Day 90-91:
Kyoto was sold to me as the anti-Osaka, a secondary Japanese
city with a more traditional Japanese style. With its many temples and shrines
and traditional Japanese fair, it embraces the Japan that modern technology has
left behind. Kyoto is probably the second most famous and oft-visited tourist
destination in all of Japan, and from reading reviews, for good reason. I left
by train late on Thursday and got into my hotel in Kyoto around 10:00 PM. My
hotel was near the glistening Kyoto Station. While that sounds nice, it would
have been nice if the Kyoto station was near most of the sights in Kyoto, or
even the nice restaurants. Anyway, being close to the station at least gives me
some options.
I slept in after a quick meal that first night as I had to
leave early morning to get to my scheduled Toyota Plant Tour in Nagoya, about
90-minutes away. The factory tour is free, of course it would help if the
Toyota Factory was reachable by public transport. It isn’t, so I had to go by
cab, which basically ruined the whole ‘the tour is free’ thing, since cabs in
Japan are muy expensive. The factory isn’t located too close to the main train
station in and out of Nagoya, either. I reached the tour in decent time, tired
after little sleep. Thankfully, the tour would wake me up well.
The Toyota Factory tour was quite well attended, as we were
in a group of around 30, and extremely well done. The guide spoke great
English, was far more humorous than I could have imagined (though that may be
simple stereotyping at work). The tour was quite thorough, necessitating most
of the two hours allotted for it. The tour took us through many different large
rooms that were all as clean and efficient as I imagined coming in. Toyota’s
infamous production system, utilizing Just-in-Time inventory management
was something I had studied before, but
it was great to see it in real action. I have a feeling, much like they do with
the Wine Cellar Tours, the real production goes off in busy, crowded, steamy
warehouses that are not the same ones that we were shown. Before I knew it, the
tour was over. I never once felt bored, or that the guide was dragging us
along. And as a person who isn’t a car nut (though in a family that owns
multiple Toyota’s), to say that is quite good.
I didn’t really want to eat in Nagoya, a place that isn’t
known for its food, so I had some quick Ramen Noodles, which I learned are a
real thing in Japan, not a convenient excuse to eat salty noodles cooked in a
microwave as they are seen as in the US. It wasn’t very filling, and by the
time I reached Kyoto, I was starving, so I decided to go to one of Kyoto JR
Station’s many eating options. Like how Tokyo Station has a Daimaru basically
built into it, JR Kyoto has an Isetan, the same department store that my Mom
and I visited in Kuala Lumpur. I went to their basement, but was quite
disappointed as they had almost only desserts and alcohol, along with the usual
grocery fare which was useless to someone in my condition. The station does
have a slew of restaurants on its top floor, floor #11. The station really is
an Isetan which just so happens to have a JR Station inside it, rather than the
other way around like in Tokyo.
From the top, I got an amazing view of the staggering size
of the building, as the middle area is open, with a long, multi-tiered
stairwell patio leading down to its Ground Floor railtracks. The restaurants at
the top offered a good mix of food, with everything from sushi, to traditional
Japanese lunch food (noodles and fried meat), to Italian food. I, because of
price considerations, chose the Italian place, which in this case was the
cheapest. Their Pizza Lunch special (and considering the place was mostly full
around 3:30, it’s fair to say it was still lunch time) was quite good, as they
made a brick-oven seafood pizza of a decent size and more than decent quality
for 1,200 Yen. They also had draft of Asahi’s black beer. Asahi is the largest
of the three main Beer distributors in Japan, with the other two being Sapporo
and Kirin, and is by far the most commonly served on tap, but their dark beer
is rarely served. This placed had the ‘Super Cold’ (which they kept cooled to
under 0 Celsius on tap) dark, which was served in the chilled beer mug,
standard operating procedure in Japan, making it about as good as conventional
draft beer can be.
Because most tourist sites in Japan close at 5, and most of
those only allow entry until 4, there wasn’t much time to do anything else of
note. I had mentally scratched away this day completely towards Nagoya, so I
wasn’t disappointed in the inability to do anything else touristy, but still a
little dismayed to have this much time and this little to do. I had already set
my dinner plan, to eat at Chifaga, Kyoto’s best chain Japanese Korean-BBQ
place, with their 2,800 all you can eat menu (and a 500 all-you-can-drink
combination special), which will finally allow me to eat at a Japanese
Korean-BBQ to my hearts content.
Until then I strolled around the most urban but still
traditional area of Kyoto, the Hanigabiyashi District (there is a nontrivial
chance that I spelled that very, very wrong), or the Gion district. They are
right next to each other, serving almost as a duo. I’m not sure which one takes
precedence, but they are both located on the East end of Kyoto Central. Gion is
the more urban area, with busy streets, but they are as far from the busy
streets of Tokyo as you can get. Gion is really what traditional Japan, I’m
assuming, looked like, with small houses, traditional craft stalls, geishas
appearing every now and then to do little shows. It isn’t as touristy as it
sounds. It isn’t the Kyoto version of Chowki Dadi in Jaipur (which seems like a
lifetime ago). It is just a normal street with normal businesses, but one that
also shows the older side of Japanese life.
Higabiyashi is a larger area, but the main attractions are
all surrounding the large park that runs through it. There are the Yasaka
Shrine and Yasaka Pagoda (along with a few other traditional Japanese buildings
whose names I am forgetting). Higabiyashi park also has many of the things that
the other large parks in Japan have, like fountains, ponds with scores of
interesting looking birds, and even a few outdoor coffee shops, but it is the
Yasaka shrine that is the real attraction. With my business in Eastern Kyoto
basically complete, and my legs tired and weary and myself sweaty (the cool air
of Tokyo was gone in this landlocked city), I returned back to my hostel,
passing through the glowing Kyoto Station again. The station is located in a
very average part of the city, but the station itself is beautiful.
My reservation for dinner was at 8:30. I wanted it at 9:00
or 9:30, giving me a little time to relax before I had to head back out, but
the staff on the phone just kept repeating ’eight-zero-zero and thirty minutes’
over and over again. Either I was dealing with the most stubborn staff member
ever, or they only had an opening at 8:30. I decided to relent and just assume
it was the latter, because even I was getting tired with conversing with him in
his broken English when his responses were that of a broken record. I left the
hotel and returned to Kyoto Central, which isn’t a long walk, but just long
enough for it to be a little annoying. I had good luck in both Osaka and Tokyo
to be within five minutes of a train station, so the 10-12 minute walk here
wasn’t great.
The restaurant was packed, so I think my man on the phone
was justified in his sole ‘8:30’ response. I got my table, they lit my grill
and so it commenced. I honestly don’t remember everything I ordered except that
I decided to stray away from the cheaper and more unique innards and stranger
meats that I feasted on before. Now that it was an all-you-can-eat setting, the
more expensive but larger portion sized skirt steak, loin and tongue was on the
table, and soon was on my table. This being my fourth or fifth rodeo with this
type of food, I was at the point that I would consider myself rather talented
at maneuvering the grill and the meat on it. The meat was good, and endless.
The beer wasn’t great, as this was one of the few places in Japan that didn’t
give you chilled glasses, but I wasn’t planning on having a lot anyway, trying
to save space for the meat.
After a while I was pretty much done, ready to go back
towards the station area and sleep early to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow
will be a busy day, with a lot of sites to see. I still wasn’t sure how I
Sunday was going to play out, as I am supposed to return to Tokyo that day. My
plan then was to see as much as I could tomorrow in Kyoto and play the hand I’m
dealt the day after.
So what happened on Saturday? Well, a lot of things. I did
see as much of Kyoto as I could, emphasis on the ‘I’ part because I’m sure if I
was my dad, I would have seen more. Anyway, I got up around 9:00, avoided the
urge to watch the Heat-Pacers game (Go Pacers!!!), and left the hostel to the
furthest sight possible in Kyoto Central, to the Golden Pavillion (the real
name is something in Japanese which translates to Golden Pavillion) on the
North end of the City. The Golden Pavillion is a really secluded Pagoda area on
top of a pond. The place is covered in a Gold layer. I’m not sure how pure the
Gold is, but it has a beautiful sheen emanating off its exterior. There were
few more gorgeous settings that I’ve been to on the trip. Nearby the Golden
Pavillion are two smaller, less popular temples that are less popular for a
reason, but even they were well maintained and secluded enough to be extremely
peaceful. I always find it amazing that deep inside Japan, a country known,
possibly unfairly, for its incredibly busy, work-centered culture, that there
are these perfectly pristine, peaceful areas. I finally understand what zen
really means, I guess.
From there I took the train back to the center of the city
and went to a Sushi place for lunch. The sushi here wasn’t quite as good as the
sushi in Tokyo, but in fairness Kyoto isn’t really known for its sushi. I only
chose this place because it was close to The Nijo Castle, the other major site
of Central Kyoto. The Nijo Caslte isn’t quite as large as the Himeji, and not
as well preserved, but in that lack of preservation is a realness missing from
the Himeji. This place isn’t famous for its beauty but for its authenticity.
There's really too much to describe in the castle, and this is already long enough. Just make sure to go there, and get there early. Last entry was 4:30, and it needs a decent amount of time (ie, don't be the last entry)
After I finished with the castle, I returned back to Kyoto
Central to scout out my dinner option. One of the treats of Japan in late
spring and summer are the plethora or Beer Gardens, rooftop buffets with
all-you-can-drink alcohol. Obviously, the draw is the beer, but most serve
standard cocktails and liquor as well. Many hotels in Kyoto (or Tokyo) have
these Beer Gardens, but from what I read through varied Google Translated
websites, reservations are suggested on weekends. I finally chose the Kyoto
Tower Hotel, for 3,000 yen (which is the standard late spring price – it
usually goes up to 3,500 starting in June), with a view of the Kyoto Tower on
top. I made my reservation for 7:30. These places are more of afternoon types,
which open at 5:00 and close at 9:00, so 7:30 was about as late as I could make
it and still get full use of what was offerend.
I’ll be honest, the food was disappointing. The reviews
actually complimented the food, but maybe the real good food only starts in the
Summer, when these places are at their most popular and most expensive. The
beer was great too, but I only had two glasses of ice cold Asahi dark (up there
with Milk & Honey as the best beer of the trip – and by far the best
mainstream beer I’ve had), I tried the more Japanese alcoholic fare. I’ve never
really liked Sake, but Sachu, their fermented grain alcohol was quite good, and
far better than most of the unique hard grain alcohol I’ve had, like the cashew
stuff in Goa.
I met an interesting group of Japanese guys and girls at the
place. They knew English and I guess were intrigued with me eating solo. It
started with them asking me some questions about what I was doing and what
America is like, and then ended with them asking me to come out to drinks with
them, which I gladly obliged. The night was interesting. I’ve decided not to
talk too much about my night exploits, but Kyoto was a lot more fun than it
seemed. The alcohol was cheap and flowing, the places weren’t too crowded, and
given that this was a Saturday Night, was pleasantly surprising.
