Three planes and a shuttle ride later... Man, it was tough getting plane tickets to come to Kyoto. First off, Kyoto doesn't have an airport. How many cities of 1.5 million people don't have an airport? Anyhow, Osaka has two. So... Sacramento to Los Angeles to Tokyo to Osaka and then a 1+ hour shuttle to Kyoto. Secondly, I couldn't find two roundtrips for less than $2000 a person. That wasn't going to happen. However, I could find two roundtrips and a hotel for $1600 a person. I don't know how that works, but it's good enough for me.