Monday, July 15, 2024

Today was our Fushimi Inari day. After a quick bakery snack and coffee at Cafe Veloce, we tried really hard to take transit from Kyoto Station but we had the hardest time figuring it out for some reason (I blame humidity fatigue and annoyance at other tourists). After wandering around the whole place twice we eventually determined that we were supposed to take the JR line. We tried our Suica cards but they weren’t working, and the line to buy tickets at the machine was ginormous. So we gave up and got a taxi that was about $14.

In case the ridiculous train ticket lines at Kyoto Station weren’t enough of an indication, Fushimi Inari is one of the most popular places to visit in Kyoto, known as the shrine with 10,000 torii gates. This is not an exaggeration. It really has “roughly” that many. But it also has roughly that many tourists visiting on any given day. Lucky for us, our Free Walking Tour guide had given us the inside scoop on an obscure route up the mountain that deviated from the throngs.

Like everyone else we started at the main shrine, and enjoyed the statues of Inari, the kami of rice, who is represented as a fox.

So here’s the secret route tip. Start with everyone else and their cousin up the main path.

But then divert and follow the green arrows indicated here:

For the most part just stick on that same trail indicated in Google maps with waypoints such as Kobogataki Falls, Aokigataki, and Shiragiku Waterfall (spoiler alert: not really what we would consider waterfalls). We ended our upward trek at the Summit of Mt. Inari? Definitely at Suehiroya, but more on that in a moment. Along the way we would occasionally see signs like this that helped us feel confident of our route.

The highlights of taking this trail up instead of the main pathway (I mean aside from there being almost no one on it) include:

*A bamboo forest with almost no one there. Warning: it’ll make the popular Arashiyama one kind of intolerable for you (stay tuned for the July 19th post).

(Side note: What kind of asshole do you have to be to vandalize bamboo?)

*Gorgeous, silent, peaceful shrines. With almost no one there.

*Just… nature, beautiful nature. And if you’re extra lucky, a sleeping kitty. With almost no one there.

A couple warnings about this route: First off, there are signs indicating wild boar inhabit the area. There is a fence designed to keep them away from the trail, but apparently they still warrant signage. We didn’t see any. I’m not sure how scared I would have been if I had seen them as I have zero experience with them.

Also, in July, in the nasty humidity of July in Japan (#neveragain), this trail is the muggiest of the muggy. I wish I had video of Scott wringing out his shirt. Even the torii were sweating.

As is typical of high humidity in nature, one might be eaten alive by mosquitos. Might. I wouldn’t know. Actually I would totally know.

Finally, one might make the mistake of taking a wrong turn and adding 10,000 steps up a VERY steep hillside covered in shrines when you are hitting the end of your endurance and hydration. Be careful as you approach Suehiro Okami. There’s a stump or maybe a large rock with what might be a misleading sign. My memory of this is not great – I think I was hitting some dehydration issues at this point – and we didn’t take a picture of it. Luckily some other tourists came along when we were up the hill who had made the same mistake and were working out how to backtrack and get back on the regular trail. We almost died but then we followed them and we lived.

We eventually ended our upward trek at maybe the Summit? We saw this (not our pic) and entered a smallish area behind it…

…but never saw this? (Again, not our pic.)

There was a pathway that was blocked with a sign so maybe the final summit/shrine/view was not accessible the day we were there? There were quite a few confused tourists here, so we weren’t alone (cognitively, emotionally, or physically).

We were no longer physically alone because this is where that main, heavily trafficked tourist trail also leads. The primary benefit of this was the existence of a small gift shop selling the best ice cream that ever existed ever. Or maybe it just seemed that way because we earned it.

I was done with mosquitos so we decided to take the main pathway back down the mountain. The majority of the tourists had subsided and along the way we got a great view over Kyoto. When you go down you can see the names of the torii donors etched on the backsides of the gates. And you can look backwards and be thankful you’re not going uphill anymore.

We sought out the main shopping street as we left the shrine grounds and indulged in a couple more treats. Don’t judge my hair – I almost died today.

Thanks to our nutritious snacks we found the cognitive capacity to take transit back to Kyoto Station. There we found our way to a place called Craft Beer Market (weird) that had a great selection. They sat us on the tallest stools ever facing a wall but also gave us little snacks so I forgave them.

I’ll finish out this post with an assortment of statuary from today. Enjoy!

Sunday, July 14, 2024

I had a lie in so Scott took off for a long walk around Kyoto. Here is a sampling of what he saw and captured along the way…

When I finally emerged from the comfy bed I took some time to organize our purchases as the piles and bags were a bit overwhelming in our small hotel space.

It was a rainy day so when Scott returned we decided to enjoy our hotel’s common space for a couple of hours for one of our “coffee shop days” to enjoy our hobbies.

We emerged later in the day to have a tempura meal in a nearby mall, and then discovered Kyoto Tower Sando – a most excellent basement level food court. We settled into the barstools at The Roots Of All Evil, drawn by the lovely cocktail list and the jamon featured prominently on the bar.

We settled back into our hotel room early and tried to make sense of unhinged Japanese TV as we drifted off to sleep.

Saturday, July 13, 2024

I had pre-booked us into a Kyoto Free Walking Tour focused on the Gion District for 10:00 am. I’ve rarely been disappointed with a free walking tour and I like doing them on our first full day whenever we go somewhere new to get a lay of the land.

To get to our meeting point we used a Kyoto city bus and it was great. Per usual Google Maps gave us the details we needed to find our stop, get on the right bus, and know where to get off. We were able to easily use the Suica card we obtained in Tokyo to pay our fare.

The simple rules for bus travel in Japan that seem to differ from a lot of our American bus experiences were:

Don’t vandalize or litter at the bus stop. That’s rude, immature, and stupid.
Get on at the back door. You don’t have to wait for passengers to exit the bus because they aren’t getting off through that door. It’s called a system, people.
Shut up while you’re on the bus and make sure your electronics are silent, too. No one wants to hear you. However, if you’re a French or Chinese tourist in Kyoto this rule doesn’t seem to apply to you.
If you need to pay in cash and don’t have change, there’s a machine at the front of the bus to use. Because Japan implements things that just make sense.
Leave out of the front door. It’s that system, people.
Pay your freaking fare on the way out. It’s reasonable at only 230 yen/$1.50 USD. You don’t leave without paying because you understand you’re a capable and responsible member of society.

To be honest I’m not terribly bothered by bus usage in Seattle, and use it frequently during hockey season to get to our 1,000,000 home games. It’s the environmentally, socially, and fiscally responsible thing to do when you can even if sometimes you need to plug your nose or pretend you didn’t see something. But international travel often reminds me that Americans could really benefit from getting their shit together in just the smallest, most obvious ways.

We found our group at our meeting point at the edge of Gion at the statue of Izumo-no-Okuni (the founder of Kabuki Theater). The group had a nice international blend of tourists as has been our experience with other free walking tours in our travels. Scott enjoyed overhearing some German spoken during our tour, harkening back to memories of his dad.

Our guide was Swiss. Huh? He had been enjoying Japanese culture from afar for most of his life, including studying martial arts, and had been living in Kyoto for 18 months to further his studies. To be honest at first I was a bit disappointed we weren’t getting the inside scoop of a lifelong resident of Kyoto, but in the end I was happy to have this fellow Westerner’s perspective.

The walking tour started in the the geiko/maiko/teahouse area of Gion. Very quiet, clean, tranquil streets. Our guide had the opportunity to point out the real deal women vs. the tourists dressed up in costumes. He educated us on how young girls get started in the trade as apprentices (maiko), what their lives look like both early on and long term, and took a moment to help us question the morality of male behavior in teahouses. The traditional arts that these women produce is gorgeous and important. ~~But~~ And at the end of the day this is a highly misogynistic subculture of Japan, catering to only the most powerful and rich men in society. Unsurprising reports of maiko abuse are out there with a simple Google search.

We walked around the beautiful Kennin-ji Buddhist temple complex…

…and Yasaka Shrine with its iconic pagoda seen in every single tourist’s photo album (including ours of course).

We finished the tour in the shopping area of Gion. Crowded, of course. Delightful, of course. The reason that Japan is such a shopping temptation is that in an area like this in the other countries I’ve traveled to, the vast majority of shops would be selling silly souvenirs manufactured in China with maybe a couple of attractive local stores. In Japan this ratio is reversed and the shops are teeming with gorgeous little things that YOU NEED.

One thing to note is that Gion (as well as other places in Kyoto) is full of tourists dressed in kimono. It’s the perfect outfit for that photo memory with a religious and/or historic backdrop. You see people primarily of Asian descent doing this, but occasionally you see a whitey. This feels wrong to a liberal caucasian girl from America who has been taught about cultural appropriation. But I heard from multiple sources online and in-person while in Japan that Japanese people typically are not offended by seeing white people dressed in kimono and more often say that they take it as a compliment that we would want to do so. Does that mean I was about to do it and take photos and post them online? Um, no. Also, it was so fucking hot that I couldn’t begin to imagine tolerating all of those layers, much less walking in those wooden shoes for thousands of steps. To each their own.

Walking tour highly recommended. Fantastic itinerary, great insights (even from a non-local), and a taster of some great areas to go back to and spend more time. We also got bonus advice out of it from our guide who gave us his favorite ramen spot recommendation, as well as a way to enjoy Fushimi Inari with less crowds. Stay tuned…

We were ready for a spot of lunch so we quickly found Gion Tachinomi Yamaneko – a craft beer & izakaya place – close to where the tour ended. Comfy environment, A/C at the right temperature, lovely employees, good Wifi, yummy beers, a bunch of tasty snacks, left full and satisfied for $34.

The rest of the day we just did a lot of wandering. We went back to the shopping district to browse at our own pace. We had more snacks and drinks. We walked along the river. We took photos of random things.

I promise I’m having a good time – I think the sun was just in my face. Or maybe Scott was taking too long snapping the pic. We found coffees in a vending machine that said FIRE on them. #iykyk

It’s a ~~man~~ personhole cover. #cutejapaneseshit

A preview of something we are doing on the 17th.

One of just a handful of stamps I got on this trip. I might try harder on future trips.

A serene spot tucked below a busy intersection.

And to finish it off, a bunch of random photos from the day. If you look closely at the last photo you can see Kyoto Tower which was near to our hotel, and gives an idea of how much walking we did today.

Friday, July 12, 2024

Today the goal was to travel to Kyoto. We slept in and took our time packing up since our hotel checkout time wasn’t until 11:00. We ended up leaving around 10:30, with the addition of a large shopping bag that I needed to carry since they were not lying about the shopping temptation in Japan. Even for quasi-minimalists like us.

It was raining so we splurged on a cab to Tokyo Station. The ride was about a mile (maybe less) and cost $7.61. Kind of a silly expense but it was pissing so it is what it is.

At Tokyo Station the plan was to go to a counter and buy our shinkansen tickets from a real person because some of the online advice said the machines were confusing. But online advice also said you needed cash everywhere and that it can be difficult as an English-speaker in Japan – both WRONG. The line for a real person was long so we gave the machine a try and guess what? It worked out. You can toggle to English instructions, and I’ve used computers my whole life. Why do some people try to make travel seem harder than it is?

We ended up buying tickets for a later 12:24 pm train that still had seats together on the right side (increased chance of seeing Mt. Fuji and only 2 seats in the row). It was no problem wasting the time in the station looking for a bakery and buying our ekiben. The ride to Kyoto was smooth and easy as expected. A very pleasant way to eat unagi, journal, and knit. Alas, Mt. Fuji continued to elude me thanks to overcast weather.

The walk from Kyoto Station to the Tune Stay hotel was less than 10 minutes and the initial impression was fantastic. The room was small of course (kind of like a college dorm room), but clean and efficient. In addition to a vanity area with sink just outside the bathroom, there was one of those very cool handwashing sinks built into the top of the toilet. Brilliant for water conservation! (Kind of like this. Not my photo.)

The hotel common areas as pictured online were what sold me on this hotel to begin with and they did not disappoint in person. There’s a bookstore with primarily Japanese language books but also some in English. The bookstore area has amphitheater type seating that is great for the international short films they play every night. The hotel also has a large communal kitchen with table/chair seating, and there’s a gin bar with tables and chairs as well. The craft gin cocktails were great and were only around $6 USD each. Large coin-operated laundry machines are available for a fair price that automatically dispensed the detergent. Each floor of rooms had shelving with spare towels at the elevators to grab as needed. We paid $852.20 for our 9 nights here booking through Expedia. I failed at taking photos of the hotel, but their website has a lot of good, accurate images.

Scott found us a great spot nearby for an early dinner: 100K Craft Beer & Pizza. I had a nice, fresh salad and realized I hadn’t had much fresh produce on this trip. The camembert cheese fries were like upgraded mozzarella sticks.

Afterwards we went in search of the JINS store so I could get my own pair of eyeglasses. I selected a pair with thickish black frames and got in immediately for an exam. A couple of quick steps and the salesperson recommended +2.25s. Geez perimenopause has decimated my eyesight. They didn’t have the right lens size in stock and asked cautiously if it would possibly be OK if I waited for a few days for them to come in. Otherwise I could pick another frame and could have them in an hour. I was OK waiting a few days since we weren’t leaving Kyoto until the 21st!

The mall with the JINS store – Yodobashi – also had a Uniqlo, so of course we had to buy more things. Scott got another color of his new favorite shorts and I grabbed three colors of a “new release” simple crewneck sweater. I’m going to need to purge some stuff from our tiny closet when we get home. Oh, and I also felt compelled to buy these pajama pants covered in a print of a melancholy kitten in a shark costume. WHY?

Also in this mall was a store called Ishii Sports. OMG, so good. Since I literally couldn’t stop buying all of the things every day in Japan I knew I would need to buy a suitcase to get it home. But when we came across this store it occurred to me that I could go ahead and just buy the new pack I’ll need for our July 2025 trip. I picked the Lowe Alpine Airzone ND28. I love her.

We spent so much money today. Mr. Budget said we’re doing fine. We ended the day back at our hotel in the gin bar.

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Today was a reminder that a flexible mindset is key to staying positive during travel. For months prior to our departure I had planned the FUCK out of this day trip out of Tokyo, so on the surface this day looks like a failure.

Early in our travel planning I learned about Hakone as a popular option. There were several YouTube videos and online resources for the beautiful area, detailing the variety of experiences and transportation options for the day. japan-guide.com had my favorite video and blog post and helped me craft our plans.

So we set off early on this day for a journey that I was excited about. We’d move about on trains, busses, a cable car, a tram, and even a pirate ship. We’d walk through a forest, walk on a mountainous volcanic area, and sail on a lake. We’d drink local beer, buy local handicrafts, hike a historic pathway, and (fingers crossed) get an epic view of Mt. Fuji.

We had bought our Hakone Freepass and Romance Car upgrade tickets the previous day at Shinjuku Station at the Odakyu counter for an 8:30 am departure. The pass included all of the transportation for the day, covered some of our activity costs, and gave us discounts on other things we planned to see and do. Some blogger (I need to do a better job of recording who my sources are during planning) had suggested not booking the return ticket ahead of time to maintain flexibility. This was such an excellent tip, for a reason I did not anticipate!

The 80-minute train ride was super enjoyable. Large window to enjoy the scenery, ekiben and snacks, laptop time, and knitting time.

At the exit of Hakone-Yumoto Station we came upon this lovely river and were happy to breathe in some fresh nature air!

As a popular domestic and foreign traveler destination, the signage, staffing, and organization at the Hakone-Yumoto Station was excellent. We found our “K” route bus quite easily to head to our first area destination – Hatajuku, known for their wood marquetry handicrafts called Yosegi Zaiku.

I say “area” but Hatajuku was just a lovely little street, and only one of the stores was open (as far as I could tell). Despite the popularity of the Hakone area, we seemed to be the only tourists in this little hamlet. The store we entered was two-thirds workshop and one-third shop; clearly the items in the shop were hyperlocal. The pieces they were selling were plentiful and gorgeous. If we led a normal life on a normal trajectory I could have spent a lot of money in there. Instead I purchased a small keychain in the form of Mt. Fuji, thinking it would be a lovely, meaningful, functional souvenir of the day I saw the great mountain.

From Hatajuku one could join the Old Tokaido Road trail to hike down to the lakefront, and that was the plan. A 3-mile walk on the Edo-period road that joined then-capital Kyoto with then- and now-business center and port of Tokyo. As we headed toward the entry point it started to sprinkle, but it was hot and we live in Seattle so we were not deterred. I was thinking this would be a great preview of possibly a future multi-day hiking trip?

I don’t know how much of this historic road/current trail looks like the point at which we entered, but our section started with large, uneven boulders with a fair amount of moss and an upward slope. Add worsening rain and this was a slippery obstacle course. I sometimes refer to Scott as a mountain goat because of how sure-footed he is, but even he was slipping and sliding. It was like ice. We made it about 50-feet on the mild upward slope of our entry point and I said HELL NAH. This was a fall waiting to happen, possibly with an injury. We could either go back down the 50 feet or continue up maybe another 50 feet to the next exit point. It felt safer to go up.

Our exit from the trail was at a 2-lane, curving mountain road without a shoulder. By this time it was pouring rain. We scampered back down the road to the point in Hatajuku in which we had disembarked the bus earlier. We waited about 10 minutes in the pouring rain for the next bus and took it down to Motohakone on the shore of Lake Ashi.

We got off the bus and scurried through the rain to Bakery & Table. We enjoyed tasty coffees and pastries in a warm, dry environment with a lovely picture-window view of Lake Ashi. It was pissing and gray, but we could still see the famous torii gate from our seat and it was a vibe that I just adore.

During our time in Bakery & Table the rain had subsided but the visibility across the lake and up towards Mt. Fuji remained very poor. We had planned to get on a sightseeing cruise from Motohakone, but noted we hadn’t seen any of the famous (and silly but that’s OK) pirate ships come into the dock while we were at the coffee shop. We could have looked for an alternative transportation option towards Togendai Station for our cable car ride up to Owakudani, but given the visibility issue it just didn’t seem worth it. So we decided to cut our losses. I even used the phrase “sunk cost fallacy” to Scott. #personalfinancenerdalert

Before heading back to towards the train station, we did enjoy a stroll along the shopping street in Motohakone. Scott found himself a little snacky snack at food cart called Dandy Kitchen – kind of a Spanish/Japanese fusion of churro balls in local flavors. Also, he likes the word “dandy”, because he’s an 87-year old man trapped in a 47-year old’s body.

We hopped on a bus back to Hakone-Yumoto Station with guidance from one of staff at the bus depot. At the Station we picked up our return train ticket for a 2:30 pm departure back to Shinjuku Station (yay flexibility!).

When we return to Tokyo in the future, during a season other than summer FOR SURE, we plan to spend a couple of nights in Hakone. Even though we didn’t get to do most of the planned activities for today, we saw enough to know that a short stay would be super enjoyable. We will get back on that Old Tokaido Road trail, we will get on that cheesy pirate ship, we will ride the gondola, and we will get an epic view of Fuji-san.

Back in Tokyo we found our way to Tokyo Aleworks and enjoyed excellent burgers and beers.

Afterwards we made sure our last night in Tokyo included visiting the Marunouchi side of Tokyo Station to enjoy the illuminated architecture.

Tomorrow we head to Kyoto. Seven nights in Tokyo and we barely scratched any sort of surface. We will be back, and we will figure out how to stay for a month or more. A most excellent and intriguing first impression.