could wander historical grounds and
temples for days, but aware of our
young wards’ boredom thresholds,
we picked only the top tourist-tested
sites. Kiyomizu-Dera temple proved
breathtaking. Founded in 798 and
rebuilt in the 1600s, its huge main hall
and veranda overlook lush greenery.
We also trekked to the three-storey
red-roofed pagoda at the opposite end
of the compound, which took under
an hour. Lunch was a refreshing bowl
of skinny
somen
noodles dipped in cold
broth and eaten al fresco to the sound
of the Otowa falls.
Our culture continued on to
Yasaka shrine, but we also broke
away from temples for a session at the
Kashogama Pottery School, where my
girl and I spun clay into traditional
vessels under expert yet easy-going
tutelage. Six weeks or so later we were
to re-live this spectacular highlight,
when our unique keepsakes were
delivered home, freshly glazed.
At the start of the summer, early
in July, young Kyoto-ites don brightly
coloured cotton kimonos called
yukata
,
and look like clusters of geishas. Of
course, there are real geishas to be
tracked too, around the area of Ginza,
where cobbled streets and preserved
machiya
traditional houses whisk you
back to times gone by.
Dusk is recommended as prime
geisha-spotting time. We marched
up and down, stroller at the ready,
chasing cars with tell-tale blacked
out windows like teenage fans might
stalk One Direction. At one point my
daughter, and loyal aide in the hunt,
begged to leave but she changed her
mind the instant a
maiko
, or geisha
in training, hurried from a closeted
doorway, her silken robes flaring
against the setting sun. She quickly
joined the throng of photographers
with her pink V-tech camera to snap
off pictures. Atta girl!
We felt like we joined all of the city
out on the streets that night, which
were closed to traffic and swollen with
snack stands, beer stands and good
feeling, all in honour of an annual
Kyoto festival called Gion Matsuri.
At one intersection, we glimpsed the
festival’s nominated sacred page: a
young robed boy in white face paint
perched on horseback, rod-still and
solemn. At that arresting sight, time
seemed to stop, captivating all but our
two-year-old.
Beach break
A week into our break we were ready
for relaxation. We made a day trip
to Nara, a destination famous for its
temple-filled park and roaming wild
deer. The wide-eyed creatures were
enchanting to our children when
docile, but to be feared when food was
in view, when they get over-zealous.
Then it was on, another 30 minutes
or so from Kyoto, to Shiga, and a
deserted beach town called Omi-
Maiko. We’d found a rustic wooden
beachfront house through Airbnb and
arrived in a rainstorm to find frothing
waves and brooding skies our only
companions.
The next three days were brighter,
and we swam, sand-castled and
wandered deserted streets and day-
glow fields, grateful to our host for
advising us to bring food and happy
enough to sample 7-11’s iced treats
each afternoon. With Saturday’s
arrival, the train station teemed with
joyful weekend vacationers, who
spilled down to the beach and set
up barbecues. We waved as we left,
Tokyo-bound.
City style
We had reserved seats on the
gleaming Shinkansen from Kyoto,
which shot us soundlessly up to the
capital in less than three hours, and
was a highlight of my transport-mad
two-year-old boy’s trip – he still asks
to go on the “big-nose train”. From
there we took our first subway ride
and landed, bruised by the sudden
bustle, at sprawling Shinjuku Station,
a mega-complex serving three-million
passengers every day.
I’d booked the Park Hyatt where
Lost in Translation
was filmed as a
surprise for my husband, who seems
to keep the movie on replay. In the
hotel’s hushed confines, we soon felt
soothed, greeted with age-appropriate
amenities and fresh, plump local
peaches.
And just as well this refuge. The
next five days were crammed with
myriad sights of the city. Some were
obvious. A trip to Disney was seen as
obligatory, at least by our six-year-old.
Due to her love of
The Little Mermaid
we opted for a day at DisneySea,
procuring tickets a night ahead at
the Takashimaya Shinjuku Disney
Store to avoid queues on the day. On
a slightly humid and overcast day,
crowds weren’t a problem, and high-
energy splashtastic shows performed
January 2015
57
