When B-Rod got his work schedule at the end of last month, we realized he had holidays coming up that we hadn’t made plans for yet. We had been talking about going to Japan ever since his airline had added Narita to its “roster” Not really quite sure what the demand was like on this route, we decided to take a chance and see if we could get there.
So, B came home from work, packed his travel bag and the next day after a number of hours, we successfully found ourselves at the Narita airport! 🎉
For me, travel has not always been just about the experience of seeing and doing different things and being surrounded by different cultures (though I do love all of those things), it’s also always seemed to involve a type of internal journey of self-awareness and collected lessons. This trip has not been an exception and is reminding me of the lesson of time and perspective.
Coming from and living most days in a culture that doesn’t have the most positive attitude towards aging, it’s often easy to focus on what appears lost as I get older. Yet, on these latest wanderings, I’ve realized another advantage to an increasing age is the perspective that comes with time.
As we landed in Japan and started to spend some time here, I remembered a dream that I had had when I was younger of living in this country. From the time I was a kid, I had been intrigued by the culture and traditions I saw from Asia. I studied Anthropology in university, focusing on East Asia (Japan, Korea and China). Since it was Japan that most piqued my interest, how excited was I when, as I was graduating, there was a program that not only involved teaching in Japan, but included a cultural exchange element to it? I KNEW that’s what I was going to do when I graduated. Except . . . . . my application wasn’t accepted. While a few friends and my boyfriend at the time got the call that they were being invited to go, I was crushed. I couldn’t help but interpret this as something being wrong with ME, and now I had no plan or idea of what to do next in life!
It’s so interesting how this period which was soul crushing at the time was something that I no longer even remembered until landing in the place where I once thought I would live. With the passage of time, what might have once been a focus on the pain of that memory ended up, during this trip, being an experience where I was constantly reminded of, and excited by, the things I had learned in my studies long ago that were now coming back to me even though I hadn’t thought about them in years!
Life is strange!
During the time that I was studying and had Japan on the brain, for various reasons Kyoto had always been a place I wanted to go to. So, when B-Rod and I landed in Narita, we went straight to an airport hotel with the only “plan” being that the next day we would figure out how to get there.
While Kyoto was on my wish list, B-Rod was excited about the idea of taking a bullet train. With a loose plan, but two wishes fulfilled, off to Kyoto we went.
First, we got our tickets. This involved three small paper tickets (even though we were only going to ride two trains) which all went into the ticket slot at the same time somehow (we never did quite figure that part out and how/why it worked! 😆)
Next, we picked up a couple of ‘Ekiban‘ boxes. The Japanese word ekiben is made up of the kanji symbols for “train station” and “boxed meal.” So, basically it’s a bento box snack/meal/eats for the train ride. There are ekiban shops at most train stations. The interesting thing is that eating is allowed on the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train), but for the most part not allowed on any other form of public transportation in the country.
With our ekibans in hand, we found our way onto the platform just as a train arrived. Though we weren’t quite sure if it was our train, B-Rod hopped on asking some random person if this was the right one. We were told it was and trusted (though maybe not fully believed) it was, and off we went.
Except . . . . .
Just as we were getting comfortable and marvelling at how cushy this bullet train thing is, we heard the announcement that our class of tickets were located in the first three cars. We were sitting in the 8th. We got up, and made our way back to where we were supposed to be as the seats got a bit more basic and a bit less cushy 😆
Still, it was a comfortable way to travel for the next four hours, cool to see how fast we were going, fun to discover what was in our bento box, nice to watch the scenery flash by AND we were on the correct train!
There are many things we’ve loved about Japan so far, one of which is definitely the people! When we arrived in Kyoto, we dropped our bags off at our place and set out to aimlessly wander. A great thing about Kyoto is the amount of green space in the city, and we were fortunate to be situated right by Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. The moment we walked through the gates to leave the traffic and step into nature, we were greeted by cherry blossoms!! How exciting!!!
We then made our way to over to a bridge, and as we stopped to look over the scene, a Japanese guy asked if we would like him to take our picture.
We got to talking and he was telling us about how he was learning English and asked if he could tell us a story he wrote. He went on to read us a cute story, but I won’t lie . . . . B-Rod and I were both kind of waiting to see what the catch was. There was none! He just wanted to share, connect and practice his English. We ended up having a great conversation with Hank (his English name of course) and he helped set the tone for the rest of our time in Kyoto. ❤️
The rest of our first day in Kyoto, we simply wandered the streets heading for the Geisha district, caught the glow of lanterns at night and walked along a river path on the way to our place to crash for another night after many, many miles of walking.
Recently, we’ve discovered free walking tours in various cities (though technically listed as free, these tours are donation based) and so far the ones we’ve been to have been amazing. Though we are good at the walking around part and discovering things, it’s nice to have a bit of knowledge and context about the cultural and historical significance of the lands we are wandering on. I found one for Kyoto, so off we went.
Our tour guide, Dominic, was from Switzerland and had lived in Kyoto for the past year studying Akido quite intensely. I was a bit surprised when a non-Japanese person showed up to lead the tour, but he was very knowledgeable and quite passionate about Kyoto, the culture and the people (and I do LOVE being around people who are passionate about what they are doing).
Though the tour was listed as a 2.5 hour tour, it ended up going on for an extra hour. But, it was GREAT! We got to places that B and I might not have discovered or even gone to on our own (dismissing them as “too touristy and crowded”), got the lay of the land and a feel of the place.
After the tour we had some eats (Dominic also gave us a recommend for some AMAZING food . . . . but you’ll learn about that later! 😋) and intended to go back to some of the spots we liked on the tour, but ended up lost and finding different things instead!
A HUGE highlight of our time in Kyoto was a hike we did that was recommended by a good friend. The Kurama and Kibune trail winds up to a temple with various shrines (Shinto) and temples (Buddhist) along the way. It was so peaceful and is considered a very sacred area. It wasn’t until later that I found out that this area is considered to be the birthplace of reiki!
First, we took a subway out of the city centre and then transferred to a cute little train which carried us away into nature!
Taking the direction we did (it is a loop trail), the hike started off with stairs lined with lanterns and various temples or shrines you could spend time at if you wanted to.
Loved seeing more cherry blossoms at the top when we got to Kurama-dera Temple.
There were so many offerings of different ways to pause along the way!
The way down was less manicured, but just as peaceful.
This hike was 🎉!!! Thanks for the recommend friend!
Another adventure we had which is difficult to write about because it is STILL so confusing to us is the time we went to Pachinko. We were waiting for a food place to open for supper, so we had a bit of time to spare. As we were walking, I spotted this building . . . .
B got excited. I’d never heard of it. So . . . . off we went.
It was an “Interesting” experience of flashing lights and noise and confusion! B-Rod had two different staff members helping us and trying to explain things. We got a pamphlet with the “rules” and still didn’t get it. B kept asking them “How do you win?” “Do you ever win?” “How do you stop playing?” until eventually the $10 we’d put in the machine was gone in the blinking of a bunch of lights, a lot of noise, some bouncing metal balls and a ton of head scratching! Basically it felt like our experience in Las Vegas – put in money, lose money, walk away knowing you won’t play again because the gambling experience/curiosity has been met – except in Vegas we didn’t walk away utterly confused! 😆
Finally, and often one of the most important in our wanders . . . . the FOOD!! 😋
We’ve tried what we know but also what’s been recommended to us. Sooooooooo gooooooooood!!!
One friend recommended the Sakura mochi. Sakura means cherry blossom, so these are only available for the brief time the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Everything is eaten with this including the leaf. I love mochi and am glad I tried it. I did try eating it with the leaf, but that made it a bit too bitter for my taste, so I enjoyed it more without. It was good, wasn’t my fav, but would still recommend giving it a try.
Numerous friends who have lived in Japan highly recommend 7-11 for decent cheap eats, and of course they were correct! Spam musubi made B-Rod very happy and gave him inspiration of how to make his future musubis at home.
Remember Dominic from our free walking tour? He recommended a ramen place and directed us on the specific ramen to try. We had to wait awhile to get in, but met some awesome people while we were waiting. When we eventually got in and started digging in . . . . . OMG YUM!!!
Another recommend we got was from Hank our ESL friend from the first day. This sushi place was our last supper together in Kyoto and it was amazingly perfect. How do they get so many different kinds of fish to melt in your mouth?!
With B-Rod’s schedule, we had a week in Japan. The original “plan” was to go to Tokyo for a couple days after Kyoto and head home from there. I had started pondering a few days in and eventually decided on our last day in Kyoto that I was going to spend a few extra days somewhere else in Japan before heading home. So, while I got a new place to stay in Kyoto for an extra night to sit and work out ideas and logistics, B-Rod headed to Tokyo for the next couple of nights. We had planned to go to the Nishiki market at some point, but just never had the time. How convenient that my new place ended up being right next door?! Market food for our last eats together in Japan it was!
Japan has been AMAZING! The people are wonderful, incredibly kind and helpful. The culture is rich and interesting. The scenery is stunning and the temples and shrines are colourful and peaceful. There’s a calmness I find to the people here and the country in general. I know there is the stereotype of workaholic businessmen, overly crowded areas and a rushed pace, but I also see that there are so many opportunities and places that people can stop to slow down here if they choose to.
Cheers and arigato gozaimasu Japan! We will definitely be back again!
I just loved reading this!! And the photos are just stunning😍😍😍
Awww thanks for following along Sheryl! ❤️