We recently got back from an amazing trip to Japan.
A few questions have come up: one being did I plan this myself or use something? I did do the planning for the majority of the trip on my own, but there is one portion where we did a 5 day walk on the Nakansendo Trail (recaps to come, wait on the edge of your seat) where I used a company. I’ll tell you about that later, because they were fabulous.
I used guidebooks and the internet for my planning, and it was so much fun. I really enjoy planning trips and it can be sort of all-encompassing when I get into it. One thing I don’t like to do is watch videos though: besides the fact that I much prefer reading about something to watching a video, I want to leave something to when I get there. If you see too many videos, I worry, it will be underwhelming to actually be somewhere. That may not be the case for you! I also like to read fiction or historical fiction to get a sense of a place.
Okay, so onto my recap of Kyoto.
Day 3:
We woke up in Tokyo and had another terrific breakfast at Ito Ryokan. This is a gem of a place to stay if you want something traditional, well located, and inexpensive. The bathrooms were dated and you have to use the stairs, but it was very clean and quiet.
Our breakfast the second morning was also delicious. You can see rice, fish, miso soup, various pickled vegetables, rolled omelet (Tamagoyaki), strawberries, and a few other things. I loved my Japanese breakfasts, and never missed western style food.
Then we got a cab to the train station: we could have used public transportation but it was raining a bit and I got a little worried. I mostly stayed lower stress this trip, but this particular time was stressful for me for some reason. We had shinkansen tickets (bullet train) to Kyoto, and since we’d never done this before, I wasn’t sure how tricky it would be to find our way around. Spoiler alert: super easy, and we were plenty/too early.
We got some snacks to eat along the way (rice balls and nuts, I believe) and then waited for our train. I had prebooked our seats with the hope that we might be able to see Mt. Fuji along the way, but it was raining and cloudy and there was no chance. It was an uneventful train ride.
Train seats are much more comfortable than airline seats, and the bathrooms are also so much nicer that you would expect if you were American. The train took 2 hours and 15 minutes and then we were in Kyoto. We had to board a subway line and then walk up some stairs and about 10 minutes to get to the next hotel, Nishiyama Ryokan.
We dropped off our bags and then headed out in search of lunch. We found it very nearby, a soba restaurant called Soba Roujina. This was a find using tablelog and we enjoyed it. There was a counter to sit at, and we each ordered cold soba.
After lunch we walked around a bit until it was time for the tea ceremony and a show at the Pontocho Theater. I had gotten tickets for the Haru no Odori which is the Spring Dance show of the maiko (geisha apprentices) and geiko (full geisha). I also got tickets for the tea ceremony ahead of time, but I wouldn’t recommend that part: it was rushed and not very interesting. It was fascinating to see the theater though, and the show was a lot of fun. There was singing and live music, dancing, acting, terrific costumes and stage sets. The show consisted of two acts with two plays, and the plots were a little silly: it reminded me of opera. All the actors were women which was so much fun.
It was the last show of the spring, so everybody came on stage afterwards and they talked for a few minutes. However, they talked in Japanese, so we didn’t really know what was going on, or even who that man is. Nonetheless, it was very interesting. We sat in western style seats, but there were plenty of seats around where one would sit on the floor instead.
After that we went back to the hotel to check in. Check in was very easy, but a little weird because the staff member took us up to our room and showed us obvious things and then kneeled down and bowed very low to us! Before the bow it felt like the thing where they would just want a tip, but you don’t tip in Japan so I think it was just over the top customer service.
The beds for this hotel. Futons on the floor again, which honestly are very comfortable. Yes, it can be tricky to get up and down, but that’s good for us, right?
We decided it was onsen time next. Let me tell you a little bit about Japanese onsens. They are hot springs, and you’ll find them in many ryokan around the country. Usually they are separated by gender, and you go in completely nude: there’s a dressing room where you leave your things in a basket or locker, and then you walk into the shower/hot pool area naked. Then you shower so you are completely clean, and you shower sitting on a little stool with a hand held shower. They usually provided all the soaps and conditions you would need, along with a small white towel that you bring in with you. After you are clean and rinsed, you get in the tub itself, which in this case was large and overlooked a little garden (nobody could see in, obviously!). There was one other woman there when I started but she left, so I had the place to myself. If you visit Japan, I recommend you do this. It was so nice to soak your body after walking a bunch, and really, you get over the nudity thing fast.
After soaking, you can shower again if you want, or not. I rinsed off I think, though I didn’t always: some people think the mineral water is good for your skin. Then you go back to the dressing room and finish getting ready. I just put clean clothes on or a yukata (bathrobe type thing that was provided) but you could also use a sink area, dry your hair, etc. Definitely drink a lot of water before and after!
We both relaxed for a bit before dinner, and then we found an Izakaya for dinner. It was called Akagakiya and was something I had starred on google–during my research I would star places that came up for whatever reason, and then by the time we went there I had no idea why. But this was a great choice.
An Izakaya is basically a pub but Japanese. Many of them charge a “seat fee” but then give you some snacks right away. You are also often required to order a certain number of drinks in order to stay, though those drinks can be with or without alcohol. Basically they don’t want you sitting there and not paying, which is very reasonable. When we arrived we were also told there was a 2 hour time limit.
We ordered sake and a bunch of different foods to try, and loved it.
One of the things that I’ve read to do to identify AI is ask “who is taking this picture?” For this picture, it’s Louie. I guess I’m holding one of our food items.
Some slimy fermented seaweed. I have learned that I love all the weird Japanese food. With the exception of natto: I tried natto a few times but I do not love it. Slimy seaweed, yes. Noodles, of course. Tofu, for sure! We had other things like eggplant and fried fishes, and more. Now, the menu didn’t have prices, but the google reviews said it was “reasonable” and it was. At the end of the night, the whole thing cost less than $50 for the two of us including plenty of sake and lots of food.
We were exhausted after that and walked home and went to sleep.
Day 4:
As usual due to jet lag, we woke up earlier than needed. And we needed to get up early, because we were meeting our bike tour at 8:15 am about 40 – 50 minutes away. It was too early for our ryokan breakfast, so we stopped by 7-11 and got the internet-famous egg sandwiches and coffee drinks for breakfast. It’s a good egg salad, but the bread is like, super soft and fake tasting. It’s a white bread with no crusts. Anyway, a decent breakfast but strange. We started on our train journey, and managed to mess up and get off one station early for the transfer, but we had a little time to spare. We were still early for the 8:15 meeting but everybody else in the group was there already! We were doing an all day tour with Kyoto Bike Tours where you see the “five major sites” of Kyoto. I had opted for an e-bike but Louie did a regular bike: it turned out he was the only one other than the guide on a regular bike, but he did great.
Our guide was named Roberto and he was great. We started with the Arashiyama Bamboo forest, which is a huge tourist attraction–everything we were doing that day was. It was already crowded but not terribly so, and was very beautiful. The way the tour worked was we would ride to a site, then get off and walk and Roberto would tell us all about it. We learned that bamboo grows very quickly and some of the trees were only 3 weeks old!
Next, we biked around an hour to get to Fushimi Unari Shrine. We learned about Shinto and Roberto explained how he had grown up Mormon in Utah but found it hard to be Mormon in Japan. He talked with his dad who suggested he practice the religion of people he lived among as it would be much easier. He said to Roberto, I’m Peruvian and I’m a Mormon because I live in Utah!
The shrine was quite crowded too but very cool with the red torii gates. We learned what they were for and what the shrine was all about. And then we walked through it.
It took some patience and quick snapping to get photos without anybody else in them!
Next we biked to an udon place for lunch.
I had udon with tempura on top: this shrimp tempura was so good and I would have eaten a lot more if given the chance!
Our next “stop” was coffee in Gion. Gion is the area where the geisha live, but there aren’t very many of them.
Me posing on a bridge in Gion.
For our next stop, we had to bike pretty uphill. I was thankful for my e-bike, but Louie was working hard, and keeping up really well. We ended up at Kiyo Mizu, the Pure Water Shrine. I loved this one, up on top of a mountain looking over all of Kyoto.
And then back downhill, back on the bikes, towards our last stop!
One thing I noticed was how CROWDED the streets were leading up to each shrine or temple. There were many many souvenir shops and eateries and people. It was a very festive atmosphere. I could complain about the amount of tourists, but I have to admit I was one of them, and part of a medium sized group of bikers that didn’t make everybody happy. One older Japanese lady got very upset at an intersection and starting yelling at people to let her through. (We did.)
That’s Louie in the blue. For this tour I often rode behind him because he knew I could always keep up with the e-bike.
And then our final stop of the tour: the Gold Pavilion. It was so shiny!
Okay, maybe this shot is a little overcast.
Honestly, this stop was lovely, but so crowded it was less fun. Roberto said since post-COVID Kyoto has been crazy busy.
Then we had to bike back to where we started. First a bathroom stop!
We biked through another temple on our way, and it was completely empty, yet still very beautiful. There is plenty to see in Kyoto that isn’t overwhelmed!
The biking was fun but a bit scary at times! We went fast and there was traffic (cars AND bikes AND pedestrians) to deal with, but the guide, Roberto, was excellent and kept looking out for us. I would highly recommend the tour.
After that, Louie and I took the train back to the ryokan to shower and spend time in the onsen. The hot water felt great on my muscles!
Dinner was at 8:30 at a Jiki Mizagawa. We were the first to arrive and then it was only one other couple from Melbourne (for a counter seated Kaiseki meal). There were basically two people serving us the whole dinner and it was delicious. The internet had said that the sesame tofu was “life affirming” and I agree.
Not only was the food beautiful and delicious, each plate or bowl was a work of art itself–we learned that they scoured flea shops and used pottery shops for beautiful dishes to serve on. Some were hundreds of years old, which made us very nervous, haha!
The beef had these peppers on it that sort of made my mouth numb for a short time after eating them.
A bit of dessert, and then of course, tea!
After dinner, we went back to the Ryokan and I fell asleep pretty much immediately.
Day 5:
As usual we woke up earlier than needed. I read a bit, and then we ended up making tea in the room. This morning we had signed up to have the hotel breakfast, and it was at 8. I gasped at first at the spread!
It was quite a lot of food, and quite a lot of different things! The wooden boxes had a sort of hot pot in them, if I recall, but weirdly I didn’t take a picture. We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast.
Next we sort of puttered around the hotel because we were planning to take advantage of some things there: a tea ceremony and a then a free walking tour of the area. The tea ceremony was fine, but it ended up taking longer than advertised, plus we had had some matcha the night before at dinner, so it was less exciting to me. While we were finishing the ceremony we saw the walking tour guide waiting for people, so we waved at him that we were planning to go, and that worked well. We ended up being the only people on the tour!
We walked around the area near the hotel and saw a temple and a shrine. (Temples are Buddhist, Shrines are Shinto, Japanese people practice both usually).
That’s me and Hoishi, our guide.
We saw the beginnings of a parade where the temple would be showing “the deity” out, which only would happen once a year. There were lots of men in white outfits!
We watched for awhile, but it seemed like they had a lot to do before really starting, so we headed onwards towards the imperial palace. The emperor doesn’t live in Kyoto anymore (he lives in Tokyo) but they stay ready, just in case. We visited a house where some of the nobles would have lived when the emperor lived there.
Our last walking tour stop was a museum of fragrance, where we could smell all kinds of scents for incense.
After the tour, we were hungry, so we found a nearby yakitori restaurant. One thing about Japan is that restaurants are usually very specific in what they serve, one kind of thing, udon, soba, tempura, yakitori, etc. So you’ll get variations on that one thing, but not a bunch of different things. I think this is part of why the food is so good: when you focus on one thing you are more likely to be better at it!
After lunch we headed towards the Philosopher’s Path. It took a while to get there, and we passed by tons of shrines and temples en route. We also saw a flea market and tried some matcha gelato.
We knew we were close to the Philosopher’s Path as it became more crowded. Anyway, it was a lovely walk, with things to see along the way, and we even stopped for an iced coffee at a little cafe. In Japan they serve iced coffee with liquid sweetener, which makes it delicious.
We visited Otoyo Shrine along the way, which was a shrine to rats, and a few other animals too. Evidently the monkeys liked it there too, though we didn’t see any.
The path ended near the Silver Pavilion, so we figured we should visit. It was near the end of the day so the crowds were thinning out, at least.
I loved the beautifully raked sand.
There was a path to get up higher and look over it and the city as well, so of course we had to take that.
After finishing our visit, we decided we had walked enough for the day so Louie ordered an Uber. We had a little panic over which side of the street to be on and then the car arrived so we got in. The driver didn’t seem to know where we were going which was weird and after a minute we realized we had gotten in the wrong car! We just started apologizing profusely (lots of hands together, head bowing as well) and jumped out because the right car was behind us!
After that it was a smooth drive back to the ryokan, and time for, you guessed it, shower and onsen! We relaxed a bit before our last event of the evening, which was dinner, this time at Kiyama, which had a Michelin star and was only a short walk away.
We were met at the door by an employee and were taken great care of. It was so good. We had thought the night before was good (and it was !) but wow, this meal blew us away. The staff were amazing and they explained well, showed us various foods before they prepared them, and basically made an amzing evening out of it. There were 10 people at the counter from all different places, and this may have been the best meal of my life.
At the end we could choose from 5 different rice dishes, but of course we wanted to try them all so we did, no additional charge. And then tea and matcha too plus really good sake.
The other guests had fun too, we chatted a bit with a couple from Thailand sitting by us and 3 of the 5 couples were on their honeymoon trips! At the end the chef said goodbye to everybody at the door and we took a picture with him.
We were very full when we left, but it was soooo good. Luckily we had a short walk rather than no walk at all. Anyway, we got home and straight to bed. Or straight to futon, depending on how you look at it, haha.
I’ll end this (really long) post here: the next day we would be heading to Takayama so it’s a good place to stop. Any questions or comments, please let me know! I love hearing from readers.
