Kyoto; Saturday, 12 April, 2025

Once airborne the flight was excellent, as was the service, and I even managed to get a good few hours of sleep, waking up around 9am Japanese time ready for arrival into Tokyo, still nearly 2 hours late as we’d failed to make up any of the delay overnight, in part due to the circuitous route we had to take via the Mediterranean, Turkey, several of the Stans and Mongolia all avoiding, closed to British Airways, Russian airspace, before finally crossing over the coast of China the Japan Sea and down into Tokyo, even getting a view of Mount Fuji on the way down.

The journey through the airport was incredibly smooth, in part because I’d completed the online landing form a couple of weeks earlier so had all my customs and immigration details on a QR code that I simply scanned into a machine at the border and then quickly had a sticker placed in my passport. A quick bathroom break and by the time I reached the baggage carousel my luggage was already coming round so I was able to grab it and walk through to the airport station.

I purchased and charged a Welcome Suica card, which is a contactless travel card that works on almost all public transport in the country (with the exception of highspeed trains and some special services), as well as working as a digital wallet for using on vending machines and some shops. With the card loaded with 10,000 Yen I tapped into the barriers and hopped on the subway in towards the centre of Tokyo.

I wasn’t actually going the whole way in as I could change at Shinagawa station to connect onto the Shinkansen train to Kyoto there, so after a couple of stops on the subway I hopped off and then spent a good 10 minutes trying to navigate my way around the station so that I could exit via my Suica and then go and purchase my ticket onto Kyoto. As I wasn’t in a rush I didn’t book for the first train as that had no window seats of the Mount Fuji side left so I caught one a couple of trains (and only about 20 minutes) later – though it turned out the cloud cover and mists would mean there was no chance of seeing Fuji.

After a very smooth, and fast, ride on the Shinkansen we arrived into Kyoto on time (naturally, this is Japan), and I quickly made the connection onto the local train a couple of stops north to Nijo station and the location of my hotel for the next few nights.

I checked into the hotel and dropped my stuff off before heading out for a walk around the local area. My first stop was a couple of blocks away where I visited the Shinsenen Temple complex and had a wander around the site, taking in the shrines and cherry blossom that was still in full bloom.

From Shinsenen I walked the short distance on to the Nijo Castle, the former home of the Shoguns who ruled the city for a couple of hundred years shortly before handing power back to the emperor and the capital being relocated to Tokyo. Normally at this time of night the castle would be closed, but because it was still Sakura, cherry blossom season, the castle was open for a special nighttime viewing with sound and light displays and many of the trees illuminated to show off their blossom. The last night of opening was tomorrow so it was pure chance that I’d timed it so well, and it was obvious that I should take advantage of the opportunity to look around the castle complex.

I had a long wander around the site, taking in much of the castle grounds, the lightshows and, even though it was almost the end of Sakura, the stunning amounts of cherry blossom on all the trees.

Having taken in the castle I walked back towards the hotel, stopping off at a restaurant near the station for a quick bit to eat, amazed at both the quality of the food in a little diner by a station, and the price. I’d always assumed that Japan was very expensive, but both the entrance to the castle and dinner were quickly telling me that Japan, once you’ve got there, is incredibly affordable.

Dinner completed I headed back to the hotel and pretty much as soon as I got up to my room I felt all the travel and time zone changes catch up with me, and I was quickly in bed and fast asleep.