Japan Day 8 [Kyoto to Tokyo]

Another beautiful day in Kyoto. You can see the Shinkansen on the tracks from my hotel window.

I started the day by visiting a nice garden called "Shosei-en Garden". It was only a 15 minute walk from the hotel. The skies were a bit overcast.

You can see the Kyoto Tower in the background.

I hid the buildings on the hilltop with the branch :)

I thought this vegetation had an interesting pattern :)

A new Daihatsu Hijet micro pickup.

I walked over to another temple - Nishihongwan-ji. It was also near the hotel.

The Shinkansen just before the one we were taking to Tokyo.

My ticket to Tokyo.

Another expensive train ride.... $123.10 this time.

The hotel in Tokyo.... don't ask for the view out the window - there is no view. The room was great though.

We were starving, found a Ramen place around the corner from the hotel. The best soba noodles of any place. Of course it was 1200 yen! Well I could have gotten Ramen with 1 piece of pork for only 800 Yen, but I needed more meat than that.

The outside of the Ramen place.

The outside of the hotel.

After checking in I walked to Meiji Jingu Shrine. I managed to arrive shortly before closing time. The forest was great with large trees and lots of shade.

Sake containers...

I then walked to the Tokyo government building which has a free observation deck. I visited this before when I was in Tokyo in 2014.

The outside of the government buildings.

I found the meeting point for the Mt. Fuji tour for the next day. Finding the metro from there was not so easy.

A nice half-timbered train station in Harajuku.

Takeshita Street in Harajuku. It was pretty much closed up by the time I got there. All the night life appears to be in Shinjuku.

I took the metro back to the hotel and called it a night. I wanted to make sure I didn't oversleep for the Mt. Fuji tour.