Here`s both the most famous building and most famous plant on Kyoto University`s campus: the Tokeidai (clock tower) and the Kisunoki (camphor tree).
Japanese people recognize the Tokeidai like we would recognize the main quad at Harvard. I`m always reminded of the childhood book `The Giving Tree` when I walk by the Kisunoki.
One must remember that Kyoto University was founded in the 1880s, so the original buildings were merely ok to look at. You barely see them in a rebuilt item like this
Nonetheless, the big building boom was in the 1950s and 1960s, so you`ll find these horrible looking concrete hulks around the campus too. It`s as bad as having a bunch of Boston City Halls in one area interspersed with a bunch of rebuilt/refurbished buildings like the Tokeidai and the one above.
Anything that looks new has been built in the last 10 years or so like this building you see here on the Yoshida Campus (just south of the main campus).
Finally, there will occasionally be a building that dates from the beginning of the university. Doshisha University, a private institution about a 5-10 minute cab away, is considerably prettier than Kyodai architecturally.
Classes alternate for me between Kyodai Kaikan and the J-Pod (International Seminar Room). Kyodai Kaikan is basically a conference hall that was orginally created to be an alumni space about a six minute walk from campus. Things didn`t work out, so it today has become a conference hall for rent that`s moderately affiliated with Kyoto University.
We rent out rooms for language classrooms, the KCJS library, and our professors` offices. Since language classes are always from 9:15-10:25 and 10:30-11:40, I usually spend my mornings there.
You`ll see the bikes out front: biking is the best way to get around Kyoto if you`re not going where the public transit runs frequently.
I just invested about $85 in a used, excellent condition collaspible bike. Since my apartment has no official spot to put a bike (people do just leave them out front despite the rental company`s pleas), I figured the collapsible bike was the way to go. If somebody complains about parking out front or if it is supposed to rain, I can always just carry it up to my apartment and stick it on my veranda. Since I bought my bike my commute has gone from 45 minutes of walking, riding the bus, and walking again to 20-25 minutes of flat, pleasurable biking. The surrounding neighborhood is also pretty cool with lots of traditional houses like this one.
Finally, there`s the J-Pod. I have my Economics/Business and Kyoto: The Past in the Present classes here.
The J-Pod is actually a product of the forestry school here at Kyoto. They planted a cedar forest on some mountains in Wakayama Prefecture and needed to manage the forest by cutting down trees. It doesn`t pay to hire the labor nor the shipping in this country, but because they already had the costs for the forestry school they decided to build these little J-Pods with the wood. It is a very cool spot to have class, and the young cedar smell is great and nothing like the whiff you get when opening up an old chest.
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