Japan Day 4: Part 2 - Tokyo

Going from Kyoto to Tokyo is like day to night. Kyoto was much more relaxed and easy to get around, while upon entering Tokyo Station, I could feel this was going to be such a different place. Looking at the metro map at the station was already confusing, since it was not really on a grid system, there were multiple rails we could take to get to one place, and the English equivalents were not as apparent as Kyoto, Osaka, or Hong Kong. Not to mention we had to go to Shinjuku station, which is one of the world's busiest stations.

Rick and I had to get to the Westin to drop off my stuff and meet Wendy for dinner with her friends at 7:30pm that day. We got into Rick's hotel around 5:00pm and figured we had enough time to take a short nap, and leave at 6pm to go to Wendy's. We didn't leave time for getting lost though! We scrambled to find the right direction towards the hotel, and when we finally did get there around 7:15pm, Wendy opens the door and says our reservation is at 8:30pm. Doh!

We all showed up in the Ginza neighborhood to meet Wendy's friends, Yoshi and Yuko. Once again, VERY glad we had a host in this city, because they knew where to take us for chicken sashimi. It was basically what you think it would taste like -- raw fish. Only it was chicken. We tried breast, thigh, and stomach (?). In that order, it went from least chewy to chewy. We had several other appetizers, like (cooked) chicken wings, tempura mushrooms (none of that button-mushroom stuff), a type of potato with fish cake, skewered chicken, and a plate of greens. To top it off, we had a hot pot/shabu shabu dish. It was probably the healthiest meal I had since arriving in Asia.



Chicken skewers, chicken sashimi,chicken wings...oh yeah, I'm year of the rooster!

Afterwards, Wendy and I were going to meet up with some Couchsurfers I talked to online at a club in Roppongi, but dinner ran a bit late, so we missed them. Plus, it was about USD $30 to get into the club, and with only an hour til the metro stopped running, we decided to pass. We walked around the area anyways to check it out. Roppongi was filled with foreigners and expats. It was so international, it could have been a night out in NYC. As neat as it was for the diversity, I didn't really want to go out to the bars/clubs there, because it didn't feel like Tokyo.
We ended up going home before the trains stopped running, because the next day, we had to get up super early (5:30am) for the Tsukiji fish market.

Japan Day 4: Part 1 - Kyoto

I thought I didn't really have a full Kyoto experience, having only visited one temple when there were still numerous to be explored. So before we left for Tokyo in mid-day, I woke up earlier to visit Kiyomizu-dera by myself. The temple is open daily 6am-6pm, and I really considered getting up at 6am, but having gone to bed at 2am the previous night, I was pretty proud of myself for waking up at 7:15am. The 30-min walk over was very nice. The air was crisp and people were commuting to work or school. (The cyclists here really have a talent for riding on the sidewalk, avoiding pedestrians, and all the meantime, holding an umbrella up to shield the sun or rain.)

Looking back, I should have woken up to get there at 6am because by the time I arrived, there were hordes of school children on a field trip in Kiyomizu-dera. It was still a very beautiful place, with a great view of Kyoto in the background, but it was not as serene as it could have been, especially at 8am. I lingered a little longer after I finished walking the temple grounds to try to get a drink from the Sound of Feathers waterfall (for health) and attempt to walk the Jishu-jinja shrine (for love), but there were just too many kids in line, or in the way. I managed to get a drink, but there was no way I could do the Jishu-jinja one. Way too many distractions there (ain't that the truth!).







After a nice walk back to the hostel(with a matcha soft serve cone for breakfast), I packed up my stuff and Rick and I went back to the Kyoto Station for the same ramen place before taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo.

I was really excited to ride Shinkansen, just to feel how fast it went. The ride duration from Kyoto to Tokyo is 2hrs and 40min, going up to 186 mph. Pretty impressive, right? Plus, Sanrio just made him look so cute!

Here's the video I took from the window (no, I did not fast forward it). Look for the other Shinkansen train passing on the opposite side:



Cool things about the ride:
1. Maybe there was something about the speed or the movement of the train, because it seemed like everyone (including myself) just passed out and fell asleep on train.
2. There's a loud "whoomp" sound when another Shinkansen train passes on the opposite rail.
3. Train attendants always bow when they enter/leave the car (this happens on all trains, not just Shinkansen).

Not so cool:
A little pricey. It was ¥13,520 (USD $161). Almost as much as a one-way plane ticket, probably. Dang, I still owe Rick for this.

Japan Day 3: Kyoto

We had a super slow start today due to our late light karaoke session and detour taxi ride from Kyoto from Osaka. Needless to say, we did not have ambition to do much. The only thing on our list was to see one temple (out of the 200 Kyoto has :P) and meet Rick's friend, Akane, for dinner.

Rick, Wendy, and I started our day with a nice, big bowl of ramen. The Kyoto Train Station's 10th floor is dedicated mainly to ramen (except for one random burger stand). We had a lot of options, but the one restaurant with the longest line got our attention. Plus, there were displays outside about the restaurant's awards, and they even had a trophy inside, right next to their pre-packaged noodles for sale.



The nice thing about Japan is that some restaurants use meal ticket dispensers to place your order. Most of them usually have pictures above the buttons, so in addition to the food displays on the front, you pretty much know what you are getting, without having to speak or read Japanese. AND some places even sell different meal sizes: mini, medium, and big! It's perfect because I can order the mini (apparently I eat like a bird) and save money. Win-win!

After getting our orders in, our ramen bowls arrived within a few minutes. The broth was pretty salty since it was miso-based, but the pork was tasty and the ramen was just right, not soggy at all. Rick already decided then he wanted to come back the next day (which we did).


Ramen with Pork, Onions, and a Raw Egg

Next, we rode the #100 bus from Kyoto Station to Sanjūsangen-dō, a temple housing 1,000 golden statues of Kannon, the goddess of compassion and mercy. (We couldn't take photos inside, though). It was pretty impressive in that the hall housing the statues was 400-ft long. What wasn't impressive was the bus ride to the temple. Turns out that this temple was just 2 blocks from our hostel! We could have easily walked. Oops.




So far, taking the metro and railways have been surprisingly easy in Japan. Both Osaka and Kyoto metro systems were very similar, and the maps were easy to read. There was a station a few blocks from our hostel, so it took us no time to get to Shijo-dori, near the Gion area, to meet Akane.

Akane was so nice! It is really great to have someone local show you around, even if it's for a little while. They know so much more about where to go and can communicate for you (which we really needed at times). We had dinner reservations for an modern okonomi-yaki place later in the evening, so in the mean time, she took us to Nishiki-koji, a great food market in narrow backstreets. Even though we were stalling for dinner, it didn't stop us from trying a few things, like sashimi and grilled fish (I can't remember the names, but were similar to hamachi and one was like eel, but it was a fish).




She also took us to the Daimaru food basement, which was just incredible. Lots of food, from sushi, to cakes, breads, teas, gyozas...it was a lot to take in. They had a great display for Milky, with Peko-chan! If only we didn't have reservations in a few minutes...we would have gladly tried some food there as well.



Cute Milky Packaging with Peko

But the okonomi-yaki place Akane brought us to was amazing! 100xs better than Donguri, because the mixed ingredients of eggs, leeks, cabbage, carrots, and onions were more balanced; not overly egg-y like an omelet. They had non-traditional sauce toppings. We tried one that contained avocado and shrimp and two with tomato and pork. I never really ate leeks that much, but I had of lot of it in Japan, and I like it a lot more now.


Okonomi-yaki with Avocado and Shrimp

To walk off our food coma, Akane took us to Gion, the traditional area of Kyoto, where geishas are often spotted. (Unfortunately, we did not come across any.) It was a beautiful area at night, with the lantern-lit cobblestone streets and women wearing kimonos walking around. It was a nice way to spend our last night in Kyoto.

Japan Day 1: Kyoto

Rick, Wendy, Dan, and I got into Osaka Kansai Airport in the late evening. By the time we figured out how to take the JR train to Kyoto, ride the train for almost an hour, and then finally arrive in Kyoto, it was pretty late. We had a short 10-min walk from Kyoto train station to our hostel, K's House. After checking in, we went in search of food, and luckily, the hostel recommended a few late night spots in the area.

We checked into Donguri (about 2 blocks from K's House), where I had a Negi-yaki mix served on a warm grill that was the size of basically 80% of the table. The Kujo-leeks were yummy and refreshing. I felt like I hadn't eaten my vegetables in Hong Kong.





Afterwards, I split an ice cream sundae with Rick: 2 black sesame ice cream scoops, red beans, mochi balls, whipped cream, and a crunchy wafer/cookie all on top of a matcha cake. I liked the dessert better than my dinner.