Kyoto #1

My trip to Kyoto was fantastic. Although most know Kyoto for its abundance of historic sights and classical Japanese beauty, I was more impressed with Kyoto as a modern city. Rather than filling my itinerary with temples and ancient places I opted for a more accidental sightseeing method. Kyoto is by all means a thriving metropolis. It’s very clean and cosmopolitan yet with the same run-down, dreary, grey aesthetic that typifies the modern Japanese city. What makes Kyoto fantastic is that in the midst of a sea of drab concrete structures you find everywhere ancient shrines and temples: some two thousand of them are scattered about the city. There are patches of neighborhoods left over from the Meiji period or older, kept in good shape and cared for not by any governmental means of preservation, but by the families who live in them and consider them homes rather than historical landmarks.

These are some pictures of Kyoto Station, where I began my tour of Kyoto. These photos really don’t capture the scale of this building. Keep in mind that the main structure is some 15 stories tall! I don’t really know anything about the design of the building except that it was completed in 1997.