For starters, the bamboo forest in Kyoto
Food to follow.
Food to follow.
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Long years of travel have taught me that sometimes it does not pay to look too closely at our food.
Other times not paying attention can lead to highly negative consequences.
When it comes to eating while traveling, true wisdom is knowing when to look and when to look away.
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What would a first-trip to Tokyo be without Mt. Fuji:
The last picture was taken from the Tokyo-Kyoto train (we used the booking service [Klook](https://www.klook.com/) and asked for seats with a Mt. Fuji view).
Oh, about food. The very useful site Tabélog yielded a restaurant Kiji Tej at the base of the mountain that specializes in pheasant and in local hoto noodles.
It had a decidedly kitschy interior:
yet, serene:
Here is our pheasant being grilled and pheasant balls being hotpotted:
The grilled dark meat was a bit chewy, but the breast terrific as was the hotpot with the noodles:
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Nice. Fuji looks quite close from where the photos are taken.
After 2 weeks on 2 southern islands I came to a small town Fujinomiya for the final week of my holiday, travelling by Shinkansen and local train for the last stretch. On the local train to Fujinnomiya I had no idea Mount Fuji was visible much of the way as my seat faced the opposite direction. My jaw dropped when I exited the train. Mt. Fuji was so close and glorious, the main reason I came to Fujinomiya. After what seemed like a while standing there I lifted my camera (also a Fuji brand), everyone on the platform immediately moved to the sides so I could make a photo. I remember the sun had just dipped below the horizon by then. I couldn’t stop looking at this beautiful mountain from the train platform, and couldn’t stop looking at it from any angle and elevation for a week.
I had the same reaction seeing Acropolis for the first time as I emerged from my metro stop Monastiraki Square near my lodging. It’s such a busy area at 11pm but I heard no sound around me. I only saw the Acropolis in all its magnificence before me thinking my childhood dream had come true. Of course I took so many photos of it every day of the week I was in Athens. (And again 11 months later.)
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It was. We made a day excursion from Tokyo that took us halfway up the mountain (the fifth of ten stations), then around the base. The Tokyo-Kyoto train also passes very close.
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Ryōan-ji Temple in Kyoto and its famous rock garden. There are five groupings of rocks arranged so that there’s no single viewpoint from which they can all be seen – a metaphor for needing to see every situation from multiple angles in order to properly understand it.
The gravel is raked every day, and has been through all the turmoil of the outside world for (I am told) over 500 years:
And here, presumably, are the current rakes:
Around the rock garden, there’s a lovely garden garden:
OK, food: A specialty of Kyoto is tofu skin. Here it is on rice at a ticket-machine restaurant just at the entrance to the temple complex:
along with green tea soba (I had already had the various toppings, or mixed them in):
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There are still centimeters to go before I sleep on this thread. We ate all our breakfasts in our digs. I’ve “documented” (to give myself Burnian airs) our Tokyo breakfasts elsewhere. Here are the ones in Kyoto, served in our living room. There were significant variations day by day, but one way to begin was with something like this:
The top level of the triple-layer globe typically had something along these lines:
which unwrapped to
These were fu manju with wrappers of wheat gluten, and seasonal fillings, wrapped in bamboo leaves. Similar texturally to mochi, but wheat-based, not rice. A splendid way to start breakfast. Then (an unfolded breakfast from another day):
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For those with oddly curious minds among you, the condiments were different misos on different days, and goma dare (a sesame-based concoction) a couple of times. There was a broth at the bottom of the “globe”, usually with tofu skin. The middle level (of the globe) usually had omurice, plus a veg or two. The steamer had vegetables (lotus root, peppers, and the like, on one level… you get the idea.
No you don’t. After we were done, they asked what flavor ice cream we wanted…
Comment 1: The coffee was excellent.
Comment 2: Through no fault of our own we were able on this trip to entirely ignore expense. But we were aware throughout of the awkwardness of living large. We invited our guide/driver on our Mt. Fuji trip to participate in all eating and we talked with everybody we could about their real lives. Our server of one of our sumptuous Kyoto breakfasts when we asked him what he typically had for breakfast said “cereal and coffee”. Which is, of course, our typical breakfast at home.
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Ken Burns ain’t got nuthin’ on you! These have been wonderful photos!
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You watch your mouth. Ken’s next docudrama might well be the 27-part
“@digga: the ingratitude to me”.
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