Modernity and tradition
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"In Kyoto, ancient and modern work with each other to benefit us all".
A journey through modernity and tradition from Tokyo to Kyoto on a Shinkansen to the heart of ancient Japanese culture and tradition.
The Shinkansen railway system has revolutionised Japanese culture. What seemed startling to us 40 years ago in terms of just how fast these trains were going, has set a global standard, and today Japanese people think little about travelling at 300 kilometers per hour on this efficient and hi-tech rail network.
The first Tokaido Shinkansen trains pulled out of Tokyo in 1964, more than half a century ago, and ran at around 130 kilometres per hour.
The next generation of Japanese trains and our journey home to Gifu are described by JR:
“What is the Maglev train’s top speed? In April 2015, a manned superconducting Maglev train broke two previous land speed records for rail vehicles. The train was clocked at 603 kilometers per hour or 375 miles per hour. In 2009, the Maglev system was approved and entered commercial construction. The linear Chuo Shinkansen line is planned to link Tokyo and Nagoya by the year 2027. The trip is expected to take only forty minutes”.
The idea is to continually improve Shinkansen technology and this relies on continual investment in research. The latest trains are more efficient in terms of their energy use, speed and comfort. There has also been continual improvement in the design and technologies used to make rolling stock both safer and more comfortable.
Kyoto has 17 World Heritage sites and there are a large number of Japanese tourists, who come to visit the 2000 shrines and temples, as well as the city's many museums.
We decide to visit the Kinkaku-ji (Rokuon-ji ) Temple (The Golden Pavilion) and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The gently green and moss covered gardens of the temple are very beautiful, and represent the ‘pure land’ of Buddha in this world. The site gained a World Cultural Heritage listing in 1994.
The Golden Pavilion was originally built as a place of retirement for the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. After his death in 1409 the building began a new life as a Zen temple.
In the way of the world with its disasters and tragedies, the original temple building was destroyed by a young monk who set it alight in1950. The original building had survived so many upheavals over the centuries so the monk’s conduct created shock waves across Japan. The Golden Pavilion was reconstructed in 1995.
Yukio Mishima's (Kimitake Hiraoka) masterpiece TheTemple of the Golden Pavilion was published in 1956 and published in English three years later, it is about that burning. Author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director, Yukio Mishima died in a grim suicide. A story for another time.
And so we continue our journey to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It is here we talk to high school students and they test the Creative cowboy crew on our knowledge of Japanese food, having eaten vast amounts of it, I suspect we did okay. It was a chance to speak English and they were learning fast.
It is here that a statue Kannon Bodhisattva, the goddess of mercy, is worshipped.
クリエイティブ・カウボーイ・フィルムズ
The Shinkansen railway system has revolutionised Japanese culture. What seemed startling to us 40 years ago in terms of just how fast these trains were going, has set a global standard, and today Japanese people think little about travelling at 300 kilometers per hour on this efficient and hi-tech rail network.
The first Tokaido Shinkansen trains pulled out of Tokyo in 1964, more than half a century ago, and ran at around 130 kilometres per hour.
The next generation of Japanese trains and our journey home to Gifu are described by JR:
“What is the Maglev train’s top speed? In April 2015, a manned superconducting Maglev train broke two previous land speed records for rail vehicles. The train was clocked at 603 kilometers per hour or 375 miles per hour. In 2009, the Maglev system was approved and entered commercial construction. The linear Chuo Shinkansen line is planned to link Tokyo and Nagoya by the year 2027. The trip is expected to take only forty minutes”.
The idea is to continually improve Shinkansen technology and this relies on continual investment in research. The latest trains are more efficient in terms of their energy use, speed and comfort. There has also been continual improvement in the design and technologies used to make rolling stock both safer and more comfortable.
Kyoto has 17 World Heritage sites and there are a large number of Japanese tourists, who come to visit the 2000 shrines and temples, as well as the city's many museums.
We decide to visit the Kinkaku-ji (Rokuon-ji ) Temple (The Golden Pavilion) and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The gently green and moss covered gardens of the temple are very beautiful, and represent the ‘pure land’ of Buddha in this world. The site gained a World Cultural Heritage listing in 1994.
The Golden Pavilion was originally built as a place of retirement for the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. After his death in 1409 the building began a new life as a Zen temple.
In the way of the world with its disasters and tragedies, the original temple building was destroyed by a young monk who set it alight in1950. The original building had survived so many upheavals over the centuries so the monk’s conduct created shock waves across Japan. The Golden Pavilion was reconstructed in 1995.
Yukio Mishima's (Kimitake Hiraoka) masterpiece TheTemple of the Golden Pavilion was published in 1956 and published in English three years later, it is about that burning. Author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director, Yukio Mishima died in a grim suicide. A story for another time.
And so we continue our journey to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It is here we talk to high school students and they test the Creative cowboy crew on our knowledge of Japanese food, having eaten vast amounts of it, I suspect we did okay. It was a chance to speak English and they were learning fast.
It is here that a statue Kannon Bodhisattva, the goddess of mercy, is worshipped.
クリエイティブ・カウボーイ・フィルムズ
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