Across the street from our New Miyako Hotel in Kyoto is the huge 16 story Kyoto train station and shopping complex with small shops, department stores, restaurants and theaters.

A souvenir shop on the premises of our first visit in Tokyo, the Meiji Shrine.

Most restaurants helped customers and especially tourists select dishes by displaying plastic replicas in their windows.

Bulk tea for sale

Ubiquitous...

An entrance to the train station shopping complex in Kyoto.

In the Kyoto station, posters, some with English. We had dinner at Chaya Dos, where scenic pictures were projected on the walls and domed ceiling as we ate.

In Toba we vistied the Mikimoto Pearl headquarters. We learned that culture of pearls was invented by Mr. Mikimoto just before the turn of the twentieth century. Girls demonstrated sorting and stringing of pearls.