This article is a detailed look inside 9hours – the designer/minimalist capsule hotel which opened in December 2009. Unlike most other capsule hotels, this one allows women – and out of all the capsule hotels that do allow women, this is probably the only one they would want to visit.

Reception desk.

From a sign in the lobby of the hotel…

9hours offers a refreshing innovative service concept focusing on the “value of time” in an urban area. It attempts to break down the well known, the traditional notion of hotel service and stay. We attempt to introduce a functional accommodation experience in an unprecedented manner for those who seek practicality and special aspects in a hotel stay. You can stay here for a maximum of 17 hours. You can check in anytime.

Kyoto map, even information, Kyoto city one-day bus pass, JTB Tour applications, internet and even free lending of an umbrella!

All surfaces are sleek. All signs are part of the walls and floors. Minimal icons are used to guide you around the hotel. A simple colour scheme of white, black and silver serves to enhance the uniqueness and uncomplicated functionality of the hotel.

Lobby area (reception is behind) with elevators up ahead.

Most signs in Japanese hotels will be in English and Japanese.

Having a background in design - I'm a huge fan of Japanese design and how user friendly it always is... even without language, this image makes sense.

After checking in you’ll probably head straight to the locker and shower area. Men’s and women’s locker and shower areas are on separate floors.

There is a public bath and private shower cubicles. Just like every other Japanese capsule hotel, you’ll find razors, combs, toothbrushes and hairdryers.

The locker is a decent size, large enough to fit a small suitcase or a large backpack.

Lockers in the bath/shower area.

9hours creates an experience with their brand. All the toiletries, and even coffee and bottled water, have been made especially for the hotel.

A yukata, towel and 9hours branded toiletries in your locker.

You know what a toilet looks like – but have you seen a control panel for a toilet like this one?

It’s even got a button to play a flushing sound to mask whatever you’re doing in there…

A very fancy toilet indeed...

As well as the showers being on separate floors, capsule rooms for women are on different floors to the men. There are toilets and vending machines on every floor.

Men and women's capsules and bathrooms are located on separated floors accessed by separate elevators.

Another cool graphic on the walls inside the capsule hotel.

After going up the elevator and through the small, very plain room with only a vending machine and a toilet door, you enter the capsule room. There are about 20 – 25 capsules on each floor. If you’ve ever stayed at a hostel in London, you’ll know that it can be fun to hang around the 15 other people in the room – but in such a closed society like Japan, you get privacy literally by being encapsulated!

The eerie gold and green lighting illuminates the entrance to your capsule.

Locate your capsule and jump in! There is a sliding blind to give you privacy.

The entrance to your 9hour sleep system.

Inside the capsule is a very comfortable mattress, a pillow custom made for the hotel, and a control panel for lights and the alarm. Unlike other capsules, there is no TV inside – which I like, it only takes up room and distracts from relaxation.

At the foot of your capsule bed are instructions on how to use the hotel and sleep system.

You can use a normal alarm if you like, but the “Sleep Ambient System” has to be experienced. I’ll let 9hours tell you all about it – verbatim from the How to use the “Sleep Ambient System” printout inside the card left at the foot of your bed:

The “Sleep Ambient System” is designed to help you sleep better. Setup your wake up time and start the system. The lighting in the capsule dims gradually to make falling asleep easier. The next morning as your wake up time approaches, the lighting slowly becomes brighter to help you wake up comfortably.

It was a very cool way to go to sleep/wake up. When you start the sleep system, the lights slowly fade over about 15 minutes. It does the reverse to wake you up in the morning. I woke up with such a strange feeling, maybe it was my dream but I thought for a moment I was sleeping outside …

Control panel inside the capsule to set the alarm and room lights.

True to the nature of the interior, the exterior of the building is very simple.

9hours Capsule Hotel from the street - tall thin buildings are typical of inner city Japan.

The really convenient thing is that you can check in at anytime and start your 9hours. I first stayed at 9hours during a sweltering few days in August during my summer holiday travelling Japan. I checked in around 8PM and checked out before dawn to walk along the Kamo River.

I’d recommend staying here when you’re travelling solo or in small groups.

How to Book Accommodation at 9hours Capsule Hotel

The 9hours.jp website is bilingual and you can make a booking directly through their online reservation system. Payment is made upon arrival.

How to Get to 9hours Capsule Hotel

9hours is located in Teramachi, on the west side of the Kamo River across from Gion. There are a few train stations nearby and buses run frequently through the area. The closest station is Kawaramachi Station, here are directions to get there:

• Train from Kyoto Station: Take the Kyoto City Subway Karasuma Line for 3 minutes, getting off at Shijo Station. From there find the Hankyu Kyoto Line at Karasuma Station, heading to Kawaramachi Station which is just 2 minutes away.
• Bus from Kyoto Station: I’m a big advocate of the 500円 all-day Kyoto City Bus Pass – but when I stayed at 9hours, I took the train there and walked all the next day. If you want to take the bus, the easiest way is to ask the staff at the information center inside Kyoto station. From memory, I know the 203 bus goes along Shijo Dori – just get off at Kawaramachi Station.

Walking to 9hours Capsule Hotel from Kawaramachi Station

After getting off the train, take any of the western exits up to the street. There is a main road called Shijo Dori – you want to get yourself on the sidewalk on the south side of this road. You’ll see a MOS Burger and a McDonalds along here.

Walk west along this road, past the MOS and McDonalds. After McDonalds, turn left at the lights – you’ll be walking down a one-way street against traffic. After 100 metres you’ll see a Family Mart convenience store – 9hours is next to that!

View Larger on Google Maps

With the bus and train so close, 9hours is a great place to see the amazing and almost ancient treasure of Kyoto. Be sure to see these places on your next visit:

• The Golden Pavilion – Kinkakuji – UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Kyoto’s Castle – Nijojo – UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Fushimi Inari – mountain shrine with thousands of red gates – UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Kyoto Imperial Palace – National Heritage Site.

Next time you visit the Kyoto area, spend a night at 9hours and let me know how you like it!

Japrish is basically my own version of Engrish. It’s all from Japan – and it’s not that it’s bad English (although many times it is) – more that it is somehow strange and amusing. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

The Super Great Feeling Bringing Fake Beer

A limited edition beer from about 2 years ago.

A kind of Japanese beer – actually called happoshu, which has a lower content and I classify it as fake beer – brought out about 2 years ago in a limited release. The ads for it were hilarious, dudes would take a big swig and react like someone you’d see on a Solo ad.

I Challenge You To A Sale

I dare you... break the price!

There was an awesome example a few months ago of a shop in Osaka posting a sale sign with swear words printed in huge letters. This one gets the message across… in a challenging way.

Mentally Challenge You With A Truck

Hoping this one doesn't live up to its name.

Snapped this one day on a drive to work… couldn’t believe what I was seeing in my rear-view mirror.

That Is Important

Good English... interesting facts.

Raise your spirits and buy a Rav4!

What Do You Want To Be?

There are many factors to consider.

I’m not sure… would you?

Whistle If You’re Thiesty

Come on... the correct spelling is right there!

Spotted in a local American burger place.

Enjoy It In Unison

Combine those items and I will enjoy it.

At the deliciuous MOS Burger restaurant, this label was on the menu holder.

We’ll Settle For Peace – Anytime

Just layback, and wait for it to happen...

This one is on my mousepad, bought from a 100 yen shop.

Target Audience

Specific enough?

In a country of 100+ million people, I guess the niches are more varied.

Changer The Changing Machine

Put a note in, get coins out - too simple?

The “Glory Model Series” (which was actually out of order) found in a games center (bowling, arcade games, etc) in Kyoto.

Lots more Japrish to come, grab the RSS or email alerts to find out when new posts are published.

Kyoto Gosho was the Imperial Palace of Japan before the capital was moved to Tokyo in 1869. This article won’t talk much about it’s history – you can find plenty on that topic on many other sites – instead it shows a lot of pictures from inside the palace grounds, as well as explain how to get the free English speaking tour.

Pictures of the Kyoto Imperial Palace

… and a look at the free English tour.

The tour group in front of one of the many halls, standing beside a brilliant red and white wall that leads to a huge, and very important, ceremonial hall.

In the middle of Kyoto (map at the end of this article), the Palace lies inside the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. The entire garden (except for the Palace grounds) is freely open to the public, and it’s a nice place to bring a lunch and relax.

The garden surrounds have a rich history, during the Meiji Era it was a small town of about 200 houses for court nobles who would frequent the Palace. The remains of 9 outer gates surrounding the garden can still be seen, however most of the houses were removed and turned into the garden you can see today.

The garden itself is surrounded by a large wall, which once had 9 gates. Inside the garden, before you get to see inside the Palace grounds, you can’t help but notice the length of the inner walls that surround the Palace.

The respected 300 year old tree stands outside the wall of the Palace's south west corner.

This is a muku tree and in the background is the wall of the Palace. The tree is highly respected in these grounds. At 300 years old, it is one of the few big and old muku trees here. It became notable after a legendary samurai, leading a radical “rever the Emperor and expel the barbarians” group, died beside the tree in 1864.

The first hall encountered on the tour.

After booking in for the free tour (details at the end of this post on how to do this) and gathering in the waiting room prior to the tour, we set off (on a very hot day during Japan’s summer) for what was a 90 minute tour.

The guide, a Japanese lady, spoke excellent English. The fact that the Kyoto Imperial Palace is property of the Emperor and hence the goverment, I guess, ensures you get a quality guide!

I’ve been on plenty of other English speaking tours where the guide speaks barely legible English, sounding as if they just memorised a script – and they don’t have the ability to understand or answer any questions.

Waiting hall for official visitors with various rooms for different ranks.

The tour shows you many different buildings and the guide explains the uses and history of these places. This waiting hall, near one of the main gates, was the first to show us the amazingly decorated interior walls. Of course, you can’t go inside these rooms but you get a great view of what’s inside.

Below is just a few (and the first) of many such paintings seen.

Scene with cranes.

Scene with a tiger and waterfall... I find this one interesting because there are no tigers in Japan.

The style of many of the buildings – mostly the white walls – reminds me of historic Kurashiki in Okayama. The buildings here and the area in Kurashiki are preserved from the same era.

White exterior walls with a large gate like entrance.

One of the great things about this place is the ability to experience it without the masses of tourists at every other site in Kyoto. There was about 40 people in our tour group, which means if you hang back or go ahead a little, you can get some great photos and really experience the expanse of this splendid Palace.

Looking at the Kenrei-mon (south most gate) I even had enough time to take a HDR photo with no-one in the shot!

Every building and area of the Palace has a specific purpose. The picture below is looking across the forecourt at the most important building in the Palace. The gravel forecourt played an important role in ceremonies – as did a few other buildings in the Palace.

This is the Shishinden - Kyoto Imperial Palace's most imporant ceremonial building.

Not only is this the most important ceremonial building – of which there are many – it is easily the biggest single building in the Kyoto Gosho. This ceremonial hall, and the entire area in general, was where enthorment ceremonies for past emperors took place.

The gravel garden contains a cherry blossom tree (to the right of the hall) and in view in the photo above you can see an orange tree which all played important parts in ceremony.

Detail of the main gate and wall surrounding the Shishinden ceremonial hall.

These walls and many other structures are well maintained. The detail is amazing. You can click the image above to see it in higher resolution and more detail. At the end of each row of roof tiles is the Emperor’s seal.

Random fact: the guide explained that most people think the red colour of the painted gates and pylons are the same as those seen in China. However Japan’s gates and temples are generally a more orange colour.

Looking at the ceremonial hall's main gate at the beginning of the ceremonial hall's forecourt.

Turning around from the ceremonial hall is a huge and open area. This is the south area of Palace grounds.

Kenrei-mon, from the HDR photo above.

During this tour I learnt one of the reasons why so many amazing buildings have burnt down in Japan. Of course they were made mostly of wood, but the the roofing was made from a thatching of matchstick size pieces of wood. Crammed together these were great kindling with plenty of air space to help a fire along.

In maintaing the Kyoto Imperial Palace’s building, workers use traditional techniques when restoring the roof.

Japanese Traditional Thatched Roof.

This detached building has an interesting purpose. It was?built to place a sacred mirror in for the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Taisho in 1915. That’s all it does, houses a mirror, and doesn’t get much use at all.

The freestanding Shunkuden houses an Emperial mirror.

On the east side of the Palace grounds is a man made lake and some green gardens. These are opposite some residential rooms and other types of meeting halls. They were used for recreation by the Emperor and his family.

An old wooden bridge crosses part of a man made lake onto a small island.

We visited the Kyoto Gosho in the middle of summer. In autumn and spring the gardens would come to life even more, with cherry blossoms or the changing colour of the dieing leaves.

Free Kyoto Gosho Guided English Tour

You have to book in for the tour of the Palace before you can enter, but you can do it on the same day. English guided tours take place at 10am and 2pm.

Take your passport to the Imperial Household Agency Office, which is in the west side of the garden – directly opposite the north-west corner of the Palace walls. It’s very easy to find once you get to the garden, there are plenty of maps.

The people in the office have good enough English to book you in for a tour that day. All you need to do is fill out a simple form and show them your passport.

I had enough time to go first to Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion temple) in the morning, then into the office to?book in the 2pm tour, then go to the nearby Nijo Castle, have lunch and return at about 1:45pm to gather for the Kyoto Gosho tour.

How to get to the Kyoto Imperial Palace

The Palace is in the middle of Kyoto, very close to Nijo Castle.

View Larger Map

The best way to get there is by bus. I’m a big advocate of the all-day city bus pass (I’m about to do an entire blog post on it actually). You can get it from most hotel receptions, or from around Kyoto station. It costs 500 yen for the day – a one way trip anywhere is a flat fee of 200 yen. I usually get this pass first thing in the morning.

However on the day that I visited the Kyoto Imperial Palace I was getting around Kyoto on a bicycle. The bike hire shop was right near the Golden Pavilion (kinkaku-ji) and was a very easy downhill ride from there.

For now, marvel at the main gate to the World Heritage and Ancient Kyoto Site of Fushimi Inari…

The large main gate at the bottom of Inari Mountain, leading to the torii (red gate) lined paths.

This is a HDR photo of the main gate at the shrine area.

If you visit Kyoto, this is the number 1 place you must visit. I’ve been to Kyoto many times and visited 11 of the UNESCO World Heritage sites – this is my favourite so far!

Like what you see? Follow Japan Travel Mate to find out when the full article with lots of pictures is published (take a look at the sidebar on the right of this page, you’ve got plenty of options!).

This is what the old site looked like…

The old home page.

The old single post view.

What are the goals of this redesigned site?

When the site was first built a few of years ago, there wasn’t much content – it was easy to find your way to every article. Now the amount of articles has grown, so my biggest goal for the new site is to give people easier and more direct access to the wider range of content.

Improvements in page loading speed as well as a more easy-on-the-eye design are some secondary goals that this redesign accomplishes.

What are the features of the new site?

Helping you find your way to other articles, these features have been implemented:

Find Something New: The Random Article Browser

Explore a random article and find out something new or interesting about Japan. Many people who find their way to this site Google generic terms like “Japan blog” or “Japan travel ideas” – so this feature helps them find something which perhaps they never though of before.

Try it out! Click the red ‘Explore a random article’ button in the header.

Read More of What You Like: Related Article Links

Get more of the content you like. After reading a post, you can easily find an article on a similar (or the same) topic. At the end of every post is 3 links – with nice big thumbnails and a teaser of the post.

While this post isn’t the typical travel/Japan related post – and hence will turn up some non-related results – you can see the related post links in action at the end of this post.

Popular Posts: Most Talked About Posts

This site is setup in a blog style… from the homepage the articles are listed chronologically from newest to oldest. So the very best articles may be buried.

Now you can easily find the most talked about articles from the right sidebar, the more comments on a post – the higher it is on the list.

Convenient New Post Alerts: Follow and Subscribe

Without spending too much time on Twitter or Facebook, a good follower base has steadily been growing. Many people are subscribing to new post alerts by RSS and email – and the previous site only had a small icon linking to these.

Most prominent in the sidebar is a Twitter follow and Facebook like box – so you can connect with JapanTravelMate directly from this site. Like or follow JapanTravelmate now straight from the sidebar.

Below that are dedicated buttons for RSS and email alerts, so you can find out when new posts are published. Get your post alerts in the format you like, click the button in the sidebar.

Also, on individual post pages, to the left of the content, is a Twitter tweet and Facebook like/share button – giving you easier access to send stuff on to friends. Share your favourite posts with your friends!

Why do a redesign?

It’s not that I felt the site looked old, but that what was under the hood could be improved. This site is a WordPress website, and the previous version used a lot of plugins that slowed down performance. This new site has almost entirely replaced the plugins with hard coded snippets.

The new redesign uses far less imagery to make the user?interface?- all the rounded edges, gradients and buttons are pure CSS.

In terms of the design, the old site had low contrast (dark grey text on a light grey background) and nothing was particularly drawing the eye.

Also, for another site I own I wrote a book You Make The Website and wanted to give this a thorough retest as version 1.1 was recently released.

Now the redesign has launched, I can get back to posting! I’ve been saving up a lot of Japrish photos, so keep an eye out for those!

Nijo Castle in Kyoto... not your stereotypical Japanese castle.

Kyoto’s Castle – Nijo Jo

Nijo Castle was built in 1603 by the infamous Tokugawa shogunate. The castle defended the nearby Kyoto Imperial Palace and was a place for shoguns to stay when they visited Kyoto. Almost 400 years later, in 1994, it officially became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 1626 the castle underwent a huge renovation and there are still remains in the castle grounds from that time.

Check me out in the reflection! Very hot and humid day.

This guard station was original built in 1663.

A group of samurai known as the Nijo Zaiban were dispatched by the shogunate for night watch and patrol around the castle. One group comprised 50 samurai and the castle had two groups permanently stationed at Nijo Castle.

Every spring (April) the guards would rotate duty with other squads.

The main gate with the guard station (previous picture) on the left.

This gate pictured above is called Ninomaru Higashi-otemon (higashi = east and mon = gate) and it is the main entrance to the Nijo Castle grounds.

Ninomaru-goten Karamon.

Such detail and colour, welcoming the special people into the inner grounds of Nijo Castle.

Ninomaru Palace and Garden

The real history and main reason this is a World Heritage site is seen at the palace and landscaped garden inside the castle walls.

Ninomaru Goten - you could roughly translate goten in Japanese to a mansion in English.

The Ninomaru Palace inside the castle grounds is made up of many residential style buildings in a diagonal pattern alongside a pond. Each room inside the palace has its own individual and magnificent features.

Ninomaru Teien.

To the south west of the palace is Ninomaru Teien (teien = a special type of wide, landscaped, designed garden). It has designed rock formations, a man-made waterfall and three small islands in the pond.

Another view of the Ninomaru Teien.

Honmaru Palace – Inner-Inner Nijo Castle Grounds

Over a bridge crossing a moat, and through another gate is area of raised ground deep in the center of the Nijo Castle grounds.

A view of Honmaru?Palace from a raised ground area deep inside Nijo Castle.

One of the residential style buildings of the Honmaru Palace that has Japanese Important Cultural status.

Another of the Palace buildings.

The interior moat and Honmaru Yoguramon (gate). This moat separates the Ninomaru area from the Honmaru area.

This place has World Heritage status... respect!

Visiting Nijo-jo

Nijo Castle is really easy to get to, it’s very close to Kyoto station. You can take the bus (a 500 yen day bus is the most economical way to get around Kyoto) which is only a 15 minute ride from Kyoto station. Alternatively you can take the subway to the Nijo stop.

Entry is 600 yen.

When I last visited Nijo Castle I was using a day hire bicycle, such a great way to get around Kyoto!

Made of wood with gold pigment, cut gold leaf and inlaid crystal eyes, this Kannon was made in the 14th century - and is considered young by Japanese standards.

The many hands hold objects such as: trident; wheel; mirror; bell; bow; arrow; lasso; lotus; grapes and more. For more information on the interesting folk lore, history and the rest of the Six Kannon take a look at the amazingly comprehensive catalog of the 100+ forms of kannon in Japan.

The Tokyo National Museum is a great place to visit – the largest museum in Japan containing some amazing relics, some dating back to 4000 BC. Entry is only 600 yen and it is very easy to access from JR train or metro subway. I had a great few hours at the museum… could have easily spent a few more hours there.

Gambling in Japan is mostly illegal, so punters travel to casinos in close-by Asian countries for gambling holidays. Almost all of the gambling that is legal in Japan is controlled by the government and raises revenue for the country. One of the only forms of gambling that isn’t controlled by the government is pachinko – they do however tax pachinko parlour owners.

Usually in the morning there is a line of people waiting to get in, but it's winter now so they're not out so early.

Since living in Japan I’ve met a few guys (mostly 30+ year old business men) who, having a bit of cash to spare, go on yearly trips to Las Vegas, Macau, Singapore as well as Australia.

While in many countries you can play online slots, which is taking off all over the world, there is no doubt that packinko parlours are hugely popular in Japan. In Australia, we call the pachinko equivalent “pokies” for poker machine – and their regulation is a hot political issue in Australia.

Apan is one of Japan's biggest pachinko parlour chains.

So if gambling in Japan is illegal, why is pachinko even allowed at all? Well, they use a simple and very obvious loop-hole… and I’m guessing that loop-hole comes down to the fact that the law says you can’t give money as the direct reward/prize for playing a game

This Apan Central Stage is typical of a pachinko parlour... ridiculous and shiny looking.

Some of the funniest examples of Japrish can be seen enticing English speakers into the parlours.

When playing pokies in Australia the cash is inserted directly into the machine. When betting on horses you pay for your bet with the bookie. When playing online casino games (like this site here) you use your credit card.

You don’t put any money into a pachinko machine. Instead, you buy these little balls that look like ball bearings. Think of it like buying tokens at TimeZone, allowing you to play the game.

With these balls you play the machine and try to win more balls. On many machines, this is the only point of difference you can find from a normal pokie (slot machine). There are so many different types of themed machines…

Pachinko Posters – Advertising Gambling in Japan

Pachinko poster for an Evangelion anime themed game.

More pachinko posters.

...and some more pachinko posters.

When you’ve finished playing, and hopefully after winning a stack of balls, you can exchange these balls for a huge range of things – from cigarettes to Armani bags. It’s just like taking those TimeZone tickets you won and exchanging them for prizes.

You can also exchange these balls (in a roundabout way) for cash. At the pachinko parlour the lucky punter exchanges pachinko balls for tokens. The tokens are then taken to a nearby, often dodgy looking booth that is dettached from the main pachinko parlour. These booths are actually “token buying businesses”. This is the loop-hole that makes the whole thing illegal – technically, you don’t get cash as a prize directly from the game.

So that’s how one of the most popular forms of gambling in Japan works.

Whilst walking around the city last weekend I passed more than a few parlours. All the photos above are of pachinko parlours I passed in just one day. Here’s a few more…

This one is just outside Nagoya - Maruhan is another popular chain.

Peace Spot - what a contradiction... inside it sounds like a rave full of screaming teenage girls and pinball machines.

This is a really small parlour a short walk from my house.

Yamanote 36 is another popular chain.

Yamanote 36 parlour from the side. They're typical of any gambling place... windowless.

Yet another chain - Mega World.

Maybe club means it's mimicing a nightclub...

This short video was taken during my visit in summer of 2011.

History of Kinkaku-ji

Kinkaku-ji was built in the Kamakura period (between 1185 – 1332) as an aristocrat’s country estate. In 1397 it was taken over by a retired shogun who transfored the temple into an elegant recreational villa. He had aspirations of becoming a dynastic figure, hence the gold leaf gilding.

A wide view of the temple and pond from the main photo spot.

Taken from the very edge of the main photo spot.

When the shogun, Yoshimitsu, died in 1422 it was converted into a Zen Buddhist Temple. After death, this shogun was awarded the name “Shari-den Kinkaku” (金 = kin/gold). That’s why today the temple is commonly refered to as Kinkaku-ji (or Golden Pavilion) and not its real name of Rokuonji Temple.

Design of the Golven Pavilion Temple

The temple has a very interesting design which is the inspiration for Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion Temple).

The brilliance of the temple in real life just can't be done just through photos, even HDR photos.

The first floor (ground floor) contains 2 statues and is built in the court noblemen’s residence style, reflecting an era of around 1000 years ago.

1st floor - you can just make out the statues inside.

The second floor (gilded in gold leaft) is designed in the samurai warriors house style and contains 2 statues.

2nd Floor.

The third floor (also gilded in gold leaf) is built in a Zen temple style. It also holds ashes, said to be those of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism.

3rd Floor, including the Golden Phoenix on top.

On top of the temple is a golden figure of “ho-o” – a classical Chinese mythical phoenix bird.

Close-up of the golden 2nd and 3rd floors and the "ho-o" mythical bird.

The surprising thing about Kinkaku-ji, aside from the sheer brilliance of the temple itself which pictures cannot do justice, is the garden of the temple grounds.

The garden utilises the sight of a local mountain and specially selected rocks have been placed in the pond. There is also a lookout area along the path.

Anmintaku Pond in the temple grounds.

Somewhere along the strolling garden path.

Taken from the lookout area.

There are also various buildings such as halls and tea houses in the temple grounds. And of course, a souvenir shop to buy lucky charms and other standard stuff.

Hojo Building.

Visiting Kinkaku-ji

The grounds of Kinkaku-ji are relatively smalled when compared to other sites in Kyoto. Your visit would last around 45 minutes, with plenty of photo taking time and a liesurely stroll through the entire garden.

From Kyoto station it is a 15-20 minute bus ride to the entrance of the temple grounds. You’ll find signs in English at the station as well as a screen inside the bus telling you where you are and when the stop to Kinkaku-ji is coming up.

If you’re spending the day in Kyoto, be sure to grab the 500 yen all day bus pass. The buses run to all the major historical sites and areas and a one way trip usually costs 200 yen. There are vending machines for these passes at the bus stops in front of Kyoto station, if you have trouble finding them, go to the information center inside the station where the English speaking staff can help you.

This month’s Japan Photo of the Month is a huge Torii gate at a Buddhist Shrine in Nagoya. This unpainted wooden torii fits perfectly with the natural surroundings of the park.

This torii must be at least 6 metres tall.

Torii mark the entrance to a sacred place, so it is customary to bow when walking through a torii into a shrine.

If you’d like to see it for yourself, head to Atsuta-jingu in Nagoya. Atsuta-jingu’s official visitor information page (in English) has all the details on how to get there.