|
After a fantastic day spent visiting the famous Himeji Castle, I feel really excited to be on the way to Kyoto. Although Tokyo is demographically, politically and economically the most important city of Japan, Kyoto is definitely its historic capital. Of all places, it this is probably in this particular city that my life long interest in Japanese history is going to be satisfied. Kyoto was actually the imperial capital until 1868, when the 17-year-old Meiji Emperor moved to Edo and changed its name to Tokyo (tō (east) + kyō (capital)), putting an end to 263 years of shogunate. Thankfully, Kyoto is one of the rare cities that got spared by the bombings during World War II; leaving its heritage intact for us to discover.
The JR shinkaisoku ride from Himeji to Kyoto takes about 1h30 and similarly to what happened on our arrival to Tokyo, it is yet again dusk that greets us as we step out of the station. I must say that Kyoto station looks quite impressive with its daring and modern architecture. Once again, the sight at the exit of the station is worth a picture with the needle-shaped Kyoto Tower standing proudly in front of us. This is really not the kind of structures that I expected to see in the historic capital of Japan and there has actually been a controversy going on about the tower since its construction in the late 60's and it has been called by many "a stake through the heart of the city".
|
