After a few days in Tokyo, we hopped aboard a shinkansen (bullet train) and headed to Kyoto. Those of you who, like our Vice President, have only enjoyed the pleasure of an Amtrak train should take note, a shinkansen is a step above. Nicer than your average late model airplane and complete with reclining seats, western toilets, and flight attendants, the shinkansen gets you to a destination across Japan faster and in comfort and style. Needless to say, I was excited for the trip, in spite of the early boarding time.
When we got to Kyoto it was raining so we dropped our luggage off at the ryokan and went right to lunch at the original Tenka Ippin, a Japan-famous ramen restaurant. As usual, Jeff and I ordered ours niku nuki, without meat, and I got the small size. This in no way means I had a healthy lunch.
Two things:
1. I eat way too much
ramen. Arguably, any
ramen is too much
ramen because it is NOT good for you.
2. I can justify eating way too much
ramen while I am living here, knowing that I won't be able to get it in America. It is near impossible to find "good"
ramen in America. In fact, we don't know of any.
Tenka Ippin did live up to its reputation, by the way. Yum.
Because it was such a gross day, we decided to explore the Nishiki Market in central Kyoto. It is a thoroughly modern arcade-style market filled with everything from ABC mart, the ever-present shoe store, to small stalls selling exotic ingredients for a traditional Japanese dinner, to a 400 year old family business selling very cool looking, and very expensive, knives.
It was a rainy day, and every tourist in Kyoto had the same idea as us. The Nishiki Market was packed.
Many people are surprised to see temples scattered about a modern-looking city, and mixed in with the clothing and souvenir stores throughout the market are several examples of century-old temples and shrines.
After we'd had enough wandering around we sought out another of my mother's must-dos in Japan:
shabu shabu and
sukiyaki. These are both distinctly Japanese methods of cooking very thinly sliced meat, and this restaurant happened to provide a split pot for enjoying both of them. The fancy set-up:
It's a Japanese style private room where you sit on the floor at a
hori-kotatsu (a
kotatsu, in this case, with your feet tucked in a recessed hole under the table).
They're excited. My dad because of the amount of meat on the table (it's bottomless as well) and my mom because she's apparently been hearing about this from her friend Cindi since she booked the tickets.
For the record,
shabu shabu is swished through a boiling broth (yes, that is the best word for it -
shabu shabu is the onomatopoeia for the swishing motion) of vegetables and tofu.
Sukiyaki is grilled/sauteed in a shallow dark broth with onions and a weird tofu (and potentially other vegetables, but we can't remember).
After dinner, we were feeling a little tired from the travel and a little soggy from the rainy weather so we went back to the
ryokan to hang out. We were in Kyoto during
sakura season and reasonably priced accommodations meant that we were a little cramped for the first night.
Those are the futons for all four of us. Good thing we're family.
More of Kyoto to come...
Mata ne,
Melissa
