Day four was our travel day to Kyoto. The morning started with Hilton’s great breakfast buffet. I had gotten into the habit of layering salads with pastries. They have these adorable tiny donuts that hang from a stand. The tiny french pastries were experienced in every hotel were also too adorable to pass up. In the lobby of the Hilton, there is a little chocolatier that has pastries and they are so pretty I needed to take a picture. Juniper got a cream puff to take with her on the train. They asked me if I wanted some sort of ice pack for it and I said no. Probably should have said yes, especially given the heat. The cream melted and oozed all over her when she tried to eat it.
The Shinkansen takes about 2 hours so our host Jolly had promised to take us to Zopf, a well known kare (curry) pan shop in the train station. I’d mentioned I’d had kare
pan in the states and wanted to try “real” kare pan in Japan. It did not disappoint. After our two hour train ride we would have all day to explore Japan before it was time to check into our hotel, so the agency shipped our bags for us. The shinkansen’s don’t have a whole lot of space for bags. It was a nice convenience.
Looking out the window across Japan was a real treat. I especially loved looking at all the neighborhoods in Tokyo along the train line.
Juniper had found a place on the internet that made animals out of fruit. They are sweet little masterpieces. Our kyoto/osaka guide Tetsuo printed a map of where it was and I was able to show a taxi driver at kyoto station the address. We were dropped off in the middle of a maze of residential streets. The taxi simply pointed down another narrow street and said “That way.” It’s a miracle we found it because the front door isn’t exactly screaming for attention. Inside we found a cute, slightly run down lunch place for locals. It seemed like the kind of place older men hang around at and smoke at because that was definitely the scene when we were there. The man who runs it is incredibly kind and lovely. He made us three different plates of adorable animals. Juniper had her first “omurice” which is an omelette stuffed with catsup friend rice. I ordered some karaage and it came with a friend egg. Everything was special and delicious. We met another American who had been living in Japan for a coupe years. She helped me communicate with a Japanese man who had lived in San Francisco during the 60s and even got to go to Woodstock. He was an old hippy musician and he was super cool. This place was a major highlight of our trip. Walking back, I snapped a couple pictures of the neighborhood and even found a sweet little mini shrine. I was already in love with Kyoto.
Kyoto station is more than amazing. I went for a walk there in the afternoon and I can’t stress enough what a magical place it is. The station is over 780,000 square feet and has 15 floors. There are stairs (171 of them) and escalators that climb up and up and up to a rooftop garden with views of the city. At the base of the stairs on the 2nd floor they had a public piano where anyone could come and play to the crowd. The wide stairs leading up to the roof had led lights on them and they displayed multiple colors in swirls and patterns. On the ground floor and in the subway you’ll find shops of all manner. Gifts, snacks, clothes, you name it. I could have spent a whole day just exploring the station.
That evening we explored Yodobashi camera for the first time. This department store spans and entire city block and has 8 floors. It. was. a. blast. exploring everything. We’d go back several times to this one and the one in Osaka before the end of our trip. Here’s a video from the grodcery store in the basement:
I loved looking at all the stuff in the grocery store.
Day five will be our first full day with Tetsuo, our awesome Kyoto and Osaka host.