Kyoto - JR station rooftop park

On the evening after our bus tour of Kyoto we were trying to figure out where to go for dinner. I knew there was a ramen place down the street but my companion was not disposed towards eating noodles again after the curry soba in Shibuya so she pulled out the guidebook for Kyoto and browsed a bit.

"There are a whole bunch of restaurants over at the JR Station on the upper floors. Want to head over there?" The joy of discovering something wonderful by just being open to new things took over so I agreed readily.

It turns out that the JR Station in Kyoto has a grand mall attached which rises several stories above the city and has a rooftop Garden. You ride the escalators up for several stories towards the openings and I could not wait to get to the top to take photos.

The ramen stadium was on the seventh floor with more restaurants above. My desire for gyoza dumplings and the girlfriend's desire for something un-noodly led us to this little tiny little shop on the upper floor. I had a good ramen/gyoza combo and she had a tempura combo. The gyoza were wonderful with the two little steamed dumplings being among the best things I have ever tasted. In a rare lapse I forgot to get a picture of the meal.

Our seats were along the window so I pulled out my camera an set it on the window ledge up against the glass to get this pic. The lights were beautiful.

When we came out of the restaurant it was dark and I wanted to walk in the park at the top of mall/station. Unfortunately the long exposure times and my shaky hands kept a lot of the shots from coming out but it was one of the best experiences of a trip filled with them.

The station had a tribute to "God of Manga" Tezuka Osamu ongoing. Besides the posters there were sculptures of various characters gracing the tops of signs.

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The Shosei-en Gardens

The Shosei-en Garden was just east of the Higashi Hongangi (Shinshu Otani-ha) Temple, North of the JR station. Without a doubt this was my favorite place of all that we saw in Japan. So beautiful and peaceful. I would have loved to have seen it during Hanami. We took a chance on the free day we had and decided to walk up to see it. So glad we did. The Garden is also known as the Kikjoku-tei or the Orange Grove for a large number of trees growing there.

The Gardens are built on the grounds of the former mansion of a Heinan era Prince. Prince Minamoto no Toru, who was the son of Emperor Saga (early ninth century).

In 1641 the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu gave a large portion of land to the Higashi Honganji. The garden itself got its start in 1643 when the heir of the Honganji tradition commissioned the creation of a garden.

In 1858 and 1864 fires destroyed the grounds and structures. Starting in 1865 and continuing through the Meiji era the buildings and the stone wall and the pond were restored and rebuilt.

I don't think I could ever say enough about how stunningly gorgeous this place is. It is an oasis of green and tranquil beauty dropped right in the heart of Kyoto only a few blocks from the train station.

The herons lived on the island in the middle of the back pond.

Maybe not cherry blossoms, but pretty enough.

Here is an edited video I put together utilizing the clips I shot that day:

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