Tokyo & Kyoto '23

日 1

Having gotten into Tokyo late last night, we were eager to explore Okuma Garden this morning. However, finding Waseda University's college garden closed, we ended up wandering campus instead. The grounds are lush and green, and as it was time to turn around to avoid late fees on our hotel check-out, we stumbled upon Ana-hachimangu, a 1,000-year-old Shinto Shrine!

Having sufficiently disturbed the peace, we headed to Marunouchi, in the direction of our bullet train. We took some time to imbibe the grand sight of Tokyo Station from the Shin-Marunouchi building. Here, we sampled delicious soba noodles and took in sights from the 7th floor Koko Head Cafe.

After an appropriate amount of fumbling over booking our shinkansen tickets, we were all ready to board the high-speed rail to Kyoto! The speed of the train was awe-inspiring, as was our ephemeral view of Mt. Fuji on the way. 

When we disembarked at Kyoto Station 2.5 hours later (having covered 283 miles), it looked like the taxi line was going to take longer than the bullet train had. I was not having it, and had the brilliant idea to walk 35 minutes rather than brave it. En route, we stumbled upon the Shosei-en Garden, the third-largest garden in Kyoto and a mosquito-ridden sight to behold this evening.

After each of us had schlepped through as the other watched over the suitcases, we checked into our ryokan, a simple traditional Japanese boarding house. As soon as we touched down, we bounced back off to Gion, the historic district along Kyoto's Kamo River. We got there via Shijo-Dori, a sprawling "shopping street" with a cream-colored awning and warm yellow lights covering passers-by.

Then it was souvenir-shopping, dinner, some street-meandering, and poking around the Pontocho area before turning in!

日 2

We started today with a traditional Japanese breakfast at our ryokan before heading to Kinkakuji, a retirement-villa-turned-Zen-temple beloning to a shogun and converted after his death in 1490. The premises were stunningly calm, and a shade of green Udai and I had not encountered before.

We spent an hour or two soaking it all in, before walking through the surrounding small street with shops and delicious snacks like yuzu honey drink and strawberry popsicles. For lunch, we dined at a superb vegan restaurant called Cafe Ren Ginkakuji with vegan takes on popular Asian meat dishes. I had the "Chinese hot pot" which featured dumplings with cinnamon and cloves in the filling and goji berries in the broth. The flavors were simple and rich, and a beautiful breeze wafting through the second floor made the experience soothing and satiating.

With full bellies, we headed back to the guesthouse where I had scheduled a 3pm soak in the ryokan's onsen while Udai fulfilled groomsman duties. In the evening, we rushed to get ready before dusk so we could soak in some of the sun's rays before heading to our wedding event. 

We made it to the Donguri Bridge just in time for a precarious photo shoot, with Udai setting up the camera and searching for a passerby to ambush with "can you take a photo for us?" with enough time to dart between car traffic and join me for each photo, waiting again for intervals between cars, then scurry back across the bridge to take his phone back from the stranger. 

We did this a few times until we had suitable shots, then glided from Gion to the Ace Hotel for the start of wedding festivities.

日 3

Today was the beautiful day of Kenan's and Tianyu's joyous wedding festivities!

日 4

We started our Wednesday at Kamee Coffee, a simple coffee shop near our ryokan with heavenly buttered toast and a lovely vibe.

After a quick hotel switch, we were on our way to Hanamikoji Street, with a stop to Yojiya, known for having the world's best hand cream. Aunties piled their baskets with 30 hand creams each as I begrudgingly obeyed the carry-on bag limit I'm going to have en route Hong Kong, and settled on just 5. From there, we ambled down to Yasui Kompiragu, stumbling upon this ancient shrine as we looked for Higashiyama Ward. 

We finally found it, with the 5-story pagoda of Hōkan-ji Temple towering over the undulating streets with traditional architecture.

We spent the afternoons wandering the streets of Higashiyama, before we strolled down Ninenzaka Lane to Kōdai-ji Temple

For dinner, Udai had picked out a spot called "Vegan Ramen." We dressed for a cafe joint and arrived to find a super avant-garde black box theatre-esque room, with no lights on except spotlights that lit up each diner's plate when they were seated. The sign outside said "ramen + art" and we thought, "Oh, we hope we get a seat." We were probably the only diners without a reservation tonight, and seated at the 16-person black table with infinity mirrors in front of and behind us. The art installation appeared on a screen on one side, a 3-D calligraphy exhibit that rotated clockwise or counterclockwise because of "absolute subjectivity." Udai's sichuan pepper spicy ramen soup was delectable, and my vegan sushi came with layers of pickled lotus root and wasabi hummus. 

We capped the meal with vegan dark chocolate ice cream bathed in brown sugar syrup. I will not forget that taste for a very long time.

日 5

We were up bright and early this morning to catch a ride to Arashiyama, an area on the outskirts of Kyoto known for a bamboo forest and some super scenic shrines. We first visited the Tenryu-ji temple, the landscaping of whose lake hasn't changed since the 1400s.

We sat soaking in the serene surroundings until we had worked up an appetite (for coffee) and headed off to find the fabled original % Arabica shop. We walked along the beautiful Katsura River to get there, but found the line laughably long and ended up sitting on the wall along the river and eating jell-o from 7-Eleven. We spent some time ambling through the adorable town of Arashiyama before heading back to the canal for lunch.

On a roll, we decided to pay a visit to Fushimi Inari Taisha, a mountainside shrine famous for featuring 10,000 bright orange torii gates in the side of the mountain!

The route features a number of resting points with shrines on the way, including Shin-ike Pond, Mitsu-tsuji, and Yotsu-tsuji, about 15 minutes apart each (depending on your walking speed). I picked the third of these (Yotsuji) to park myself and take a meeting while Udai summited Mt. Inari! (This was only 10 minutes beyond the last resting top, to be clear.) During his descent, he perched himself on some large boulders at the viewpoint I had stayed at, and pulled out something to read. Half an hour later, a crowd of 30-40 folks had silently assembled on boulders around the one where I now joined Udai, sitting in silent expectation of the sunset over Kyoto. 

We all sat between 4:30 and 5:30, as the sun finally set and we made our way back down. There, the main shrine greeted us, its upturned eaves now glowing magnificently in the dark.

日 6

We spent today in transit, first exploring the Kyoto Station before boarding our shinkansen back to Tokyo.

En route, we had the immense privilege of catching a glimpse of Mt. Fuji! We had purchased tickets on the left of the train (as the famed volcano passes on the left if you’re on the train from Kyoto to Tokyo) but had limited hope of seeing the mount as the sky was overcast. Imagine our surprise when the conductor announced over the speakers, “Ladies and gentlemen, Mount Fuji is now visible through the left side windows.” A fortuitous darshan indeed.

We arrived early evening at our hotel, which happens to be inside of Shibuya Station! Shibuya is the most “bustly” part of one of the most bustling cities in the world, and on our way out, we wanted to be in the center of the action. But staying inside the station itself was another level altogether, the lobby of our hotel just yards away from the ticket entrance to the Narita (Airport) express.

As night fell, we launched into Shibuya Scramble Crossing, thus known because the intersection is so long and so crowded that one actually has to line up on the side of the street she's on, queuing for a chance to make it to the other side within the time of just one traffic light! I found this extremely exciting and we scrambled back and forth before meeting our friends Asuka and Taishi for dinner.

Our meal was at Tofu Cuisine Sorano, a treehouse-like eatery with a floor made of stones interlaced with a small indoor stream in which koi fish went about their business as we enjoyed our meal.

日 7

We started our last day in Japan (for now) cruising around Harajuku, winding between high fashion brand outlets and tucked-away cafes between trendy stores (Rag & Bone’s coffee shop, for example). We made our way up to the perfect place to re-live our youth, Takeshita Street—the “teenager street” of Tokyo. Bubble waffles, spiralled potatoes on sticks, cotton candy, and crepes seemed to overflow into the streets, alternating with fashion options that I guess (?) are popular with teens these days? Well past my teens, I nevertheless found something suitable to buy, indulging in puppy socks and Nutella crepes under street lamps wafting Japanese pop hits down the street in synchronicity.

From here, it was off to a more age-appropriate place: Meiji-jingu, one of the most venerated shrines in Japan, and the site of some Shinto weddings in the city. We got to see three such processions as we wandered the grounds, under majestic trees and a pleasant early-fall breeze.

In the afternoon, we retreated to the Tomigaya area for some sit-down time at Cafe Rostro, a classic Japanese coffee shop that makes cups of coffee according to the drinker’s taste preferences. Udai’s nutty, bold, less-sour cup was comprised of three bean varieties, ground by hand, and meticulously poured through a filter. My iced fruit tea was left to steep in a cocktail shaker that was laid down in a bed of ice for 20 minutes, and then rapidly rotated until the inside chilled to an ideal temperature.

The quiet perfection of this experience was a fitting way to cap what has been an exciting, peaceful, enjoyable week in Japan!

とりあえず終わり。

For a synthesis of what Udai and I would do if we came back to Kyoto and only had 2 days, click here. For a wrap-up of our 24 hours in Tokyo (all sights we saw are recommended!!) click here.