cases, that garden will be growing rice.

Look familiar? If you’re from Oklahoma, it most certainly does. Although they have a lot more water than we do.

After arriving in Kyoto, I took another bus to my hotel. I read the reviews about this hotel, and there were some complaints about the rooms being too small. However, given the fact that land is at a premium in this country, I don’t think you can expect to have a sprawling room with lots of wasted space. Everything you need is right here, only a step away. I find the rooms to be absolutely delightful. The staff is very kind… Oh, I’m at the Hotel Resol Kyoto… it’s in the middle of everything, and there’s nothing that you are without. So, you can complain if you want, but this is a lovely place.

Besides, you have traveled 13 1/2 hours to be in Japan and an additional four hours to get to Kyoto from Tokyo, and you’re going to complain about the size of the room?! Get out and see the world, for crying out loud. You came this far. You are here. You are blessed and fortunate.

And then we hit the bucket list jackpot! Now we have discussed sushi, and you know that I am quite fond of the raw fish. Anytime I have the opportunity, I will try to eat my weight in the raw fish. I find fish, whether it be raw, broiled, fried, boiled, baked, canned, poached, etc., etc., etc., to be absolutely amazing. You know this. However, my all-time favorite is the sushi, and tonight I found the sushi conveyor belt. You pay based on the color of the plate. It goes round and round and round, and you just pick up what you want and eat it.

I kept saying to myself, “John, don’t embarrass yourself. John, don’t embarrass yourself.“ I reached a point when I just didn’t care! It was good, and I was happy. I was in a sushi-eating frenzy.

Oh, don’t judge me! The yellow ones are beer. LOL. 

Afterward, I wasn’t quite ready to return to the hotel, so I wandered up and down the street for a bit, eventually ending up in a very small basement cocktail lounge. I was the only one there, along with the bartender, Uno. What a fantastic conversation we had. I understood most of what he said, and he understood most of what I said. We talked about Oklahoma, red beef, the differences between the big cities and the smaller towns, and, of all things, Pink Floyd.

My new friend, Uno, plays guitar. He’s a fan of Deep Purple but had never been introduced to Pink Floyd. He pulled up a track from The Dark Side of the Moon, and he’s hooked forever.

He gave me several recommendations on local restaurants that I need to check out, and I’ll do just that. He’s only about two doors down from my hotel, so I told him after my day was done tomorrow that I would swing by and let him know how things went. He seemed quite pleased with that.

What a good day.

Tomorrow is looking to be an exceptional day as well, including the fact that tomorrow’s blog post will include the word psithurism. One of the other spots I planned to visit means that I will need to get up early to beat the other tourists. Considering how I’ve been doing that every day, tomorrow should not be a problem.

That’s all I know for today. I pray your day has been good. Sleepy time in Kyoto.