Welcome to Japan, sort of (Kyoto tourist information)

"Prime Minister Koizumi invites the world to Japan!"
The English front page of the Japan National Tourist Organization website invites you with this greeting from the PM and a link to his English Yokoso Japan! video, but right underneath it is the notice that the Kyoto Tourist Information Center (across the street from Kyoto Station) has closed. Nice timing, folks. It wasn't so great anyway, as it was never open on Sunday, even though many tourists pour in on that day. "Duh!" says I.

Coincidentally, I often walk past the TIC on Sundays, and end up fielding a few questions from less-than-bemused travelers standing in front of the locked office. Maybe JNTO should just pay me as a field agent? A Starbucks is under construction in the office space next door (even though there is already a Starbucks outlet about 50 meters away), so maybe the TIC will become a cozy nook with those checkerboard tables. I hope the counter girls know where all the hotels are, because I think they are going to get a lot of questions unrealted to double Frappachoco. A few weeks ago I went into a Starbucks in Shiga and ordered a double espresso. The clerk (can't call her a barista) looked at me as if to ask, "Do we sell that?" Then her supervisor stepped in and handled my off-the-wall request.

Anyway, if you do come into town at The Death Star (Kyoto Station), there is an information counter with English speakers (I hope) on the second floor pavilion inside the station. If you are going out of the main entrance facing Kyoto Tower, go up the big escalator on your left, get off at the second floor and walk straight past Cafe Du Monde and Mister Donuts. The information office is on your right. There's also a cash machine that takes credit cards there.