Japan Day 2

Tuesday, May 19th

Today would be a day trip to Kyoto to see some of the historical sites. It was about a 50 minute train ride from Hikone to Kyoto station. Wow, what a huge building. Kyoto station is a fifteen story tall building and one of the largest buildings in Japan incorporating the station, hotels, department stores, shopping mall, and restaurants. We had lunch in their food court which is nothing like the U.S. It’s more like a collection of tiny restaurants. Yum! The rest of the afternoon we would visit Nijo Castle and Kinkakuji or “Golden Pavilion Temple”. The evening would be a visit to Gion corner where we could see more traditional Japanese arts and entertainment. After the afternoons activities, Jo and I decided to travel back to JCMU early as Annabelle was getting tired. This would be our adventure traveling Japan by ourselves. However, our travel plans were delayed as we found out the train line that would take us back to Hikone was delayed due to a human damage incident. I guess it is not uncommon for people to commit suicide by jumping in front of trains. As a tourist, we don’t always think about the societal issues facing other countries. But the economic hardship has affected everyone especially those in smaller areas in Japan. The delay let us spend more time in the toy store at Kyoto station which Annabelle loved. A 15 month old has no interest in the historical sites of Japan but she loved the toy store. We made it back to JCMU without much incidence so we feel much better about visiting Japan on our own in the future.