foreign travelers visiting Japan to sight-see. In order to get one, you must either be a foreign tourist visiting Japan as a "Temporary Visitor" from abroad, or a Japanese national living in a foreign country. The handy passes come in 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day varieties, with two options for each: Ordinary, and the more expensive Green. The JR Pass lets you ride on all the JR Group Railways, all the JR Bus Companies, and it gives you ferry access too. Of course, the JR pass won't be good for every single possible public transportation system in Japan, but with the huge expansive coverage, there's probably not a single place you couldn't reach using the handy pass.

The train from the airport to Kyoto was around 45 minutes long, whichstore chain a lot like 7-11. Of course, being Japan, even that late at night there were still a couple of men of varying ages (teens to middle age) standing in front of a magazine rack reading mangabon like Shonen Jump. I didn't have Japanese cash yet, but luckily, Lawsons actually accept credit cards, a very deceptive introduction to what turns out to be the truth about credit cards in Japan.

Day 1 – Part 1

The hotel had two restaurants open for breakfast, one Japanese and one western. Interestingly, most of the hotel's Japanese patrons went to the western restaurant, so there was no wait at the other one (though both styles of breakfast are more or less equally popular in Japan). Typically, a Japanese breakfast consists of rice,