Day 2: Kyōto Station

A map showing the Shinkansen route from Tōkyō to Kyōto.

We hopped on the Shinkansen bullet train from Tōkyō to Kyōto. The 300 mile journey took less than three hours, and we arrived at Kyōto station.

Kyōto Station is the second largest station in Japan. It's a massive fifteen story structure of steel and glass.

Train stations in Japan are much more than tracks and platforms. Kyōto Station contains a department store, theater, dozens of shops and restaurants, a hotel, and even a few government offices. It's also really cool looking.

Metal and glass stretches across the station. A huge eleven story escalator rises to the top of the station on the far end.

The structure is distinctly modern in a city that is otherwise very traditional. One might lazily write that Kyōto—nay, Japan—is a study in contrast, but I would not do such a thing here.

The station opened on the city's 1,200th anniversary.

Have I ever mentioned that Ava likes escalators? She does. A lot. Of course we had to ride the large escalator to the top.

Ava stands on an escalator that descends to the center of the station. The gigantic one stands opposite.

A family of three and a young couple stand at glass windows set in concrete. Through the windows the Kyōto skyline is visible.

An observatory platform at the top of the station looks out over the city.

Kyōto Tower, the tallest structure in the city, stands opposite the station atop Kyōto Hotel. The height of most of the buildings in the cities is strictly limited, making the city skyline strangely flat.

Kyōto Tower, a white spire with red painted accents on the observatory deck stands sharply against the sky.

The spire stands on a cube-shaped hotel of glass and steel. The name Kyoto Tower Hotel sits on the front in large white letters.

A sky walkway spans the length of the station. The glass acted like a greenhouse, and though there were many air conditioning vents along the corridor it was sweltering hot.

A tunnel of criss-crossing steel and glass extends the length of the station.

The skyway, from below, crosses underneath a great cylindrical arc of steel girders and glass panes.

The roof and skyway of the station.

We left the station and headed for our lodging. We'd be staying at K's House Kyōto, a backpacker's hotel. The building is the blue-trimmed one on the right side of the street.

A blue trimmed yellow building sits on the right side of a narrow road. Ava, carrying her large backpack, walks towards it.

But it was only 12:30pm. We'd already been in the country for 22 hours, and all we'd really seen was the station. So we decided to fix that, and Kyōto has a lot to see…