Visiting Japan: Kyoto and Nara

Back in December, I gave you my Tokyo highlights of a trip to Japan in October. After a few days in the Japanese Alps (I will get back to this in a next post), we headed to Kyoto for a few days and included a day trip to Nara (capital of Japan in the 8th century). Here are my highlights:

- Arriving in Kyoto on a Sunday when a lot of people are dressed in beautiful kimonos ready to go for walks in one of the many beautiful parks of the city.

- Finding the beautiful machiya (traditional Japanese wooden house) where we were going to stay for three nights. Then, exploring said machiya and sliding every single door open to look at the amazing old and dark wood furniture mixed with some modern elements. Figuring out what to buy at the nearby convenience store in order to make ourselves breakfast the next days (not an easy thing when you cannot understand a thing; I nearly resorted to having doughnuts because I could clearly see what they were, but eventually we found some bread, butter, fruit and deliciously creamy yoghurt).

- Joining the Sunday afternoon crowds for a stroll in the stunning Arashiyama bamboo grove. It meant taking two metros then a train but it was so worth it for the sights and for people watching: so many were dressed up in elegant kimonos, like this couple in one of the photos below. They were on the same metros and train as us, and then we kept seeing them at every corner of the bamboo grove. They were delighted when I asked if I could photograph them. They had clearly made such an effort in dressing up for the day and looked very happy together.

- Getting absolutely lost trying to find a particular place recommended to us for dinner. This means we ended up just walking into an izakaya at a corner of a street and have a great evening of food, chats and laughs with chef Tamura. We dined on delicious mini chicken skewers, drank sake served from an ice cold large piece of bamboo stick (it had been sculpted to be used as a bottle) and were definitely not brave enough to try the chicken sashimi (raw chicken slices).

- Visiting the more than wonderful Nishiki market in the company of our lovely local guide Keiko. She had a great knowledge of food and traditions, and showed us what to try or not (some things were really weird and even she would not eat it). We saw a stand where every possible type of vegetable had been pickled (I am sure the first thing some of you will think about is Portlandia's 'We can pickle that'). The Nishiki market is really a place where I would like to go back and spend an entire week exploring every detail of it. I guess if you are looking for a particular type of food, you will find it there: from the most ordinary to the strangest (baby-octopus-stuffed-with-a-quail-egg lollipop anyone? It looked like a toffee apple with its red glaze. Still, no one?).

- Walking past a very elegant maiko heading to one of her appointments. A maiko is an apprentice geiko (geisha in Kyoto). It was pouring rain but she was staring straight ahead and it looked like it did not bother her much (note: as pointed by our guide, you should not stop a maiko or geiko in the street to pose for photos, especially when they look in a hurry since they have bookings to attend).

- Discovering the wonderful, yet with a bit of a strange texture, yatsuhashi. They look like some type of little crepe and are made with glutinous rice flour. They can be found in many places in Kyoto (we also found some at the airport in Tokyo) and have different types of fillings: green tea, vanilla, banana, azuki bean paste (red beans), chocolate, etc. Our guide thought we might find it a bit weird but I took a liking to them, especially the chocolate ones (no surprise here...).

- Running in the rain through the Gion district in order to arrive on time at our matcha tea making session with a tea ceremony master. Outside was grey and wet and it was such a contrast walking into a very comfortable warm room with dim lights. We took off our shoes and sat on the tatami with the other attendees. The tea ceremony was very interesting and relaxing. When done properly with every single step required, a single cup of tea could take a while to be made so we watched the master make it. Then, we all got to whisk our own cup of matcha tea (with less steps obviously). A delicious little sweet was handed to us before drinking our tea as it sweetens the mouth which is better than sweetening the tea and spoiling it. The matcha tea was so smooth and warming. After our session, we headed to a cafe specialised in matcha tea and indulged in more of the green stuff with a sumptuous matcha latte for me and a matcha ice cream for E. Behind a glass display, we could see the leaves (tencha) being ground between two heavy rotating stones, with some amazing green powder falling from the sides.

- Eating a quick dinner in the beautiful Pontocho district before heading back to our machiya after a long day of visits and discoveries.

- Spending a day outside Kyoto visiting Nara, a former capital of Japan in the 8th century.

- Feeding some of the many deer of Nara Park. There are more than a thousand free roaming in the park, they are considered a natural treasure. And said natural treasure will most probably head-butt or run after you if you run out of deer-crackers while feeding them (I have seen it being done and laughed - Sorry E.!). They can also be very loud but oh so cute! And they are just everywhere: walking into shops, queuing at vending machines, crossing the roads in long groups in front of buses and taxis, running after children tempting them with crackers, etc.

- Avoiding being bit by Japanese giant hornets at Nara Park. It was quite warm that day and those things were buzzing loudly everywhere. The signs tell you not to make big movements around or approach them. Yes, just in case I would have been so curious as to go towards them... They are so big they should belong to a horror movie!

- Walking into the Todai-ji temple and being blown away by what was inside. I had read somewhere that you should try to walk in with your head down and then look up. And when you do look up, what stands in front of you is the world's largest wooden statue of the Buddha Vairocana (known as Daibutsu in Japan. It is 15m high (or 49.1 ft). Did I stand there with my mouth gaping for a long time? Yes.

- Stopping at the Fushimi Inari Taisha on our way back from Nara towards Kyoto. This Shinto shrine has thousands of vermillion torii gates (approximately 10,000). There are a few trails leading up the mountain and you would need a good two hours for the walk. There were a lot of people there that day but the more you go up, the less people you encounter. I actually had to stop climbing the steps at some stage and walk back. The sun was setting and with the long walk already in Nara that day, my feet were starting to feel the pain (and this run from Memoirs of a Geisha was clearly out of the question...).

- Having some delicious okonomiyaki at a local small restaurant near our machiya. We were sat at a table with a hot surface. I ordered a prawn and bacon okonomiyaki (it is referred to as 'Japanese pizza' but is more a sort of savoury omelette or pancake). Once ready, it was put on our hot table where we could dress it with our condiments of choice. E. decided to cover his with a few dried bonito flakes. The heat made them look alive on the okonomiyaki (I share a video on instagram).

- Attending an ikebana class at WAK Japan. Ikebana is flower arrangement. It was early morning so the streets were very quiet while I made my way thereI. was on my own and it was great having a little one on one course. After being taught a few basic aspects of ikebana (its art form, the rules of shapes and lines), it was time for me to create my own flower arrangement. I was so happy to see yellow kangaroo paws in the choice of flowers, it reminded me so much of my years spent in Australia. I chose my types of flowers, trimmed, cut, placed, rearranged, trimmed again and voilà! (I shared my creation below at the end of all the photos) The teacher was ecstatic and decided to carry the arrangement everywhere in the building to show to other teachers or place it in different corners of rooms to see what it would look like there. I was blushing massively at that stage... She offered for me to take it but I had to catch a train to Tokyo and with all the luggage, it would have been difficult. It is a nice memory to keep from my last morning in Kyoto though.

- And finally, grabbing a lot of delicious food items from Isetan food hall so we could have a nice lunch on board the shinkansen back to Tokyo. I just love how it is so easy to find great little bento boxes or other food items to have a nice picnic on the train.

Next, I will share my highlights of spending a few days in the Japanese country side (and I will tell you about kaiseki, traditional and seasonal Japanese meals).