Alice’s Sisters in Kyoto

Our stay in Tokyo was wonderful. Bright, modern, sparkling Tokyo. However we were in search of the older, traditional Japan. As my sister put it ‘the Japanese Japan’. So we decided to visit Kyoto.

Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan for over a thousand years. We were told we would find the traditional stuff ... Shinto shrines, Zen gardens and Geisha, there.

The usual way to travel between the two cities is by the Shinkansen, Japan’s marvelous bullet train network, but tickets are also expensive. The lady at the Tourist Information Center suggested we take an intercity Express Bus instead. These buses are much cheaper and we could see the same landscape at a slower, easier to absorb speed.

The next day we rode the bus feeling smug about our choice till the driver announced our stop. We were on the Meishin Expressway with no city in sight but the driver was firm. This was where we had to get off and a minute later he had left us by the roadside!

Traffic speed by, high sound-barriers preventing any view of what lay behind. The only break in them, a dusty door. Feeling quite like Alice and very, very lost, we gave the door handle a try.

Just as in Wonderland, with a squeak it opened. And opened to an unexpected world. A small staircase leading down to a quiet side-road parallel to a park and a neat row of buildings. But no humans in sight.

We walked slowly, pulling our suitcases along. Wondering where we were. Why were there no people around? Perhaps we should have taken the train after all and reached the city center instead of this unknown place.

At first the sound of children’s voices seemed to be part of the strange trance we were in. Then from a building came a happy rush of school kids. We had chanced the Kyoto Municipal Science Center For Youth. The kids were visiting it on a national holiday to celebrate the Kyoto Protocol which had come into effect earlier that year.

The Center, started in 1951, is an interactive Museum complete with a planetarium and two floors of hands-on fun experiments and displays. A real-life Wonderland.

In search of historical Japan we had stumbled upon one of Kyoto’s lesser known treasures. A place explaining the past and the present of our very planet, while celebrating an event that prepared us for its future.

Soon we were being led up to the only teacher who spoke English. He explained where we were and gave directions to the nearest subway station. But first we just had to explore the museum. ?