Around Kyoto: Uji, Nara [Trip Day 1] 宇治・奈良

Uji (宇治)

Kyoto is easily accessible from Tokyo, via the frequent Tokaido Shinkansen (we’re talking about departure every 10 minutes!) that covers about 500 km in about 2.5 hours.

To have a full day travelling, we took the train just before 6:30 am and arrived at Kyoto Station before 9. But we skipped that for now, and made a change to our first destination Uji (宇治).

Uji is a small town most commonly associated with high quality green tea – all Japanese know about Uji Matcha (宇治抹茶). (though strictly speaking, Green Tea 緑茶 and Matcha 抹茶 have some differences) Apart from the tea itself, the great attraction for a dessert buff like me is the various tea sweets. How much better would their green tea ice cream be? And it doesn’t end with sweets. You can find a whole variety of products that include tea in one form or another. Try tea curry.

Another point of interest is Byodo-In (平等院), a temple that can be found in all Japanese’s lives as it is the building engraved on the 100 yen coin. It’s also recently designated as a World Heritage Site. Getting to Uji from Kyoto only takes between 15 to 30 minutes (depending on riding a rapid or local train), so it’s definitely worth to drop by as a quick side trip from Kyoto.

: Kyoto Station. We left our bags at the nearby hotel, and then went back for the train to Uji.

: Bridge over Uji River (宇治川). The statue is Murasakishikibu (紫式部), a female novelist in the 11th century whose work Genjimonogatari (源氏物語) is regarded as a classic (even made into manga and animes in modern times). Uji is the main setting in the later chapters. You can find many references to it when travelling in Uji.

: Byodo-In is within walkable distance from Uji Station. On the way are the tea houses, tea sweets vendors and tea souvenir shops that can satisfy all your tea needs. For tea sweets, this shop called Rokjoan (六条庵) caught our eyes.

: The best green tea ice cream I’ve had is not an exaggeration. The sprinkle of tea powder on top, and even on the inside of the waffle cone, gave it amazing flavour. Is it a rip off price for tourist? No, at 250 yen, it’s actually much cheaper than the common price for these things usually above 300 yen. What a bargain!

: This is the main building Hoo-do “Phoenix Hall” (鳳凰堂) of the Byodo-In temple (平等院). Compare with the 100 yen coin?

: There are a few other buildings on the temple ground, including a museum (photo not allowed inside).

: Just outside the temple ground there is a nice walk along Uji River.

: Another statue about Genji Monogatari.

: Before going back to the train station, we shopped for some tea goodies.

: Rokujoan’s sign board, showing different kinds of tea sweets.

: Couldn’t resist but we went to Rokujoan again and tried what they claimed as the “deep flavour” tea ice ream. It’s good, but not as good as the earlier one. And this one was almost double the price!

Nara (奈良)

Nara had also been Japan’s capital in ancient time, so it has its shares of historical sites, though not as many as Kyoto. But one of its main attractions is definitely the free roaming deers near the large Nara Park – the only other place in Japan apart from Miyajima (宮島) in Hiroshima.

Uji is actually on the Nara Line train that runs between Kyoto and Nara. So for us it was natural to continue on to Nara which is between 30 to 40 minutes away.