Japan: From Tokyo to Kyoto

Submitted by Julia Paganucci on the 2017 winter session program in Japan sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health & Nutrition…

This past week, my group went on an excursion to Kyoto, Japan. It was such a change from the big city of Tokyo, and it was so different in that it was all so historic. There were temples and shrines everywhere we went. When we were looking for all the famous temples, we would always come across ones that we didn’t even know existed, ones that were hidden and beautiful. I liked that Kyoto was so full of history, and it made the feeling of being in that city more calming, relaxed and I liked that  was learning every second of the time I was there.
Kyoto is not nearly as busy as Tokyo. There are a lot of people when you see major famous temples and shrines, but other than that, Kyoto is a relatively peaceful city. It was nice to have that type of change in scenery, since we had been in busy, fast-paced Tokyo for three weeks before that.

I wish that we could’ve spent more time in Kyoto to do a little more exploring, since there was so much in the area, but on the bullet train ride back to Tokyo I couldn’t help but consider the Tokyo hostel our home. It was nice to come back to a familiar city and I’m excited to see all of the last-minute places in Tokyo in our last days here!