Where to begin with Japan?! Well it’s certainly been the crazy adventure of a country everyone says it is!
We arrived late in Tokyo and the next day took our Shinkansen train to Kyoto, after our first meal of beef and rice interestingly self-ordered from a ticket machine and not via a person!
Kyoto was beautiful and very friendly as we soon learnt on arriving. A number of locals helped us despite speaking little English (this became a real theme during our time in Japan) and eventually we found our tiny Airbnb apartment (17sq m!!)
Our first night we were lucky enough to eat at the bar in Kura Kura, a local restaurant with an open kitchen, wonderful staff and delicious food. And it was my first experience of plum wine and sake! We sat next to a Japanese couple, who despite their limited English, took time to teach us Japanese words, explain the menu and offered us their food and sake to try. They were wonderfully friendly and the complete epitome of the lovely nature that we have found in all the local people everywhere we have been in Japan so far.
In Kyoto we explored the Nishiki market and ate a delicious lunch of seafood street food including scallops and baby octopus! We walked the grounds of the Imperial Place and stumbled across some young schoolboys extensively warming up for their baseball practice – clearly Japan’s most popular sport.
We visited the always popular Fushimi Inari Shrine – a huge labyrinth of Tori gates and small shrines located around a mountain. That afternoon we headed to the Golden Temple, a beautiful building perched on the edge of a large pond.
Although we didn’t see any geisha’s, Gion (the entertainment district) did not disappoint with its vibrant shopping and nightlife areas. Many of Japan’s most popular bars and restaurants, as we soon discovered, are tiny; seating between 6 and 15 people. After a few unsuccessful attempts we finally found one recommended cocktail bar hidden away down a typical Kyoto alley, which only had 6 seats and for a time we were the only people in it – it was like having our own private bar!
One night we decided to treat ourselves to an expensive teppanyakki on recommendation from a Canadian chef we had met the first night. Gion Mikaku was wonderful and served only beef, Kobe and Hida beef cooked by our own chef in front of us. We tried 4 different cuts, which the chef cooked to perfection before recommending which dip, sauce or accompaniment would go best with it. The beef was melt in the mouth and utterly delicious. The steaks were the best we’ve ever had and the evening was wonderful from start to finish. It was expensive yes, and we rightly had an expensive bottle of red to accompany it, but overall every course we had was delicious and the friendly staff made it a wonderful evening. We were last in the restaurant and as they were cleaning up around us, the head chef even took us to the fridges to show us the meat up close and produced the trophy it had won!
Our final day in Kyoto and we headed out to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, a tranquil area of huge bamboo stalks. On a recommendation, we headed away from the busy crowds to a shine off the beaten track. And it was worth the walk – the Otagi Nenbutso Shrine was a gorgeous little shrine, nestled into the hills and surrounded by a 1000 small, stone statues of Buddha’s disciples all with contented, happy faces.
We experienced our first traditional sit on the floor meal in a small restaurant near the shrine which served a local river fish, Ayo. It was somewhat unusual but nice! And we enjoyed eating in our first traditional establishment.
Next it was onto Osaka for a whirlwind 30 hours. We stayed in a capsule hotel to experience the Japanese trend and the place was great! Unsurprisingly neither of us got a good nights sleep but the facilities and amenities in the hotel were brilliant. We tried the traditional Okonomiyaki dish, Osaka’s regional speciality, in a restaurant where you made it yourself on small hotplates – great fun!
Our evening meal was in a robata, a Japanese style open grill where the chef cooks everything fresh and then hands it to you on a long pole like serving paddle! It’s hard to explain unless you see it for yourself!! It was a fun, noisy and smoky place where we enjoyed some delicious large prawns and mackerel.
The next morning we used our JR Pass again and took the train 30 mins out to an old disused railway track where we were able to walk through dark, slightly eerie tunnels as well as a stunning gorge and alongside a beautiful river.
Our next stop was south to the port town of Uno, from where we took the ferry to an island called Naoshima. This island is now famous for being an art and sculpture island, with outside sculptures dotted around the island and numerous art museums. We took the tiny town bus to the first museum, dedicated to 3 very different artists and enjoyed the classic pieces of Monet alongside art created by light by James Turrell and a huge sculpture by Walter de Maria.
A small museum with works solely by Korean artist Lee Ufan was next, followed by the largest museum, which was also a hotel, displaying works by multiple local and international artists.
Although now quite popular, the island itself was not busy and we were delighted that we were able to enjoy it almost tourist free – which was completely opposite to most of the other areas we visited in Japan. We finished in one of the villages where an art project had taken 6 old, derelict houses and installed different pieces of art in them. These pieces were all totally different, surprising and in some cases unfathomable. I am not a huge lover of art but I found the pieces and the environment in Naoshima truly fascinating and fun.
Tiredbuthappytravels 