Japan #2

Saturday 29th March saw us having another Japanese breakfast at the hotel. This time we managed to have it without the fish stew and omelette, although the miso was still distinctly fishy. We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the station to catch the bullet train to Kyoto.

Public transport in Japan was a bit of a revelation. I'm used to trains in Britain, where delays/cancellations are as common as rain, the prices are extortionate and the service questionable. We arrived at the station, collected our pre-booked tickets from the machine and headed for the designated platform. Our tickets informed us which car we were in as well as our seat numbers. The platform was marked with the numbers of the cars and people waited in orderly queues behind the number, with the platform separated from the tracks by barriers. The train rolled in 10 minutes before departure. The passengers got off and the cleaners got on, sprucing up the carriages before the patiently waiting passengers were allowed to take their seats. Everyone was very calm and orderly and the train departed to the minute. Our luggage stowed easily in the overhead shelves leaving us with plenty of legroom and a very comfortable reclining seat. Throughout the journey, several guards patrolled the train, bowing to the carriage occupants on entering and leaving. It was all terribly civilised. 

Because it was still quite early in the morning, the weather was misty and, sadly, the hoped for view of Mount Fuji out of the windows failed to materialise.

Just over 2 hours later, we arrived in Kyoto and, using Google maps, walked the short journey to the Sakura Terrace Hotel. Sakura means cherry blossom in Japanese and this hotel was to be the best one of our trip. Conveniently situated not far from the station, we had easy access to trains, buses and the metro. It was on the walk to the hotel that we first experienced the pedestrian crossings. Not only did the Japanese wait patiently for the green man, even when the road was perfectly clear, but the signal to walk was a high pitched 'pew-pew' sound, which for some reason pleased R no end. For the rest of the holiday, he made the same sound whenever we crossed a road. I'm sure that people thought he had Tourette's!

Before we went to Japan, I had read Nigel Slater's new book 'A Thousand Feasts'. A big fan of Japan, many of the sections refer to his travels there. In it he mentions the Onsen baths - public baths, sometimes using naturally hot springs. R mentioned them and for some reason I assumed that they would be mixed and, imagining them to be full of creepy men, I wasn't keen.

Arriving at the hotel, we checked in and were given our room keys. I was then surreptitiously handed a slip of paper containing a 4 digit number. This, I was informed, was the code to the ladies baths. Once I knew that the sexes were separated and security was high, I had no qualms. The onsens turned out to be one of the highlights of the holiday. They were present in all our hotels, except the ones in Tokyo, and when we did have access to one, we barely used our hotel room bathroom - except for teeth cleaning and using the magnificent loos!

Having dumped our cases and checked Happy Cow, we set off in search of lunch. The Mercy Vegan Factory was a small restaurant about a 10 minute walk away. Their vegan lunch plate consisting of sushi, tempura and sweet and sour cauliflower with accompanying miso soup (no dashi this time!) was excellent; as too were their GF chocolate cake and matcha pudding.

Suitably fortified, we walked to the Higashiyama district, one of the best preserved historic districts at the base of Kyoto's Eastern mountains.
Many of the temples closed quite early, but we explored the museum shop (I was extremely tempted by a wood block print of old Kyoto but it was quite expensive) and nosied around the pottery places admiring the beautiful pots and sake bottles. Kawai Kanjiro's house (a Japanese potter) is now a museum, but that too was closed. We made a mental note to return another day.

We walked for quite some time, exploring public parks, a mausoleum and more pottery shops, before coming upon another vegan cafe. Silverback's was quite small and run my one man - the self-named 'Silverback' as he claimed that he resembled the pictures of gorillas that adorned the walls. After a large lunch, I wasn't very hungry and settled for corn nachos with salsa and guacamole. R opted for a Thai green curry. The portions were huge and, to be honest, I've had better. R enjoyed it though, especially as it came with a beer to wash it down. I settled for a soya chai latte.

Tired, we hopped on a bus back to Kyoto station and from there walked to our hotel. Changing into our PJs (it was the done thing to wander round the hotel in the nightwear provided - a sort of grey/blue denim worker outfit, washed until it was beautifully faded and soft), we sat by the fire pit, drinking one of the free drinks provided. Tea and coffee were free all the time and one free alcoholic drink was provided per guest per day upon showing your room key. On this occasion, we chose sake and enjoyed it whilst listening to the soft singing of the musician laid on for the night. This became our nightly ritual - onsen, firepit, free drink and music under the stars; it was heaven.

Sunday 30th found us enjoying a buffet breakfast at the hotel. The buffet format certainly made it a lot easier than the set menu that we had experienced in Tokyo. The only problem was that a lot of the salads were temptingly vegan, apart from the fish/pieces of meat that they seemed to have thrown in as an afterthought. Still, there was more than enough to keep us happy.

After breakfast, we walked to the bus station and bought a day's ticket for the 'Hop on - Hop off' bus. In hindsight, this was a big mistake. Whilst a choice of 2 routes did cover the major Kyoto attractions, the timetable meant that you spent a long time waiting for the next bus. Also, the attractions were such that you couldn't cover more than 2 or 3 per day, so it would have been much cheaper just to get normal buses to our desired destinations.

We headed for Ginkaku-ji, consisting of the Silver Pavilion, several other temple buildings and beautiful moss and dry sand gardens. Before entering, we spotted the sign for the Philosopher's Path. This is a 2km walk along the canal between Ginkaku-ji and Nanzen-ji temples, under the cherry blossoms. It is named after the Kyoto University philosopher, Kitaro Nishida, who used the path for his daily meditations. It was peaceful and very pretty indeed.

Jizo statues - a Buddhist deity. The rocks are often adorned with aprons which are considered offerings:

Having walked the Philosopher's Path and back, we visited the Silver Temple. The grounds were stunning. Everywhere you turn in Japan, you spot beautiful trees. 'Ooh, that's a nice tree' was our constant refrain. They are also very good at small details - a wrapped rock in the middle of a bridge. a mound of sand in the shape of Mount Fuji to reflect the moon and act as a light, and a statue of a phoenix on the roof.

Having explored Ginkaku-ji, we used Happy Cow to locate our nearest vegan restaurant. It turned out to be 'Kisaki', a traditional tofu restaurant halfway along the Philosopher's Path. Initially, we had difficulty spotting the entrance. I peeped through the door and declared 'It can't be here, it looks like a shoe shop'! It turned out that that was, in fact, the entrance. Customers remove their shoes on entering the premises and leave them in little cubby holes near the door! Sitting at small tables on the floor, the tofu is cooked fresh at the table and accompanied by rice, tempura and pickles. They also did the best sake - full of flavour and with great depth.

Back on the bus, we hopped off at Kawai Kanjiro's house, the museum that we had noted the previous night. It was very tranquil and full of lovely pots, carvings, statues, real cats and the most amazing kiln. We bought a small print of one of his paintings as a memento.

Back on the bus, we headed for the Hokan-ji temple and the 5 story pagoda. This was, by far, my least favourite part of the day - the streets were narrow, full of tourist shops and very crowded. It was also quite chilly at this point and we were glad of the climb up to the temple at the top, where we sat to watch the sunset until it became obscured by clouds.

Back at the hotel, we hit the onsen to warm up. In case you've never experienced a Japanese bath, you enter through the sliding door using the code/key card provided, undress and store your belongings in one of the available lockers before entering the wet section. No clothes are allowed beyond this point. I consoled myself with the fact that I didn't know these people and that I would never see them again after the holiday. No one batted an eye and apart from a few beautiful, slim, pert Japanese girls, womankind was there in all her lumpy bumpy glory! In the wet area, you sit on a small plastic stool and use the shower head and shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, then head for the hot pool (there was also a sauna, but I'm never very keen on those; I can't stop thinking about Legionnaire's Disease!) and ease yourself in. Some people take in a small strip of towel to towel themselves lightly before entering the dry area again. This the onsen aficionados fold and balance on their heads whilst in the pool. I just used to pop mine by the side. A shelf runs round the pool perimeter, allowing you to sit in the hot water up to your waist, then, once acclimatised, you can lower yourself gently to the bottom of the pool so that the water comes up to shoulder height. The pool at the Sakura Terrace Hotel seemed the hottest of all the onsens that we tried whilst in Japan. I don't know if this was actually the case, or if we just got used to them. When you have had enough, you exit the pool and shower again, before wiping off most of the water and returning to the dry area. Here, full sized bath towels are provided and, once thoroughly dry, you can put your PJs back on and make use of the hairdryers, moisturising lotions etc. It was a surprisingly blissful experience.

After the large lunch at Kisaki, I wasn't hungry, so R nipped into a local 7-11 (of which there were many in Japan) and, with the aid of Google translate (an absolute Godsend, we couldn't have managed without it), translated the ingredients and bought some vegan ramen. He ate this back at the hotel before we headed for the fire pit and our free drink of the evening. I had a Sake Violet cocktail, which reminded me of the Flower Girl cocktail when L and I went to see 'My Fair Lady'. It was delicious. R settled for a G&T and we listened to the music, snuggled under a blanket whilst I did a bit of sock knitting. It was heavenly.

Toodle pip for now. x