Kyoto 2024, Day 6

With our Japan holiday drawing to a close, we decided to spend our final full day just wandering around Kyoto Station and its surroundings. That was one thing that we still hadn't done. So we took the train to the Kyoto station. 

The moment we stepped out, the familiar sight of the Nidec Kyoto Tower loomed above us. I remembered that on our last trip, we had walked in that direction and somehow ended up at a sushi restaurant in a shopping complex or multi-storey building. Try as I did this time, I couldn’t retrace those steps. Perhaps the place had shut down or relocated elsewhere. Never mind though, we chose instead to stroll aimlessly, dipping in and out of the shops nearby.

A stop at Kyoto Yodobashi was, of course, compulsory. That vast electronics store could easily swallow up half a day and so, even the hour we spent there felt woefully short. Still, it was an improvement over our fleeting visit to one of their Tokyo outlets eight years ago. Soon, hunger took over and we found ourselves outside a restaurant advertising wagyu beef. It didn’t take much convincing. Lunch was decided.

Afterwards, we wandered further from the station and came across another familiar sight: the Higashi Hongan-ji temple, one of the landmarks we had briefly visited all those years ago. We stood there for a moment, wondering where to go next, when a bus suddenly appeared. Feeling a little adventurous, I tugged Saw See along and we hopped on. Destination unknown. For 230 yen, the price of a single bus ride, it seemed well worth getting lost in Kyoto.

Eventually, the bus stopped at Shijo Street, near the Kyoto-Kawaramachi station and not far from Gion again. Shijo Street is one of Kyoto's busiest and most vibrant. But instead of walking around here, we went looking for Nishiki Market, another of Kyoto’s famed destinations. The crowd was tremendous as we joined it. As expected, we ate our way through the entire stretch, sampling snacks and sweets from one end to the other, until the shutters began rolling down. It was only about 6.15 p.m., and the shops were already closing! Emerging once more onto the main Shijo Street, we decided it was time to call it a day and slowly made our way back to the hotel. We were contented, a little weary perhaps but quietly grateful for one more full day in Kyoto.

An afterthought: Farewell, Japan, will we ever see you again? The next day passed without much excitement. We checked out from the hotel and made our way to Kyoto Station to catch the Haruka Express to Kansai International Airport. The AirAsia X flight left Kansai on time, making its scheduled stop at Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei. What puzzled me, though, was why passengers continuing to Malaysia had to disembark with all their cabin belongings and then reboard the same plane after another security check at a different gate. Later, I learnt that this was standard procedure at Taoyuan. Even for transit passengers, the airport authorities require everyone to undergo a fresh security screening before reboarding. It was more than a little inconvenient as I was groggily half-sleepy, but I suppose the Taiwanese take no chances. Still, it did feel rather odd walking off one plane only to queue up and board the very same one again. All that effort just to end up back in the same seat!