Kyoto and Tokyo are anagrams of each other. Thus the great dyslexic controversy about how the Capital of Japan came to move from one to the other. The old Emperor was (it is said) dyslexic and grandly mistook Tokyo for Kyoto. Like the Emperor’s New Clothes, none of his 9000 entourage had the courage to tell him otherwise. It is so written.
It was quite simple to get out of Kyoto along quiet cycle friendly streets, noting no bike locks were used. We then spent today alongside part of Lake Biwa. Difficult to appreciate and communicate its scale. One of the oldest lakes in the world, around 4million years old (though records weren’t kept then): c.f Loch Ness is 10000yrs old (Nessy spotters will confirm). A surface area of 670sq km: Loch Lomond, Great Britain’s longest is 71sq km. 104m deep: Nessy is deeper at 230m. Lake Biwa contains nearly four times the water volume of Loch Ness at 27.5 billion cubic metres.
A gentle tootle along the banks to Hikone, a small maufacturing town. Tomorrow we gird our loins and head into the hills.
Travelling reflections 
Wasn’t Tokyo originally called Edo? Throws some suspicion on the claim of a dyslexic Emperor. Did this nugget emerge from your tour guide? Kyoto was a symbolic capital with power always residing in Edo. It was a necessary move to hold on to power.
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