The best way to open up our trip to Japan is with a little Haiku we composed for the occasion:
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Finally Japan
No more spitting to be seen
Clean toilets await
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While we felt it someone unnecessary to expand on the state of bathrooms in China, suffice it to say they were generally quite horrid - 'nuff said. Now before proceeding, we must emphasize that China was amazing and the people were absolutely wonderful, but one cannot deny the start contrast in cleanliness and noise levels between the two countries. So no offense is meant to China by our awe and wonder at the supreme cleanliness of Japan.
Our arrival in Kyoto was like a dream. We could hardly believe the train ride we took from Kansai airport to Kyoto.... quiet, airconditioned, clean, no spitting, no one pushing for seats... it was truly beautiful.
Finding money in Kyoto, however, was quite a trial. As we found out upon our arrival, we could not walk up to any old ATM in Japan to take out cash. A valuable lesson to learn at 12 AM!!
We spent a full week in Kyoto absorbing Japanese culture, food and taking in the sites. So bear with us here, we have a lot to share after 6 days. While we took in a fair number of temples, we spent far more time uncovering the street culture of Kyoto. While known for its historic richness, Kyoto is probably less appreciated by tourists for being a funky, laid back college town.
We spent a fair amount of time wandering the old Geisha district as well as the canal side, Ponchodori street, known for exclusive restaurants and bars hidden in beautiful traditional wooden buildings. Wandering around these streets was both fascinating and frustrating as it is virtually impossible to know what is going on behind the shade of the wooden exteriors. Only a handful of these places give any indication of their nature in English (this is clearly intentional).
We did have the good fortune to stop into an Izakaya (a Japanese-style pub) in this area for some fantastic Yakitori (they had an English menu). This was great, not only because we had a fantastic meal of grilled meats and fish (no bones!!) but also because once we learned the names, we were well armed to enter any Isaacs for tasty meal. We also discovered a new favorite treat - Sesame gelato...yummm! This definitely needs to make its way over to the US.
To continue on the theme of food, we indulged, many times on Sushi at a very tasty Kaiten-Sushi place. This is where the sushi comes around on a conveyor belt. You take any plate that looks tasty and you are then charged for the pile of plates that accumulates by your side. This is a great way to enjoy sushi - that quality is great and it is cheap!!
We also took advantage of our first opportunity to enjoy an Onsen (Japanese Hot Spring). We took a train out of town to a nearby mountain retreat, nestled in elegant Japanese cedars. The bath is set outside, where you soak in hot mineral water while looking over the lush green mountains. It is quiet and still and sooo relaxing. After our bath we trekked to the next town over for our dinner. The town lies along a river and the one street is lined with restaurants which serve their diners on platforms suspended just inches above the water. So you have the cool river rushing beneath you as you dine. Kaiseki is basically Japanese for very expensive meal of unidentifiable dishes!! Seriously, Kaiseki is supposedly the highest form of Japanese cuisine which incorporates elements of ingredients, flavor, presentation and surroundings to create a unique meal. It truly was an experience - the meal was served in about 10 small courses... most of which we have no idea what they were, but they certainly were pretty, and tasty for the most part.
On our last day in Kyoto we took a day trip to Nara, a nearby town rich in historical sites. Nara is most memorable (to us anyway) for its large population of rather vicious deer. They are sacred creatures here and are also rather spoiled, having been fed deer biscuits by tourists for many centuries!! We were, in fact, accosted by a vicious gang of deer upon our arrival (this might have something to do with the stack of deer biscuits we had just procured). Nara is also known for having the largest wooden structure in the world, and it was impressive!!
