Springtime Blooms

Finally, I made it to the cultural treasure chest of Japan, Kyoto.  It is a prime Spring time tourist mecca as the cherry blossom trees burst forth in abundant pinkness.  Japanese folks all over the country are enjoying the same, as the cherry blossom, sakura in Japanese, begins to bloom and many a hanami party takes place.  Hanami, which roughly means flower viewing, is basically a well-placed picnic.  Folks get blankets, food, and drink and sit under one of the blooming trees and wile the afternoon way, gazing at the loveliness.

Unfortunately, the blooming was but a whisper in Kyoto when I went, maybe 10% of the buds had graduated in flowers.  Still, Kyoto has more to offer than just flower watching.  It is said to be more cosmopolitan than Tokyo, and the art and culture hot spot.  But like all of Japan, the old culture is fused with an increasing modernness.  Like when I was at Starbucks in Gion (the geisha part of town) just a block down from an old temple, and a fully dressed geisha, sans makeup was behind me in line waiting for a latte.  Now, I�'m used to seeing the occasional woman dressed in kimono in my town or nearby ones, but the geisha have the really elaborate hair going on and often times the five inch tall wood sandals so they make quite an impression.

Kyoto is also home to temples, shrines, castles, imperial villas, and just general old stuff.  I heard something about the US purposely not bombing it because of it historical value.  So you could spend a week seeing just those things, but really, I think they are best seen in small doses.  Luckily Philip was of the same mind so we kept the temple viewing to a minimum.  The best of which was Chion Temple.  The Golden temple is said to be a good one, with an interesting history, the original was burned down in 1949 by a monk whose obcession with it had to end with him lighting it effectively aflame.