This is the hotel I stayed in the first time I was in Kyoto. I took this picture to show the size of the Japanese rooms, beds, tables, chairs. If you notice, the table is only as high as my knees, and the bed and chairs are shorter still.
During my stay in Kyoto, there was a parade where everyone dressed as ancient Japanese warriors, princes, etc. and marched from the old Emperor's palace to a shrine about 2-3 miles away. There were lots of crazy outfits, but it was difficult to take pictures of the parade with all the people lined up along the parade route. Furthermore, those marching in the parade were spaced out far enough from one another that it was difficult to get many of them in the same shot.
While I was wandering in the Emperor's palace waiting for the parade to start, I took a couple picture of some shrines in the palace.
These are pictures of everyone getting dressed up and ready for to march in the parade.
I took this picture to show the number of people that lined the parade route.
These pictures show parts of the parade. They don't really do justice to the parade. I never did get a good picture of the really cool outfits in the parade.
This shrine was the final destination of the parade.
Kyoto has some really beatiful parts to it. Below are some shots I took while wandering around the side streets and parks of Kyoto.
I took the following pictures in downtown Kyoto. While a little busier and more filled with traffic than the Kyoto side streets, it is still an interesting place to be.
You can't see it in the picture below, but the warriors behind the fountain are anatomically correct.
The temple below with the lotus flower fountain was also in downtown Kyoto.
The final day I was in Kyoto, they had an arts and crafts festival. There were booths with tea ceremonies, booths with paitings, booths with live music, booths with food... The picture below shows a small section of the fair.
This man made all sorts of things out of straw.
This was my second hotel in Kyoto. It was a little bed-and-breakfast type place. It was run by an incredibly friendly and helpful old couple that rented out a few rooms in their house. Rooms were Japanese style -- that is, straw mat floors, chair with no legs, etc. There was always warm green tea waiting for you in your room.
Last updated: November 23, 1999
