It was a chilly February night in 2003 when I stepped off the train at Kyoto Station for the first time, and one of my initial sights of the city was the Kyoto Tower. But unlike this recent photo, it wasn't snowing at that time. Before I moved here from Texas, I thoroughly researched every topic I could think of related to life in Japan. I believe this is why I was far less taken aback by my new surroundings than otherwise, but I still had to stop in my tracks when I espied the tower from inside the station. Seeing something with your own eyes is just different. That's why we travel.
