Day 3 (Friday 8th Oct, 2010)

Today's goal: rent a bicycle.

I've heard that in Japan, and Kyoto in particular, a lot of people use bicycles to get around. Kyoto is completely flat, with lots of little alleys; so its a great setup for cycling.

There are a lot of bike rental agencies, but the cost is quite expensive. ￥500-1000 for a day, which is okay if you're only renting it for a day or two; but for three weeks the price adds up.
I did find out about a place that does long term rentals, a month for ￥3000. The place is on the north side of town, so I got a train out to the area.
This was my first time catching a train in Japan, so it was a bit confusing. The ticket machines have a shitload of buttons, with lots of kanji on them (which I can't read); but I found some English instructions over at the corner.
Turns out the process is really simple: you look at the line map, which tells you the cost to go to each other station on the line (of course, the further it is, the more it costs). So you find out the cost, then put that much (or more) into the machine. The buttons light up, and you press the one that has the amount you need to pay; then it gives you a ticket.


I found the bike shop easily enough, a very funky looking little store that looks like Japan crashed into Jamaica. The guy at the place was very friendly and helpful; and so now I have a bike!
Its one of those 1-speed hipster bikes with a basket at the front (these are buy large the most popular bikes here. I've seen one mountain bike, no road bikes, and one chopper-bicycle.
The bike is a redhead, so I've called her Kako (火子), which means "Fire Child". ("子/ko", which means "child", is popular at the end of Japanese girls' names, like Hanako (flower child).
There is also a wheel-lock built in, complete with key, so I don't have to worry about her getting stolen.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent cycling around town, which was a whole lot of fun in it's own right.
I got a bit lost, and managed to use the sun to orient myself.

I found my way to Kyoto Gyoen Park, which is the park, which is the park in which the Imperial Palace is located. I couldn't go into the palace itself, because you have to book that a few days in advance; but the garden is incredible. There are a lot of other sites within it; an old nobles' mansion, a shrine, a small baseball ground, and a tea ceremony house which you can go inside for a ￥100 donation.
The teahouse was perhaps the best part of that park; even though it was small the views of the pond beside it were incredible.


I had to come home fairly early to be a nerd and a Fantasy NBA draft with some old friends from high school, via MSN. They are all quite surprised at me liking basketball these days.
I got my time zones muddled though, and came back an hour early. The draft took about 2 hours, maybe longer, and the rest of the evening was spent inside drinking with my hostel-mates.