Kyoto and Hanazono University

I made it to Kyoto today via train from the Nagoya area. I had planned to hang around a few hours longer and walk around because Fujigaoka, the little town in which my hotel was located, is such a cute place. Clean, neat, orderly, and peaceful. But I found out at the last minute that check-out time was at 10:00 am, so I scrambled to get packed and decided I would go ahead and take the local train line to the station and catch the "real" train to Kyoto. That turned out to be pretty easy to do; public transportation in Japan has been uniformly good, so far.

Once in Kyoto station I stopped at the information desk and figured out which bus to take to the hotel and got checked in, and then did my usual: I set out on foot to see what I would encounter. My approach to sightseeing has been to pick out a few key things I want to see or do, take my time getting to and from those places, and allow an opportunity to find interesting things along the way.

I started out heading toward Myoshin-ji Temple, one of the prominent Rinzai Zen temples in Japan, but when I saw it was taking too long to get there I took a detour to Hanazono University, a small Buddhist university founded by Myoshin-ji. Why? I wanted to see what it was like, so I entered the main gate and asked the security guard if he could help me get some information. He led me to an administrative office where a gentleman with minimal English-speaking skills welcomed me and offered me some green tea, which I happily accepted. I told him I was an American professor and that I wanted some information about programs there. After he gave me some brochures, we chatted a little and then said goodbye. As I was leaving I noticed some students practicing kendo in a gym and stopped and watched for a while, until one of the participants, a young girl, noticed ... she smiled but seemed uncomfortable, so I turned and walked away.

I was hot and tired and it was late, so I found the train station, figured out which line went near my hotel, got a ticket from the machine, and made my way home.