I get up early and go down for breakfast. Again no luck meeting other travelers. After checking out of the hotel I walk around the corner to the subway station, and take the Maranouchi Line Subway to Tokyo station. I check-in w. Japan Rail Customer Service. The lady that helped me a couple days earlier is there. Midori is her name. I ask about a seat from Okayama to Matsuyama. She walks with me across the hallway to the ticket counter, where she confirms that I will have to board the open seating car in Okayama. Per M's recommendation I get box lunch at the station (sushi and california rolls), and head up to the tracks. I find the proper track and watch as a couple Shinkansen trains come and go. My train departs at 9:21. My train pulls in and we can board. There is 5 across (3 and 2) seating. I'm in D, aisle, and E is the window seat. E is empty as we pull out of Tokyo, and I am hoping E is a no-show. But, we stop at another station very soon and E boards the train. E is a 60ish business man in suit and w. briefcase only. He sits down and goes to sleep. The train ride is very quiet, smooth. In a short while we pass Mt. Fuji on our right. I talke a photo thur the train window. It is a sunny day. The countryside is quite scenic, hilly and green. I take out my box lunch and eat it. Not long after an attendant pushing a food service cart comes thru, selling box lunches and drinks. I get a coke. E leaves at XXX. Not long after we are in in Kyoto.
There are crowds of people waiting at the station to get on the train. I exit the JR station and find the subway. I put my money into the ticket machine, get my ticket, and enter the subway. I take subway to Oji station, which is one station north. I walk out of the station and ask a construction worker how to get to my hotel (The smart JTB guy gave me a Japanese language map with the hotel location marked). I soon find the hotel a couple blocks away. It is a very nice hotel. It is a lot different than my hotel in Tokyo, although it is not much more expensive, only 1500y more. The front desk staff, mostly young ladies, are very gracious. One of them walks me to my room! Do they do this with all of their guests? I ask her where I should go for the afternoon. She suggests that I go to the XXX temple and shows me where it is on the map.
I accept her advice and walk to the temple area. First I see the YYY temple. Then I walk up a long pathway, with houses on one side, and grave markers on the other side, until I arrive at the XXX temple. The XXX temple is very busy. Lots of Japanese tourists, and a few westerners. I walk up to the top of the temple. Like many it is on a hillside with a commanding view of the city below. It has some things that are similar to the Asakusa temple in Tokyo, and some that are different. There is an entire area focused on good luck, where there are several places and booths to find out your luck. Most cost money. I think that the real good luck is with the temple itself--people are spending money like crazy!. I then walk back towards the hotel on a narrow street--different than the way I came. Near the hotel there is an internet café, and I go in and check my email. I then walk back to the hotel and arrive just as two of the desk clerks are exiting to go to dinner.
They invite me to join them and I walk with them a block or so to a small side street, where we turn right and then enter a small restaurant. It is a place a westerner would never even notice, and the menu is entirely in Japanese. Again following the advice of my local hosts, I order a tempura set, which also includes some sashimi, soup, and rice. Another wonderful meal. They go back to the hotel and I take another walk. I should have asked them where to go, and so I do not find anything interesting. I end-up back at the internet café for a few minutes, and then back to the hotel. I am a bit tired and I hit the sack.
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