Kyoto Part 2: Back in the Ancient City

The next few days meant tables meetings for everybody.  Table meetings were productive but at the same time they had a tendency frustrating for some of our members.  I remember debates between the Japanese delegates that seemed to go around in circles at times.  Since my Japanese was nowhere near the level of being able to understand anything I’m not sure if this is right, but from looking at body language and listening way people said things I think I got the basic idea.

I won’t bore everybody with the hours that we spent discussing the Mutual Security Treaty and some of its intricacies; instead I’ll continue to focus on the cultural experience.  Towards the end of our stay in Kyoto we had some free time to do some more sight seeing.  Tamar, Colin and I decided that we were going to make a trip to Ryoanji.  This is a famous rock garden in Kyoto and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to experience it.  We were told that it was best to try and get there early in the morning before the crowds got there, so one morning we heading down the road from Ritsumeikan to see what all the hoopla was about.  It was nice that Ritsumeikan is in such close proximity to so many important temples, and Ryoanji was no different.  It was, quite literally, a few thousand feet down the road.  This was nice because it didn’t take long to get there.  Once we did get there I have to say that it was one of the most amazingly scenic places I’ve been to in a long while.  I took quite a few pictures just of this place and luckily most survived (I lost the entire roll that had the Hiroshima and Miyajima pictures on it.  Thanks for the replacements Tamar).  The rock garden itself was very serene and peaceful, and it was a nice little escape for about 20 minutes.  We decided to head back towards the school and came across these two wonderful scenes.  I think that the logs in the water are there to support the tree, but I really like the picture with the reflection of the clouds in the water.  I have pictures of some rather odd rocks in aprons but I didn’t scan them in (One of these days I will).

We did some other neat stuff while we were in Kyoto.  A few days after heading to Ryoanji, I went to Arashiyama with a bunch of people.  One of my table members, Michi, was our guide and I don’t think I was prepared for the amount of walking that we were about to do.  We had to catch train to get there and I think there was a transfer, but the train system in Japan is absolutely wonderful and I don’t have any complaints about having to take a train anywhere in Japan.  The highlight of the Arashiyama trip was when a few of decided that we were going to rent some row boats and head up the nearby river (I’ll remember the name of it one of these days).  Brett, Miwako, and I were in one boat and Wright, Colin, and Aki were in another (I think), and we started to head up the river.  Bret rowed upstream and I took the leg back to the boathouse.  However, about 100 yards from the boathouse Bret decides that it would be a nice time for a dip and just drops into the water.  I guess it’s a great way of cooling off, but unfortunately for Bret he had his cell phone on him and destroyed it in the process of diving in.  I have a picture of the 6 of us somewhere with Bret standing there soaking wet.  Ah the memories.

The rest of the day passed by rather quietly, and we ate dinner at a local place near the riverbank.  We all gathered at the train station and headed back to Ritsumeikan. 

Our time in Kyoto quickly ran out, and we were packing up our things getting ready to go to the northern island of Hokkaido, and one of the most memorable times was waiting for us in Sapporo.

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