Well, I made my first move of this vacation, going from Tokyo to Kyoto. It was really sad leaving Tokyo. I know I'll be back next week for a two night stay before heading home but I don’t know, it started feeling really familiar, almost like a home and it was sad to have to end that run. Kyoto has some huge shoes to fill, I loved Tokyo more than I even thought I would.
This morning was a bit of a rush. I packed a bit the night before so that the morning wasn’t too crazy but if you know me even a little, you know all about my undocumented OCD and when I pack, it’s not a pretty site for anyone. What would take most people 15 minutes takes me an hour or two. I finally felt ok to leave and with 3 minutes to spare before the 11am check out time at my hotel. I knew this morning would be crazy because I had to get the train to Kyoto and something tells me this won’t be as easy as hopping a train to Ueno or Shinjuku.
In order to get on the train, I first had to take the familiar Yamanote Line to Tokyo. This part was easy since the Yamanote Line is the loop I've been taking every day that I've been here, I can do this with my eyes closed. Next came the not so fun part, connecting from the Yamanote Line to the JR Rail heading towards Kyoto. It was easy but not fun because it’s nerve-wracking thinking that if you mess this up, you might have to wait 2 1/2 hours to fix it since this isn’t a local train like the Yamanote around Tokyo, the JR Rail spans the entire country of Japan.
After reading signs for the JR Rail several times, and then another several, and then several more after that for good measure to make sure I was getting on the right train, I felt comfortable getting on the 12:03pm towards Kyoto.
The train system in Japan is very interesting. For those of you unfamiliar with it like I was, when you get your rail pass, you don’t have a reserved seat. Of the 16 or so cars on this train, 1-6 are for “ordinary” people, meaning those with no reserved seats. It’s pretty much a fight for a seat up here. The tickets are much cheaper so that’s the trade off. Here is a picture that describes the first several carts, I'll comment a bit on it after.
You might have to click on the image above to see a bigger version to know what I'm commenting on. The first thing I'll comment on is what it says about car 11. Car 11 is a “multi purpose room”. The multi-purposes are for “nursing infants, changing clothes, and for the passengers who do not feel good”. You have to let the train crew know that you will be using this room. Honestly, for a very sanitary culture like the Japan are, this room sounds disgusting. I didn’t go back there, there are some things about Japan I probably won’t be blogging about.
The other thing I want to comment on is car 3. Car 3 is more disgusting than car 11. In car 3, you can smoke so everyone who wants to smoke finds a seat here. I made the mistake of walking in here and honestly, it’s like the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, it’s just one huge cloud of smoke. You can smell this in cars 4 and all the way out to 5, the cabin I was in. Yea, this wasn’t too much fun. I got used to it which is good but also not good cause I got used to being in the smell of smoke. Ah well, that’s Japan for you.
I finally get a chance to get a window seat and me and my huge luggage are comfortable and it’s about time to eat my breakfast/lunch. I got another random box from a vendor, I love these because it’s all a mystery to me. I never know how to describe what I'm eating but I post it for you to see if you can figure it out yourself. Also, pickled stuff in Japan is delicious! There was some more mochi in this box, waaay better than that red bean yuckiness of the day before. Also in the bottle is some green tea, just in case you were wondering.
Now that I'm situated and finished eating, it’s time to take some pictures from the bullet train There isn’t much to say for these but you can take a look at pictures and a video of what I saw right here…
Once I get to Kyoto, I have to find my hotel. It’s not far away, but I get lost thanks to awkward directions given to me by the lady at the information desk. She spoke English so I can’t blame it on a language issue, just shoddy directions. It’s pouring out, a cold nasty day in Japan and I have to get to my hotel in this mess, I'm not looking forward to it. I put on my rain jacket and start boarding the animals 2 by 2 and eventually after walking the wrong direction for a little bit, I get to my hotel. I didn’t take pics yet, I will later. Wait, that’s a lie, I took this one but it was too funny not to take it ASAP. Click on it to get the full image.
After taking this picture and getting myself comfortable in this new hotel, I decide to waste some time indoors to wait out the rain that was happening outside. I was also drenched and wanted to dry off. I waited about an hour and it wasn’t letting up so I said screw it, if I wait for the rain to stop I might not leave my hotel room tonight. I put on some wet clothing and I head out to Kyoto.
My hotel is in a great location, right in the middle of the center of downtown. It’s infinitely different than Tokyo. It’s a downtown, but it’s missing copious amounts of neon and droves upon droves of people and scantily clad teenagers. It’s quite shocking seeing this after being so used to Tokyo for several days. I’m not sure how I will adjust but I will somehow. Also, I don’t know why, but I was in the mood for a mall. I think this was simple because it was raining out and being out of my hotel but inside somewhere sounded great to me. I stumble upon the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street. The entrance for it was only a few blocks away from my hotel.
The Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street is about 400 years old but still is wildly popular. The market is completely outdoors but covered, it’s like Old Vegas if anyone knows what I'm talking about. This place is huge, I can’t emphasize this enough, it is gargantuan. It’s one floor but in some places it’s two floors. I can safely say that this is the largest mall I've ever been in that is 99% one floor. It goes on for years and I hope that comes across in the pictures below. This is one of those times where I will show a series of pictures with captions but not much commentary. Just some stuff I noticed and want to comment on.
Time to break away from the pictures and eat dinner. I know I want to eat in the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street but where should I eat? I seriously have about 200 choices. I decide on this one called “Mr. Young Men” because the name is hilarious and the prices and quantities were awesome. It’s also the most restaurant like place that I have been to so far by myself and I wanted to eat in a place with a waitress since it’s been since my dinner with Rob where I had this.
So now the food, I wanted a filling meal. I didn’t want tiny meals tonight like I have been eating, I wanted substance. Luckily I found substance that was also the best meal I've had so far in Japan. Here is a picture and a description of what everything is…
Ok, let me try and describe this. On top is miso with some noodles in it. The right is some more of those seaweed and sesame rice balls with meat fillings and then a fish sauce filling. On that same plate is some pickled vegetables. The main plate was fried noodles with pork and vegetables with pickled ginger. The big hot delicious mess next to it was egg and potato with vegetables covered in teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise with katsuobushi. The entire meal was $8.50 and it was phenomenal. I wanted to high five the women who cooked my meal. This is exactly what I think Japanese comfort food is.
After dinner I slowly walked back through the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Streetto get back to my hotel. I stop in some random stores and just enjoy being covered in the rain but outdoors at the same time. I spent a lot of time here and didn’t even know it existed until I stumbled on it several hours earlier. I might come back here and get some food sometime from one of the other vendors. As I walk back I spot this sign…
Who in the world would continue walking after seeing a place named “Ninja Kyoto – Restaurant & Labyrinth”? I decide to get a closer look.
The line was huge, the place was super trendy and cool looking. I didn’t get to go inside but I'm assuming it’s a place decorated to look like a ninja would eat there. Even as I'm typing that sentence out it sounds awesome and I wanted to go in but it doesn’t seem like a place you can just walk in a take some pictures of and leave. I’ll add this to my list of things to do when I come back to Japan because I know I will!
I continue walking and notice a few more things the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street has to offer…
I finally decide to leave the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street. It filters out into the normal back alleys of Kyoto. These back alleys are much nicer and more savory than the ones in Tokyo. I don’t have a preference for either, it’s just amazing seeing the difference. Ok, I lied, I like the craziness of the Tokyo back alleys more. Here are some pictures of the alleys…
I decide to get a drink from a vending machine because the whole day almost went by without me doing this. I kept seeing this one drink all trip, I was curious about it. I didn’t know if it was chocolate milk or some coffee drink. Turns out it was neither…
It was carbonated! Boo! They should put that on the label, in English preferably, duh. It smells delicious so I'm letting it sit out on the tea table so it can go flat after a few days and I can drink it. Yes, this is sad but I did it before with a bottle of Jarritos. I want the taste with no fizz, yuck to carbonation, I almost gagged.
I am getting back to my hotel finally and I decide to take some pictures of the inside and outside. Here is the Hotel Gimmond Kyoto…
The hotel is really nice, my hotel room is nice and bigger than the one in Tokyo but not as trendy. It’s still nice but definitely missing a few things that my previous hotel spoiled me with. First off, not one English language channel on the TV. The last hotel had the international version of CNN. Here are some pictures with some comments about each…
As I started writing tonight's blog, I snapped a few more pictures I wanted to share with you before I sign off the for the night.
This morning was a bit of a rush. I packed a bit the night before so that the morning wasn’t too crazy but if you know me even a little, you know all about my undocumented OCD and when I pack, it’s not a pretty site for anyone. What would take most people 15 minutes takes me an hour or two. I finally felt ok to leave and with 3 minutes to spare before the 11am check out time at my hotel. I knew this morning would be crazy because I had to get the train to Kyoto and something tells me this won’t be as easy as hopping a train to Ueno or Shinjuku.
In order to get on the train, I first had to take the familiar Yamanote Line to Tokyo. This part was easy since the Yamanote Line is the loop I've been taking every day that I've been here, I can do this with my eyes closed. Next came the not so fun part, connecting from the Yamanote Line to the JR Rail heading towards Kyoto. It was easy but not fun because it’s nerve-wracking thinking that if you mess this up, you might have to wait 2 1/2 hours to fix it since this isn’t a local train like the Yamanote around Tokyo, the JR Rail spans the entire country of Japan.
After reading signs for the JR Rail several times, and then another several, and then several more after that for good measure to make sure I was getting on the right train, I felt comfortable getting on the 12:03pm towards Kyoto.
The train system in Japan is very interesting. For those of you unfamiliar with it like I was, when you get your rail pass, you don’t have a reserved seat. Of the 16 or so cars on this train, 1-6 are for “ordinary” people, meaning those with no reserved seats. It’s pretty much a fight for a seat up here. The tickets are much cheaper so that’s the trade off. Here is a picture that describes the first several carts, I'll comment a bit on it after.
You might have to click on the image above to see a bigger version to know what I'm commenting on. The first thing I'll comment on is what it says about car 11. Car 11 is a “multi purpose room”. The multi-purposes are for “nursing infants, changing clothes, and for the passengers who do not feel good”. You have to let the train crew know that you will be using this room. Honestly, for a very sanitary culture like the Japan are, this room sounds disgusting. I didn’t go back there, there are some things about Japan I probably won’t be blogging about.
The other thing I want to comment on is car 3. Car 3 is more disgusting than car 11. In car 3, you can smoke so everyone who wants to smoke finds a seat here. I made the mistake of walking in here and honestly, it’s like the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, it’s just one huge cloud of smoke. You can smell this in cars 4 and all the way out to 5, the cabin I was in. Yea, this wasn’t too much fun. I got used to it which is good but also not good cause I got used to being in the smell of smoke. Ah well, that’s Japan for you.
I finally get a chance to get a window seat and me and my huge luggage are comfortable and it’s about time to eat my breakfast/lunch. I got another random box from a vendor, I love these because it’s all a mystery to me. I never know how to describe what I'm eating but I post it for you to see if you can figure it out yourself. Also, pickled stuff in Japan is delicious! There was some more mochi in this box, waaay better than that red bean yuckiness of the day before. Also in the bottle is some green tea, just in case you were wondering.
Now that I'm situated and finished eating, it’s time to take some pictures from the bullet train There isn’t much to say for these but you can take a look at pictures and a video of what I saw right here…
If you look closely, you will see a driving range. I must've seen about 100 of these mini driving ranges on this ride.
Don’t ask why but I always loved using reflections to take pictures of me. Not joking, I can show you from about 6 years ago me doing the same thing on a New Jersey transit train from Hoboken.
Once I get to Kyoto, I have to find my hotel. It’s not far away, but I get lost thanks to awkward directions given to me by the lady at the information desk. She spoke English so I can’t blame it on a language issue, just shoddy directions. It’s pouring out, a cold nasty day in Japan and I have to get to my hotel in this mess, I'm not looking forward to it. I put on my rain jacket and start boarding the animals 2 by 2 and eventually after walking the wrong direction for a little bit, I get to my hotel. I didn’t take pics yet, I will later. Wait, that’s a lie, I took this one but it was too funny not to take it ASAP. Click on it to get the full image.
I had to censor it for American audiences. I love Engrish!
After taking this picture and getting myself comfortable in this new hotel, I decide to waste some time indoors to wait out the rain that was happening outside. I was also drenched and wanted to dry off. I waited about an hour and it wasn’t letting up so I said screw it, if I wait for the rain to stop I might not leave my hotel room tonight. I put on some wet clothing and I head out to Kyoto.
My hotel is in a great location, right in the middle of the center of downtown. It’s infinitely different than Tokyo. It’s a downtown, but it’s missing copious amounts of neon and droves upon droves of people and scantily clad teenagers. It’s quite shocking seeing this after being so used to Tokyo for several days. I’m not sure how I will adjust but I will somehow. Also, I don’t know why, but I was in the mood for a mall. I think this was simple because it was raining out and being out of my hotel but inside somewhere sounded great to me. I stumble upon the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street. The entrance for it was only a few blocks away from my hotel.
The Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street is about 400 years old but still is wildly popular. The market is completely outdoors but covered, it’s like Old Vegas if anyone knows what I'm talking about. This place is huge, I can’t emphasize this enough, it is gargantuan. It’s one floor but in some places it’s two floors. I can safely say that this is the largest mall I've ever been in that is 99% one floor. It goes on for years and I hope that comes across in the pictures below. This is one of those times where I will show a series of pictures with captions but not much commentary. Just some stuff I noticed and want to comment on.
For those expecting bright neon and girls in miniskirts in Kyoto, don’t get your hopes up. This is a lot quieter and traditional area. As you can see in the picture above, they have skyscrapers in Kyoto but they do things old school here. For every skyscraper there is a shrine or temple next door.
I love that there are temples right in the middle of this modern day mall in the middle of a major metropolitan city. Old and new definitely co-exist perfectly in Kyoto.
You can see the ceiling that covers the entire mall but also how it’s open on the sides. I wish more cities would cover their streets like this. The cool thing is, since it’s sort of outside, cars driving in the middle of this mall and bikes are in there all the time.
Another temple in the mall.
I wish, just wish, that the depth came across in this picture. You look ahead and you can’t even see the end of the mall. It’s almost like an optical illusion that can’t be real but it is.
Ok, the story with this picture is that I took it cause I thought I'd go in here and wanted it for the blog but I went in and saw it was just a boring doughnut store. It was stuff I could get at Dunkin Donuts, I didn’t wanna waste a snack here when better stuff was just around the corner.
Better stuff like this. A triangle rice ball wrapped in seaweed with shrimp and mayonnaise. These things are awesome and about $1. I could eat a ton of these and before this trip is over, you will see me have more of these happily!
A Japanese dollar store. Side note: 100 Yen is $1.09 so their dollar stores are $0.09 better than ours.
And again, another temple in the mall. It never gets old when they just sneak up on you.
The way this mall works is there are two parallel lines that go on for about 5 city blocks. One side is the upscale part, the other more casual. Each of these lines has alleys that branch off of it, maybe about 20 of these alleys that connect the two parallel lines. These alleys go off for 5 or 6 blocks on their own.
So this is a poster of a video game. It’s part of my weird video game series. The game itself isn’t weird, it’s just a normal fighting game. What is weird and awesome is the name, “Melty Blood – Actress Again”, or as I call it, my new band name.
I wanted you to get a sense of how amazing arcades in Japan are and compared to the USA, they are alive and well and thriving out here. Watch as I take a quick little walk through an arcade. You can hear the sounds and sights, especially the one kid playing the music game, wow!
I've been playing video games pretty much my entire life but I will never ever be as good at anything as this kid is at this game. I just watched him play for about 10 mins, I was mesmerized. I swear I didn't speed up this video, his hands and brain actually work this fast!
I went into one of their collectible stores and here is how they look. This was about 10% of the whole store. There was probably a million items in this store, I didn’t know where to start. I found a lot I wanted to buy and might go back before I leave Kyoto and pick them up.
Time to break away from the pictures and eat dinner. I know I want to eat in the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street but where should I eat? I seriously have about 200 choices. I decide on this one called “Mr. Young Men” because the name is hilarious and the prices and quantities were awesome. It’s also the most restaurant like place that I have been to so far by myself and I wanted to eat in a place with a waitress since it’s been since my dinner with Rob where I had this.
It’s tough to see but it’s on the left, with the neon around the name.
See, it’s a real restaurant.
I love the 1980’s neon sign they had in the restaurant with the name of the place on it. It was right above my head where I was sitting. Didn’t go with the traditional Japanese look of the place but that made me like it even more!
So now the food, I wanted a filling meal. I didn’t want tiny meals tonight like I have been eating, I wanted substance. Luckily I found substance that was also the best meal I've had so far in Japan. Here is a picture and a description of what everything is…
Ok, let me try and describe this. On top is miso with some noodles in it. The right is some more of those seaweed and sesame rice balls with meat fillings and then a fish sauce filling. On that same plate is some pickled vegetables. The main plate was fried noodles with pork and vegetables with pickled ginger. The big hot delicious mess next to it was egg and potato with vegetables covered in teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise with katsuobushi. The entire meal was $8.50 and it was phenomenal. I wanted to high five the women who cooked my meal. This is exactly what I think Japanese comfort food is.
After dinner I slowly walked back through the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Streetto get back to my hotel. I stop in some random stores and just enjoy being covered in the rain but outdoors at the same time. I spent a lot of time here and didn’t even know it existed until I stumbled on it several hours earlier. I might come back here and get some food sometime from one of the other vendors. As I walk back I spot this sign…
Who in the world would continue walking after seeing a place named “Ninja Kyoto – Restaurant & Labyrinth”? I decide to get a closer look.
The line was huge, the place was super trendy and cool looking. I didn’t get to go inside but I'm assuming it’s a place decorated to look like a ninja would eat there. Even as I'm typing that sentence out it sounds awesome and I wanted to go in but it doesn’t seem like a place you can just walk in a take some pictures of and leave. I’ll add this to my list of things to do when I come back to Japan because I know I will!
I continue walking and notice a few more things the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street has to offer…
Another temple in the mall. I took this picture to show you how seamlessly the temples exist right next to a shoe store for women.
This was one of the side alleys I told you about. The stores were closing so it was a bit dark but it felt very very old Japan. I expected to see a samurai walking towards me in this alley. I would’ve kicked the samurai’s you know what if he started messing with me, I did after all just come back from the ninja restaurant!
Kyoto is much more foreign language friendly than most of Tokyo was, it was littered with tourists, mostly Americans and Europeans, but this restaurant was the first place I saw that wasn’t open to foreigners. The restaurant I went to had English speaking waitresses and English menus.
I finally decide to leave the Nishiki Food Market/Teramichi Street. It filters out into the normal back alleys of Kyoto. These back alleys are much nicer and more savory than the ones in Tokyo. I don’t have a preference for either, it’s just amazing seeing the difference. Ok, I lied, I like the craziness of the Tokyo back alleys more. Here are some pictures of the alleys…
See, actually classy!
These are all over, it’s like I never left Seattle!
This is the third tri-force sighting. This one is upside down but it still counts!
I decide to get a drink from a vending machine because the whole day almost went by without me doing this. I kept seeing this one drink all trip, I was curious about it. I didn’t know if it was chocolate milk or some coffee drink. Turns out it was neither…
It was carbonated! Boo! They should put that on the label, in English preferably, duh. It smells delicious so I'm letting it sit out on the tea table so it can go flat after a few days and I can drink it. Yes, this is sad but I did it before with a bottle of Jarritos. I want the taste with no fizz, yuck to carbonation, I almost gagged.
I am getting back to my hotel finally and I decide to take some pictures of the inside and outside. Here is the Hotel Gimmond Kyoto…
This is the hotel restaurant entrance with the main entrance next to it on the left.
This is the main entrance.
The hotel is really nice, my hotel room is nice and bigger than the one in Tokyo but not as trendy. It’s still nice but definitely missing a few things that my previous hotel spoiled me with. First off, not one English language channel on the TV. The last hotel had the international version of CNN. Here are some pictures with some comments about each…
The room isn’t bad, definitely much more space and no smoking so there isn’t a smell of that lingering around. I love the kimono with the belt waiting for me on the bed, I wanna take this home!
This toilet doesn’t have the seat warmer that my previous hotel had Boo, I want my buns warmed the second I sit down on that seat!
A shower with no body jets? What am I, poor?
As I started writing tonight's blog, I snapped a few more pictures I wanted to share with you before I sign off the for the night.
I can’t believe I had to come all the way to Japan to realize I love green tea. I’ve had this every day and every night in my hotel room. I had about 4 glasses of tea tonight, once it cools down it’s like crack!
It’s tough to see but this is the view from my hotel room around 11pm on a Friday. Yep, two people still at work. Gotta love the Japanese work ethic. It’s now 1am and they are still there.
I think that about wraps up day 6. Tomorrow is going to be a day of temples, shrines, and a park with cherry blossoms if I can find it. Sunday will be Gion to see the Geisha’s. The weather looks good for the next two days so I want to do these things while it’s good weather for photographs. Rain doesn’t stop me from going out, it hasn’t so far on this trip, but it makes it tricky taking pictures.
Oyasuminasai.
- DAK
