January – Kyoto

Feb 5, 2018

January – Kyoto

As I had never traveled anywhere in Asia before, I was expecting Japan to feel exotic and strange. I was looking forward to feeling completely out of place – within 48 hours, I felt at “home” (currently, that means comfortable and I know how to get around). As a RemoteYear member pointed out, Japan is a western country in Asia. As another remote pointed out, its a city – a city is a city is a city. It is much easier to feel at home in a foreign city than in a foreign countryside. Considering I can’t even feel at home in the US countryside, I agree!

I also don’t know why Japan wasn’t on my bucket list. Can’t explain that one at all, especially now. We were in Kyoto for the month and I didn’t even venture to Osaka, nevermind Tokyo. Hence, I will need to visit again, and perhaps again 🙂

What I found so wonderful about Kyoto was the calm, the quiet, the respect, the mindfulness. There are no garbage cans on the street, yet there isn’t litter everywhere. Through RemoteYear, we had the unique chance of going to a family temple and doing a taikio stretching class. The priestess (from the family) and the instructor were both Japanese, but had gone to school and university in the US (with a couple of years here and there in Japan). In their early twenties, they had decided to settle in Kyoto. Both spoke about trying to adjust to a society that has many unwritten and strict rules. They were not given the benefit of the doubt that foreigners are given, as supposedly they were Japanese. Both struggled at the beginning, but as they embraced the background and accepted the way of life, they saw the beauty and are now embracing the past while moving forward. For example, the priestess is sharing the position with her brother and she and the taikio instructor gave the taikio class in the family temple – practically unheard of. We were very fortunate to be able to attend.

Daitoku-ji

Many temples, like The Golden Temple and Ryogen-in Zen Temple are UNESCO heritage sites and quite crowded with tourists (amazingly, even with oodles of people walking around, the temples are still very peaceful). We went to Daitoku-ji, which is applying for UNESCO status, but hasn’t gotten it yet. Therefore, an even more peaceful place to visit. There is a restaurant at the temple that serves only vegan food and it was amazing! Most lovely to me were the dishes, that all stacked into each other – how efficient!
Notice that the beams are not cemented into the ground. I forgot how old this particular building was, but several hundred years. Because no nails are used and the beams rest on a concrete block, when there is an earthquake, the building simply jostles with the quake and doesn’t break.

 

One of the Zen gardens at Daitoku-ji. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the gardens that are applying for UNESCO status, as others had taken pictures and were then selling for profit online.

 

After the meal, the wonderfully stack-able dishes!

Kinkaku-ji

The Golden Temple

 

A sampling of food pics

There seems to be a strong affinity between the Japanese and the French; it is more likely that a person in Kyoto speaks French than English. This is also reflected in the food – as a RemoteYear team member said, if a restaurant is not awesome, it quickly goes out of business. Also interesting, some restaurants won’t accept reservations from foreigners, as they may cancel at the last moment or simply not show. Even more interesting, the exceptional restaurants won’t give a reservation unless you know someone who knows someone. At the end of the month, though, I was craving fresh vegetables – though the fruit in the supermarkets was absolutely amazing (especially the $1 strawberries).
We went to Myamar, which is a town that is still like hundreds of years ago with thatch roofs and such. There, we made our own onigiri (Japanese rice balls shaped more like triangles).

 

 

 

One of the suggestions on the RemoteYear map was Tempura Yoshikawa. You will need quite a bit of cash and time, but it was amazing. I can never order “fast food” tempura again … Desert was served in a separate room, around a fire pit.

 

 

 

Another lovely restaurant was Awomb. There, you made your own sushi. It was a bit challenging figuring which tastes belong together. (Photo credit Sally Fung).

 

 

The best food, though, was when we were able to visit the private home of Aiki. She was a chef for many years and we were invited over to learn to cook traditional and fusion foods. She told us that the bento box, that children get for lunch, is a complicated affair where color is very important. (Photo Credits Christina Nguyen and Fab Rousselot).

 

 

Finally, on the last day, we went to Kobe Misono. They cooked amazing steak and there were lots of veggies. So much so, I couldn’t finish them all!

Random

I would like to thank CrossFit Kyoto for making my intake of so much food possible – and helping me accomplish my first hand-stand! Perhaps one of the main reasons I felt so comfortable in Kyoto was that I could independently get around (bicycle), CrossFit was nearby and filled with exceptionally lovely people and whenever I walked into a store, I got smiled at 🙂
Another event was making our own Japanese hanko; it is the way to sign documents in Japan. Next time, I will get an expert to do it for me, but for now it is a lovely souvenir.
The streets of Kyoto get quite dark at night, but one never feels unsafe.

 

Even in winter, the front of houses are surrounded with potted plants and flowers.
During the last week, we got to try Taiko Drumming at the Kyoto University of Arts and Design and aikido.  What a great workout for both!

Although it was off-season, I was lucky to catch a performance at the Kyoto Concert Hall:
James Judd, conductor
Mayu Kishima, violin
Kyoto Symphony Chorus Program:
Prokofiev : Concerto for violin and orchestra No.2 in G minor op.63
Holst : “The Planets” suite for orchestra op.32

And finally, a mashup of the month: 1SecADayVideo

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