JAPAN
Japan 2023 Day 18 - Kyoto
We started our morning with the tea tasting at Ippodo. They were able to squeeze us in for a tasting at 10 AM. They give you a tasting of their four primary teas, but there are many alternatives in the store. My favorite tea in Japan has been hojicha which is a type of roasted tea.
They were also really nice about letting our friend try making the matcha herself.
Then we shopped for some tea to bring back to the US. My friends got a very nice looking matcha making kit with whisk and all.
Now highly caffeinated we needed food before we took the bus to our new hotel. We decided on fast food curry at Matsuya Kyoto-Sanjo but I kinda wish we hadn’t because while the food was totally fine and good, the space was very small and uncomfortable. The way the door and ordering machine are situated causes the door to constantly and loudly beep and the door squeals while being opened and closed. So while we were hangry and waiting for our food to come out it was fraying our nerves pretty badly haha. This is probably a totally great option for ordering online and taking the food out.
We moved from our utilitarian Hotel Resol Kyoto Kawaramachi Sanjo to a much more stylish and luxurious hotel called Togetsutei. Togetsutei is a ryokan meaning it is a more traditional Japanese style inn.
This one in particular had bamboo and rice paper walls and sliding doors, all the staff were in robes, and we got some yukatas of our own to wear. They serve traditional Japanese breakfast and dinner and offer a public and private onsen.
All four of us were staying in one room which featured tatami mat floors and a private onsen on the balcony. We slept on roll out futons on the floor which actually was decently comfortable.
We still had the afternoon so we did a little exploring. Right next door to the ryokan is Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama. You climb up this big hill and at the top is basically a small zoo with a hundred plus Japanese Macacques. They run around free so that was a bit scary at first after you get a bunch of warnings about not staring in their eyes or pointing your phone directly at them but they were pretty chill. You can go into a building to buy food that’s safe to feed to the monkeys and then feed them through a wire fence.
Also there’s a great view of Kyoto at the top so that makes it extra worth it.
On the way up the mountain is a kid’s playground for some reason and they’ve got a big slide. On the way back down after seeing the monkeys we decided to be silly and ride the slide down. I ripped my leggings but it was pretty fun even if I didn’t totally fit haha.
We kept walking across the bridge and towards the Bamboo Forest. We thought about trying to go into that today but decided we were too tired. Instead we got a few snacks and did some shopping in the big tourist area there.
The view from the bridge is great in both directions by the way, probably extra nice during cherry blossom season.
We felt like ice cream so we all go some soft serve from Sagano Croquette. The peach ice cream is to die for. The melon ice cream was novel and even quite good but gets old fast so not the best option. Better to let your boyfriend have it and just take bites hehe.
There’s a shopping center around Arashiyama Station with a bunch of stalls. There’s a “kimono forest” which is a bunch of pillars with kimono fabric patterns that light up. There’s also public bathrooms, cafés, and apparently a foot bath where you can rest your feeet.
I tried taiyaki for the first time here. Which is surprising since we’d been in Japan nearly 3 weeks at this point. Taiyaki, like onigiri, I was mainly aware of due to anime.
Our first pick was a sampler stick with custard, red bean and chocolate filling. I didn’t like this one as much because they’re pre-made and grilled to order which makes the waffle texture worse. But the fillings were all nice.
The second try I got from Mameono to Taiyaki where they prepare the waffle fresh and you can see them making it. This one had a much improved waffle although a much longer wait. I got the custard and wasn’t hungry enough to try two but I wonder how the red bean paste one was. My friend got the one with butter and it comes with an unmelted pat of butter on it haha.
We had to save room in our stomachs for our twelve course dinner back at the ryokan so once it was time to check in we headed back to settle in.
When we got to our room they had brought up our bags and then brought us this gorgeous mochi with red bean filling and some matcha tea.
We digested, chilled, and had time to check out the in-room onsen until the time we had scheduled for dinner and then we headed down to the banquet room in our robes. We got their flight of umeshu to try and then experienced a twelve course Japanese meal! It’s intense to say the least. It features a lot more cold and pickled food than we’re used to, lots of tofu and strange vegetables, and quite a lot of fish.
As an adventurous eater it was exciting trying so many different things. But I have to be honest that a lot of it didn’t really do it for me. Even so I was comletely full by the end. I think the sushi and sashimi are standouts. Also their desserts were superb. Finally, the presentation and plating was incredible as you can see in the previous picture my grilled fish was put on a tiny wooden dock!
They asked us what type of dinner we’d like the next night. They had the option to do shabu shabu instead of kaiseki so we decided to do that.
After dinner we just chilled in our room and watched TV and drank some umeshu that our friend bought.