We took the last bullet train of the evening from Nagoya to Kyoto. We still hadn’t realized that it was important to stand exactly where the carriage of the train was to stop. Jetlagged and disoriented, we boarded into a meticulously clean carriage and flopped down onto the seat.

Across the aisle, two older women and a younger woman, tittered politely behind their hands at these flustered Europeans. My husband was complaining that he was thirsty, having raced up to the platform dragging both our heavy bags. He was soon to be refreshed.

A trolley was pushed into our carriage by a neatly dressed girl, wearing a crisp white apron and white gloves. My husband put out his hand to indicate that he would like a drink. He called out to her, ‘hi!’. She smiled coyly and said, “hi!” This started a ping pong of ‘hi’s’ for a few minutes while the women opposite fell into hysterics. Then I remembered that ‘hi’ was ‘yes’. We all laughed and my husband pointed to a can of soft drink.

Arriving in Kyoto, it was dark and fortunately we had been given a note in Japanese to explain to a taxi driver where we were staying, the Ryokan Hiraiwa. Having turned into a narrow lane, we found our small, reasonably priced Ryokan.

STAYING IN A RYOKAN

Taking off our shoes, we exchanged these for house slippers provided by the Ryokan. Our room was on the second story and as we entered, we took off our house shoes to walk on the tatami mat. This woven mat covered the floor of our small room and the staff member whole led us to the room entered to roll down our futon mattress and make up the bed ready for sleeping. Apart from a low table in one corner, this was the basic accommodation.

Since we sleep on a futon at home, this was a comfortable night’s sleep. As long as we could remember which slippers to wear and when, we would be ok. The bathroom was downstairs and to visit the toilet we had to be careful to exchange our house slippers for toilet slippers and not overlook changing again to walk in the house. Woe betide the person who wore toilet slippers into the kitchen!

The bathroom had a small stool to sit on and shower hoses to wash with. Buckets were provided to fill and throw water over a soaped body. A hot tub steamed, ready for a soak after we had washed thoroughly. A lovely way to end or start a day.

Everything in the tiny kitchen was shiny and set in its place. Breakfast was huge pieces of white toast or we could enjoy noodles, which seemed a good option on a cold spring day. The experience of staying in this Ryokan made us regret having to stay in a Western hotel in Tokyo. The hospitality was flawless.

EXPERIENCE KYOTO

In the morning, we woke to the sound of strange humming in the lane below. We pushed aside the curtain to see a procession of monks of some sort, walking single file and humming in a low vibrating tone. They wore dark cloaks and large dark hats. This start to our morning began with the mystique of the Orient fascinating us and reminding us that we had a city to explore.

The temples of Kyoto are fine examples of Japanese style, art and history. Our favourite was the temple to the God of mercy, Koyomizu. After winding our way up a narrow lane fringed with little shops, we found ourselves high on a hill. It was raining and everyone was carrying umbrellas and misty rain formed curtains around the trees.

It was almost cherry blossom time; we had come just a few weeks too early. But even the dampness of the day and the skeleton tress added something to the impression of structure and form. This wooden temple had no idol, and was made of beautiful dark stained woods. The gardens around the temple would soon be clothed in spring leaf on both the maples and cherry blossoms.

It was cold, and we bought hot steaming udon soup and sat on cushions, Japanese style, in the mountainside café and thought about how glad we were that we were well aware that we could know the God of mercy, Jesus.