Day 6: Kyoto

Our hotel was very conveniently located near the start of Philosopher's Path, which is a small path that winds through a few nice temples at the foot of the hills. We started our day there, strolling through Nanzenji (which we visited the night before) and up to Eikando Zenrin-ji, one of the most popular temples to visit in the fall due to the number of brilliantly colored maple trees there. The colors were truly breathtaking and worthy of all the crowds:

We took our shoes off and toured many of the buildings in the temple complex, which was really interesting. No pictures allowed inside, but there were lots of historic artifacts and artwork in addition to elaborate shrines. The grounds were meticulously cared for and it was a great place to spend a morning.

The crowds were pretty intense. There were tons of Chinese and Japanese tourists arriving in big buses, so most of the good photo areas were pretty packed:

I particularly like that one white guy towering over everyone. After enjoying some tea and snacks at Eikando, we continued walking north along Philosopher's Path. Unfortunately this was the point at which we starting seeing giant hornets (we were near the woods), so the walk was a little scary. We made it up to Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) unharmed and took a nice walk around the grounds. There was a very beautiful sand garden, "the sea of silver sand":

The temple itself is not at all silver, but still quite pretty:

From there we took a cab back to the downtown area (surprisingly cheap cab!) to grab some lunch. We stopped by Issen Yoshoku, a very odd little restaurant. Okonomiyaki is a food found in many regions of Japan, with each area putting its own spin on the dish. This place had a very delicious Kyoto-style okonomiyaki, which was similar to an omelet. Unfortunately I was so hungry that I devoured it without taking a picture!

Our final temple destination was the very famous Kinkaku-ji, or Golden Pavilion. It took two subway rides and a cab ride to get to, but it was totally worth it. We happened to arrive just before closing (and sunset), so the place was very pleasantly deserted. We took about a million pictures of this beautiful place:

We spent the rest of the night hanging out around Kyoto, eating and drinking. We first paid a visit to a cat cafe, which is exactly what it sounds like. There are a number of these around major cities and they rely on the fact that people want to play with cats but can't have them in their small apartments. So, they pay money to hang out in a room full of cats. It was pretty enjoyable, though the cats were very sleepy and didn't pay any attention to us. Mostly it was just Japanese people taking pictures of sleeping cats. I think Tommy took some pictures that I can post at some point.

For dinner, we stopped by Mos Burger for some interesting fast food. I had a "burger" made of shrimp with a bun made of rice. It was actually really yummy! We grabbed some beer at a bar located on the eighth floor of a building, giving us a lovely view of the city. At night many of the temples light their grounds up, and we were able to see a few of these from the bar. Great way to end the day!

Japan Day 5: Kyoto

We woke up bright and early on Tuesday to start our trip to Kyoto. We took the shinkansen, which was pretty awesome. The trip took us about 2.5 hours and would have been 8-10 by bus, and the train was very spacious and comfortable. Also, we had some stunningly clear views of Mt. Fuji on the way (credit to Bryan for the photo):

At Kyoto station, we hopped on a free shuttle to our hotel, which was nestled at the foot of the eastern hills. We chose a Japanese-style three person room and it was gorgeous.

We slept on very comfortable futons on the floor, which I unfortunately don't have pictures of. The grounds surrounding the room were also amazing:

There was a bird-watching trail nearby, but we saw a sign warning about wasps in the area, so we decided against it. Japan has giant hornets that really are giant and also quite dangerous. I actually saw a few later in the day, so I’m glad I decided against a morning walk in the woods!

We were very hungry at this point, so we went to a local udon restaurant that specialized in local veggie ingredients. The soup tasted very fresh and light and was a great introduction to Kyoto food. The sun was nearly setting by this point, but we did manage to walk to up Nanzenji temple to see some stunning fall colors and cool old buildings.

Afterwards, we went down to the Gion Shijo area to do some shopping and wandering. 

We stumbled upon a very tiny old alley and had a lot of fun exploring (I believe this is Pontocho Alley):

This area has many actively working geisha, and we managed to spot one or two shuffling between buildings in their full make-up and elaborate outfit. 

In Kyoto, a popular dining option is a kaiseki meal, which entails an elaborate multi-course presentation featuring locally grown/caught food. Our hotel helped us make a reservation at a small family-owned kaiseki restaurant in the area, so we headed over to start our meal. As is common at these types of places, we were given a private Japanese-style room:

They bring each course one at a time, along with an explanation of each ingredient. I won't post all of the pictures I took, but here are some highlights:

The food was incredible and well worth the price. The meal took about 2.5 hours, so we didn't have much of a night left afterwards. We wandered around the area for a while after, and managed to find ourselves in the red light district (in fact, we stumbled upon the red light district of every city we were in, which was pretty frustrating). We made our way back to the hotel to get some rest on the comfy futons that had been set up for us.

Japan Day 4: Tokyo

We started off our day with a quick subway ride down to Meiji Jingu. This shrine to Emperor Meiji is surrounded by very beautiful grounds, and the entrance is particularly cool:

The shrine area has a place to hang prayers written on wooden boards. Most people write generic wishes for good health and happiness, though you can see that some people get a little creative. I personally like “Wish for optimal work/life balance for everyone” and “I shall hope that IGN’s review on Sonic Lost World is wrong when I play it (IGN are bias people)”.

You can’t take picture of the interior of any shrines, but the outside is pretty:

After the peaceful shrine experience, we walked down the road a bit to experience pretty much the exact opposite: Harajuku. We walked the trendy tree-lined Omotesando and then came back via Takeshita Dori, a super crowded and frantic area with odd stores and interesting fashion.

This used to be the center of cosplay culture in Japan, but in recent years that has dissipated. After we had our fill of Harajuku, we headed down to Shibuya for lunch. We went to a small conveyor belt sushi place fully populated by locals, but I felt weird taking pictures so unfortunately I can’t show you anything. The sushi was quite good and actually really cheap! We managed to fill up for about $10.

From Shibuya we took a subway to Asakusa, a major historical area of Tokyo. There are lots of old-looking things in this area, though many of them have been heavily renovated or entirely rebuilt after being destroyed by wars or earthquakes throughout the years. We walked under the giant red lantern that starts the path to Sensoji Temple:

Then we walked down the path, which was filled with small shops and food vendors:

 

The temple grounds looked beautiful in the setting sun:

Once again, we shifted the cultural opposite and rode the subway to Akihabara. This area is known for its massive electronics shops and intense anime culture:

There are tons of maid cafes around (cafes where cute women in maid outfits wait on you) and lots of stores selling anime and video games. We visited a massive store filled with random items called Don Quixote. There are a few around Tokyo, and they really are just filled with a random selection of items, from costumes to groceries to glow sticks. We also explored Yodobashi Camera, which is a five-story store devoted entirely to electronics.

We were tired and hungry after a long day of sight-seeing, so we headed back to Shinjuku and stopped at Ichiran Ramen. This chain of ramen restaurants uses tonkotsu broth, a very thick pork-based soup broth, and allows you to customize most features of your soup.

There is no human interaction involved; ramen is ordered via a ticket vending machine, customized on a form, and sent to the kitchen. You sit in individual cubicle-like booths and the food is delivered quickly to your booth. We loved it, and we’re definitely planning on going back before we leave.