{"id":1125,"date":"2011-11-26T23:36:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-27T04:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2014-08-21T12:43:53","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T17:43:53","slug":"tofukuji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/?p=1125","title":{"rendered":"Tofukuji (Saturday, Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was a very busy day.<\/p>\n

Before I headed out for sightseeing, I tried begging at the APA Hotel for another night. No luck.<\/p>\n

So I grabbed my stuff, and raced to Kyoto Station and managed to grab one of the last lockers in the basement area. They were pretty much full by 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Soft-sided luggage is a godsend, because I can squish it into a smaller locker. The softer, the better. The less of it, the better, too.<\/p>\n

Then I grabbed a local train to Tofukuji to see the temple there.<\/p>\n

On the way to Tofukuji, I saw my first pretty red leaves:<\/p>\n

\"Fall<\/a><\/p>\n

As I was walking, I saw a place called Rikkyou-An, and it had a lovely garden inside.<\/p>\n

\"Rikkyoku-An<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rikkyoku-An<\/a><\/p>\n

The sign says, “Do not enter to take photos:”
\n\"Rikkyoku-An<\/a><\/p>\n

In Japan, people tend to follow the rules:
\n\"Shutter<\/a><\/p>\n

Then I arrived at the entrance to Tofukuji. It was packed, and the line was huge.<\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/a><\/p>\n

Tofukuji<\/h3>\n

It seems as if all of Japan has descended on Kyoto to stare at red leaves. I started my day by going to Tofukuji Temple, which a number of magazines recommended as a top place to see the fall colors.<\/p>\n

That was my first mistake: relying on popular Japanese travel magazines. Japan is a group-oriented society, and everyone reads the same things, including the same travel magazines, so everyone was at the same place.<\/p>\n

It was insane. Scores of people cornering some random trees with red leaves, shooting photo after photo.<\/p>\n

Yes, they’re pretty, but are they that pretty?<\/p>\n

We’re surrounded by 1,400 years of culture, countless UNESCO World Heritage sites, and nobody cares. It’s all about the leaves.<\/p>\n

It’s somewhat mystifying.<\/p>\n

That said, I managed to get caught up in the leaf frenzy too. I found myself taking lots of pictures of red trees and their red, red, leaves.<\/p>\n

Have a look:<\/p>\n

This is the Tsutenkyo Bridge, from the entry to the temple:<\/p>\n

\"Tsutenkyo<\/a><\/p>\n

A little closer in:
\n\"Tsutenkyo<\/a><\/p>\n

I finally got into the temple complex proper, and it was busy:
\n\"Tofukuji<\/a><\/p>\n

We had to line up for all sorts of things:
\n\"Tofukuji<\/a><\/p>\n

The crowd was crushingly heavy. Folks were pushing, elbows, shoulders, bodies, all straining to get the same perfect shot that everyone else has of the same red leaves.
\n\"Wandering<\/a>
\n\"Tofukuji<\/a>
\n\"Tofukuji<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking back at the entryway I came across from my vantage point on the Tsutenkyo Bridge:
\n\"Entryway<\/a><\/p>\n

I wandered over to the Kaisando Hall:
\n\"Kaisando<\/a>
\nThe Kaisando has a Wet Side:
\n\"Kaisando<\/a>
\nAnd a Dry Side:
\n\"Kaisando<\/a><\/p>\n

Then I started to head back. I saw this lovely gate. I forget which one it is, though:
\n\"Gate.\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One last trip across the Tsutenkyo Bridge, fighting the crowds:
\n\"Tsutenkyo<\/a><\/p>\n

And after an hour of that, I left. Tofukuji is a very nice place to visit just about any other time of the year. The do leaves make it really pretty. It’s just the crowds that make it unbearable. Pick a weekday or come some other time of year.<\/p>\n

I ran into a couple from the U.S., and we engaged in that usual activity of foreigners in Japan, which is a bit of head-shaking at the things we don’t quite understand. I’m sure everyone does it a bit when they travel somewhere.<\/p>\n

Goodbye Welcome Inn<\/h3>\n

I headed back to the station. It was 11 a.m., so I stopped by the Welcome Inn Reservation Center for the last time. They are closing it permanently after the 30th. Shoot. Anyway, I tried to see if I could scrounge up a western-style hotel room, in a 40-mile radius, but didn’t have any luck. The lady suggested that I try the travel agencies in the station.<\/p>\n

I decided to give Nippon Travel a shot, and waited a bit to see an agent. He managed to find the last hotel room in Osaka, at the Business Hotel Consort. I took it for 5,000 yen. What the heck. It’s not the most exciting name for a hotel, but beggars can’t be choosers tonight. My only other option is sacking out at an internet cafe, and while I’d like to try that sometime, I’m fine with being in a regular hotel, too.<\/p>\n

After reserving a room for the night, I went to the Kyoto City info center for ideas, because after dealing with the morning’s crowds, I was stumped for what to do next. I didn’t want to go to another temple or shrine that was as crowded as Tofukuji and fight leaf peepers all day.<\/p>\n

I asked one of the consultants there if there was a way to avoid the crowds and still soak in some of the Kyoto atmosphere.<\/p>\n

He laughed.<\/p>\n

Then he recommended Arashiyama. It was actually a pretty good idea, because Arashiyama has enough room to spread out.<\/p>\n

Sort of. Anyway, Arashiyama is pretty.<\/p>\n

This post is already long because of the photos, so let’s continue it in part two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I started my day with a trip to Tofukuji Temple, which is steeped in history, and packed with people! Part 1 of my Saturday excursion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,823,5],"tags":[624,894,828,167,174,182,623,895],"class_list":["post-1125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan-trip","category-photos","category-travel","tag-fall-colors","tag-japan-trip","tag-japan2011","tag-kyoto","tag-kyoto-station","tag-temple","tag-tofukuji","tag-travel","category-3-id","category-823-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1508,"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions\/1508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stupidamericantourist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}