Japanese days - Last days in Kyoto


01/12/2007 Saturday
 
Back in Tokyo after two weeks in Kyoto. Some last minute photos and then we checked out of the hotel and got a taxi to the station. There we had a meal in the hi tech architecture of Kyoto station itself. The architecture is built with metal, concrete and glass but the view from the upper floor looks out onto the distant mountains through a curving network of steel girders which echo the form and lay of the mountains themselves. Its another example in my view of the combination of architecture and natural landscape which the Japanese have used in the design of their living spaces since ancient times and still continues today long before modern architects grasped this concept. A wide eleven story staircase  sweeps down from the top floor to the ground floor offering a vast vista of the cavernous interior of the main station area. From Kyoto we of course got on the wrong train because we were rushing and were both quite tired. The wrong train went to Tokyo in any case we just arrived 30 minutes later than we expected. Tokyo is completely different from Kyoto naturally - hectic and modern and grander in scale. Before we left Kyoto we discovered the "Kyoto International Community House"which was only 5 minutes form our hotel. Good place to relax in a large spacious atmosphere with all the facilities of a large luxury hotel but none of the noise. Set in a beautiful garden and close to all the temples in that part of Kyoto and with its own library I wish I had found it earlier, when we first arrived. Tomorrow we will meet with Akira san and go to an open air antique market if the weather holds out and it doesn't rain.
 
Filming in Kyoto generally went well and I think I got plenty of material which will come in useful.

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