{"id":1164,"date":"2012-10-28T13:01:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-28T13:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2012-11-17T10:30:13","modified_gmt":"2012-11-17T10:30:13","slug":"krazy-bout-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/?p=1164","title":{"rendered":"Krazy ‘Bout Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are really enjoying Japan, and Kyoto seems to be our favorite stop so far. \u00a0It is near mountains, and it seems to be surrounded by a lot of green space. \u00a0Though it is a city, it has more of a village like feel. \u00a0Also,it is densely populated by temples and shrines and rife with Japanese culture. \u00a0It feels less like a generic city and has more character than we’ve seen so far.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

Our visit to Kyoto began with an exciting trip on the Shinkansen, more commonly known to Westerners as the Bullet Train. \u00a0The train timing is impeccable in Japan. \u00a0When the ticket says the train will arrive at 1:23, it will arrive punctually at that time. \u00a0The organization of the train stations has been, almost, comforting. \u00a0You know what to expect and it is unlikely you will become lost. \u00a0The bullet train is quite luxurious. We have the reserved seat green car, with oversized chairs that recline and have a foot rest. \u00a0They bring you a towel at the beginning of your journey and the windows are nice and clean so you can see the countryside. \u00a0And, like the name suggests, we pass by the countryside at very high speeds. \u00a0Seth found an app that calculates ground speed and we clocked a fairly constant speed of 150mph, topping out at 158mph. \u00a0That’s the fastest I’ve gone on land. \u00a0It’s pretty neat. \u00a0And the train is so smooth, you barely notice you are moving. \u00a0But, the train to Kyoto is quick and it was over shortly, only about 30 minutes including stops at other stations. \u00a0Pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

In Kyoto, Joan had found us a traditional Japanese style apartment to stay in. \u00a0It was pretty easy to find the place, even though it was tucked in an alley with no street signs. \u00a0The choked alley is packed with narrow two and three story homes with fairly short clearance, forcing us to mind our heads at every doorway. \u00a0The alley sits along a peaceful little river and is lined with quaint little bridges and visited by ducks in the morning. \u00a0Nearby is a local market where we found interesting shops and market stalls.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

Heading into the downtown area of Kyoto it was interesting to find a mix of traditional Japanese architecture and stores alongside super modern buildings with brand names like Zara, Chanel, and the Gap on their storefronts. \u00a0One of our first stops was to the knife store Aritsugu, to check out the most famous Japanese knives. \u00a0Seth looked around, and was impressed, but decided to check the oldest known store in Japan first. \u00a0We flowed streets that snaked in all directions in order to find Shigeharu,\u00a0the little shop of the knife maker. \u00a0The man spoke very little English, but was able to communicate enough for Seth to fall in love with two knives. \u00a0At\u00a0Shigeharu he bought a santoku knife and a deba knife. \u00a0It was really neat to meet someone who had made the knives and came from a family who had been making knives for the past 500 years or so. \u00a0Pretty impressive. \u00a0After that we went back to Aritsugu to buy two more knives. \u00a0There he bought a sashimi knife and a Japanese paring knife. \u00a0For these you get to get whatever you want engraved on the knife in either Japanese Katakana characters or in English. \u00a0Seth got ‘Cobb’ in Katakana characters on the knives and it’s pretty cool.<\/p>\n

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\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"aritsugu<\/p>\n

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Afterwards, I was pretty excited because the plan was to have a sushi dinner. \u00a0The woman who owns the apartment recommended Musashi for good quality sushi for an affordable price. \u00a0We were surprised to see that the place was a conveyor belt sushi place. \u00a0I thought this was an American phenomena, but I guess not. \u00a0Each plate was 137 yen, which comes out to $1.72. \u00a0We ate sushi to our hearts content, or at least till our bellies were full, drinking our complimentary green tea, and it only set us back about 25 bucks. \u00a0This is really good for sushi, in the US or Japan, and it really was good quality. \u00a0Nice…<\/p>\n

\"MushashiKyoto\"<\/p>\n

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\"Japan<\/p>\n

Walking around Kyoto we came across shrines in what seemed to be unusual places. \u00a0In the big shopping arcades we would turn a corner and there would be a huge shrine. \u00a0Once again, mixing of old and new. At one corner of the giant shopping area, just behind the Aritsugu shop was the Nishi marketplace, where you could find anything from quail egg stuffed baby octopus on a stick, to seasonal dried black edamame, to exquisitely delicate, hand made and painted pottery. \u00a0It was a very delicious place to walk around. \u00a0Many vendors would gesture politely to you in order to offer you a taste of their delicacies. \u00a0Everything is so good. \u00a0We snacked and bought more for later.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

The next day we mostly walked around aimlessly shopping and trying to relax a little. \u00a0Though Japan has been a lot of fun, it’s been really fast paced and we’ve been walking a lot, so it’s been tiring. \u00a0We, also, didn’t want to do too much sight seeing of temples and shrines before Joan and Steve joined us. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

The next day was pretty packed with transit for Seth and I. \u00a0We made our way to the train station fairly early in order to catch a train to Kobe to pick up Joan and Steve. \u00a0When we arrived at their hotel we found the gathering area for a walk a thon and spent a little bit of time watching some performers. \u00a0Eventually Joan and Steve made it back to the hotel and we found our way back to the train station to Kyoto. \u00a0Steve was feeling much better, which he was happy to show us back at Musashi. \u00a0He made a nice pile of plates to match the amount of sushi that Seth and I devoured. \u00a0We were hoping he was feeling good enough to enjoy that place, and luckily he did. \u00a0Joan was able to enjoy tempura and some veggie rolls.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

The following day’s adventures included a ton of temples. \u00a0We visited the Nanzen-Ji temple complex. \u00a0The massive wood temples were quite a sight to see. \u00a0I really enjoyed the Japanese garden. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

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\"Japan<\/p>\n

Our lunch that day was my favorite meal in Kyoto. \u00a0We found a soba place that made their own noodles. \u00a0Seth and I both asked for omakase shimas which is asking for the server to choose for you. \u00a0He pointed to a soba plate with tempura and Seth ordered his hot, while I ordered mine cold. \u00a0I don’t think I’ve ever eaten cold soba, so this was something new for me. \u00a0When we got our plates I had to ask what exactly to do, because the noodles were submerged in a bowl of iced water. \u00a0I knew that I wasn’t to eat the noodles directly from the ice water, and that I shouldn’t pour the sauce into the water, and there were little veggies and toppings on my tray as well. \u00a0So, I found out that what you do is you slide all the toppings you desire into the sauce (I put all of my green onions, shallots, ginger, and bamboo shoots in, and a little bit of sesame seeds) and then you dunk your noodles into the sauce before eating them. \u00a0The noodles had the perfect consistency of being soft and firm at the same time. \u00a0The sauce was salty and the bamboo shoots and onions complimented the noodles well. \u00a0And the tempura was the best tempura I’d ever had as well. \u00a0The veggies and shrimp inside were perfectly cooked, and the tempura was crunchy, savory, and light, not greasy like in the US. \u00a0For me, it was a perfect meal.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

Nearby was the giant temple Honen-Ji. \u00a0There was a major courtyard and large temples surrounding it. \u00a0The entrance led to a large street framed with colossal orange ‘arcs’ which look like the mathematical symbol for pi. \u00a0They were setting up for the next day when the Jidari Festival parade would finish there. \u00a0The next day we were able to watch the festival. \u00a0The Jidari Festival is a parade that depicts traditional ware and costumes throughout the Edo period. \u00a0We saw some interesting costumes and some interesting looking horses with really long, skinny legs. \u00a0There were, also, geisha in the parade. \u00a0That was a highlight for me. \u00a0There are only about 1000 geisha left in Japan, and about 800 of them live in Kyoto. \u00a0So, seeing geisha in Kyoto is just something you do. \u00a0That evening we went to a street where there are many traditional geisha tea houses so we could see some geisha making their way to appointments. \u00a0Seth, Joan, and I felt kind of stalker-ish standing outside homes, alongside a group of men with fancy cameras, waiting to get a shot of a geisha. \u00a0When it came down to it, I felt awkward and embarrassed to take pictures. \u00a0The coolest sighting occurred when we were leaving. \u00a0There were two really fancy looking geisha in the back of a black limousine like taxi. \u00a0They were beautifully done up with the white makeup and hair adornments.<\/p>\n

\"Japan<\/p>\n

\"KyotoPano\"<\/p>\n

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\"Japan<\/p>\n

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The next day was cold, cloudy, and rainy. \u00a0But, that was ok, because we had to run some boring errands anyhow. \u00a0But, nothing is truly boring when you are traveling, because even the most mundane task is different than how you do it at home. \u00a0For example, we were told that the best place to buy an extra suitcase for Joan and Steve to bring back all of our collected souvenirs and all the ones they had purchased in Japan, was at a specific mall. \u00a0While searching for a suitcase we saw all different sorts of stores that were unique from those you typically find in the US. \u00a0After we found Joan a big blue suitcase, we went back to Nishi market to have some snacks and so Steve could buy some knives. \u00a0The rest of the evening was spent organizing, packing, and returning to a restaurant around the corner to pick up some of the best gyoza we’ve ever had. \u00a0It was difficult to leave Kyoto, but we were excited to head to Tokyo, and on the way we would hopefully see Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen.<\/p>\n

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\"Japan<\/p>\n

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\"Japan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are really enjoying Japan, and Kyoto seems to be our favorite stop so far. \u00a0It is near mountains, and it seems to be surrounded by a lot of green space. \u00a0Though it is a city, it has more of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,252,57],"tags":[274,270,273,266,275,269,271,268,276,272,267],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-japan","category-trains","tag-aritsugu","tag-conveyor-belt-sushi","tag-honen-ji","tag-kyoto","tag-musashi-sushi","tag-nishi-market","tag-shigeharu","tag-shrines","tag-soba","tag-temples","tag-tempura"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1692,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions\/1692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}