Kyoto Station Building, Kyoto

We arrived at Kyoto main railway station from Osaka - this was my second time to come to Kyoto, but this time around, I stayed a couple of days and had to pass through the station a few times a day from my accommodation to go sight seeing on the other side. It is a very impressive building, modern in architecture with a huge amount of shops in the various sections of the station. It also contains a hotel and other. On arriving, on cannot help but feel lost with the huge amount of foot traffic heading in all directions. At night, the place lights up and on the Kyoto tower side it looks like a fairy land with the trees covered with lights. There is also the Cube shopping complex on one end of the station. The staff is very helpful and speaks good English to assist foreign travellers.

Kyoto Station can be VERY confusing, even daunting for the uninitiated. Even Japanese people can get hopelessly lost and if you are physically challenged, it can be a nightmare trying to find your way from the north side of the building to the south side because there are essentially only 2 places where you can walk right through the building to get to the other side and the building is huge with somewhat confusing signage. It would be impossible to explain how to find one's way in a review post but half the battle is won if you remember that the Shinkansen and limousine buses are located on the south side of the building and the JR trains, local trams, subway trains and city buses are located on the north side. The information counters sometimes have a hard time trying to explain how to get from North to South but most of the action is happening on the North side so you will be spending more time on the North side than the south. On average, it can take you up to 2 days to find the 2 through ways from North to South. I'm sorry things are the way they are but this problem came about when the station was expanded at least once in the past by simply adding a new building next to the old one. There are, however, lots to eat and shop on both sides (especially the North) and once you get used to the chaos, I guarantee you'll quite enjoy it because there always seems to be nuggets and gems to be found when you get inevitably lost and/or turn round a corner you've never been down before. Be warned and be prepared to walk your feet into stumps if you get lost. But if you can get over the initial frustration, it can be fun and exciting. The North side is the side facing Kyoto Tower. Good luck!