Katsura Campus: Sterile?

This is my third post (and maybe the last) about Katsura campus. In a previous post I wrote that Katsura campus resembles a “golden cage”, brand new buildings and equipment but no life, no shops, restaurants or shopping areas around. Please allow me to elaborate. First, restaurants. Katsura campus has one cafeteria in cluster B, right in the middle of the campus. There is a small cafeteria (?) and a small bakery in cluster A and a French (!) restaurant in cluster B. The main cafeteria in cluster B basically monopolizes the catering market of the campus. Even local residents can be seen eating there, since there is practically nothing else around. What is wrong with that you might ask? First, with virtually no competition around, meal quality ranges from eatable to mediocre while prices are not fit for a University CO-OP cafeteria IMHO. If I have to rank the meal tastiness among the 5 CO-OP cafeterias (Yoshida main, Yoshida north, Renais, Uji and Katsura) I rank Katsura last.

Getting ready for the lunch rush at Katsura Cafeteria (Photo: Eddie)

There is more to that. Outside of the main cafeteria there is beautiful wooden terrace. On the terrace there are several wooden picnic tables. Unfortunately the tables are not used much. There are no bars, restaurants or cafes around Katsura campus. Friday nights on campus are depressing.

KI-ZU-NA Event: Sake Cellar Visiting and Inari Shrine Tour

Taken from the KI-ZU-NA website:

Student Lounge KI-ZU-NA August 2009 Event
Visit Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum and Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Date/Time:	August 22nd (Sat.), 2009 Meeting at 12:30. End of the tour will be around 4:30p.m.
Meeting Place:	Keihan Railway Fushimi-Inari Stn. Ａt the exit of the train which bounds for Yodoyabashi or Nakanoshima.
Fee:	300 yen, museum’s entrance fee. (To be paid when you apply) ※ Transportation expense 200 yen (one way) from Fushimi Inari Stn. to Chushojima Stn. is not included.
Application:	Apply directly to ‘KI-ZU-NA’ staff.
Eligibility:	Kyoto University students, faculty members, researchers, etc.
Acceptance:	First 15 people ※ We will stop accepting　applications when seats are filled.

Katsura Campus (Shuttle Bus Schedule)

I made a PDF file of the shuttle bus schedule. Kindly download here.

Katsura Campus: Disconnected?

This is my second post about Katsura Campus. I will try to let pictures do the talking. Below is a map of Kyoto showing the location of the main campus at Yoshida and Katsura campus:

Yoshida campus is at a well developed area of Kyoto, very close to city center and Kyoto’s shopping and entertainment heart. Contrary to that, Katsura campus is literary in the middle of nowhere, on top of the mountain. The nature surrounding Katsura campus is beautiful and the campus is very peaceful.  Maybe too peaceful… Commuting from the main campus to Katsura campus takes about 1 hour if you use the campus shuttle bus service or 1.5 hours if you use public transportation. If you have a car it takes about 40 minutes on good days of low traffic. For those of us that don’t have a car, if we use public transportation we will have to ride a train from Demachiyanagi station to Shijo, transfer to another line at Shijo-Kawaramachi, get off at Katsura station and finally ride a bus to Katsura campus. Not to mention the cost (620 yen), all these transfers take time. If you are lucky enough to make the connections without waiting then it will take you something like 1.5 hours (assuming walking from main campus to Demachiyanagi station). The shuttle bus service offered by university partially alleviates this waste of time but the service is offered only between 9 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, roughly every one hour (i.e. there are 7 runs). If you are a (hard working) graduate student that works until late then, sorry no shuttle service for you! You can sleep in the lab if you want!

What can be done to connect Katsura campus to the rest of the city? That is a difficult question. Maybe the university should subsidize the commuting of students. Maybe, the shuttle service should be offered until late.  Maybe students should move close to Katsura campus (and risk dying of boredom). One think I can say for sure, not much thought was put into the campus connectivity issue during planning. What do you think?

Katsura Campus: A Golden Cage?

Katsura campus is the newest campus of Kyoto university. It’s the home of the graduate school of engineering and soon will host the graduate school of informatics.

Katsura Campus Map (Source: Kyoto University)

I’m always joking about what went in the minds of the university’s administrators when they decided to build Katsura campus:

- Hey, why don’t we move all the engineers there, alone on the top of the mountain, to do their experiments and don’t bother us.

- Great idea! Let’s also send the informatics there.

- Excellent!!! All the geeks under the same roof, far away from the main campus.

- It worked with Uji. It will work with Katsura!!!

Maybe the conversation went something like that

But seriously, why complain about a new campus, with brand new buildings and equipment? Brand new is good, no complains there. Katsura campus happens to be one of the most sterile campuses I have ever been. I list what I think are the main problems. Each item of  the list deserves its own post:

• The campus is disconnected
• There are no shops or restaurants in the vicinity
• There are no recreational areas

The result is a “golden cage”, a brand new campus with new equipment but no life!

Next post I will discuss the problems I mentioned above.