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November 21st 2011
Published: November 21st 2011
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Outside our favourite Kyoto yakitori joint
So... Kyoto.

"Previously, on A Guy And A Broad..." It was raining. A lot. But it's not anymore, hurrah! With the rain pouring down we camped out for most of the day in our awesome space age little room at the Capsule Ryokan, readin', internettin', nappin' and so forth. Around 2pm we ventured out in our very attractive raincoats and borrowed umbrellas to hunt and gather some lunch. We found a completely empty (always a good sign??) pseudo italian cafeteria type place with an owner who knew two words of English, namely 'chicken' and 'coke'. Guess what we had for lunch? Our fears as to the establishment's dodginess were unfounded as it was actually really really yummy - fresh and tasty - and the guy was super friendly and attentive (eg. running across the restaruant to top up our free water after we had had a single sip). On our way back we hit a convenience store for more supplies and Tess bought some awesome Japanese fashion magazines. Fascinating sociological documents and then some!

Towards the end of the day the rain had more or less abated, as had the headache, so we ventured out to the Koshoji and
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The golden temple...
Nishi-Honganji Temples, which are basically across the intersection from our hotel. It was NOT a great day for photos as the light was non existent and we are but humble point-and-shooters after all, but we wandered around under a leaden sky between these huge ancient wooden temples, which were both established around the 12th Century. There was a celebration at the Nishi-Honganji temple celebrating its founder Shonin's 750th anniversary, so there were many people there and displays and so forth in honour of the occasion.

After taking a roundabout route through the backstreets to get back to our room we decided to go out for dinner. The street our hotel is on is populated with a lot of eateries, ranging from the 24 hour noodle place to some which seemed pretty incomprehensible to our negligable Japanese/Kanji. Tess noticed a small bar/yakitori joint and so we fumbled in through the sliding door (Literally. It took Tess about sevn goes to open the door.) into a lovely smoky chicken smelling place with low dark wooden beamed ceilings and were ushered into a tiny booth with a prime viewing position for the chef. An old lady was sitting at the bar chopping up chicken into cubes for Yakitori, and a young girl was running around at everyone's beck and call and seemed only to say 'Hai! Hai! Hai!' every few seconds. Customers and staff called out to each other, chatting and joking around. We ordered a fair stack of different skewers, going through chicken and shallot yakitori (OMG DELICIOUS) to skewers with a slice of bacon wrapped around a cheesy glutinous ricemeal cake (WTF OMG DELICIOUS) to sweet green peppers to Japanese mushroom. Everything was cooked right on the bar on a tiny grill, and the chef monitored each and every skewer with meticulous care, resulting in a 10 out of 10 score on the deliciousness matrix. We ordered some drinks to go with it; a few plum brandies and soda for Tess and Suntory whiskey on the rocks for Aisha (both of which proved very satisfyingly tasty). We soon got into the swing of the place, imitating the locals and grabbing the waitress (Hai! Hai!) every time she went past to order more skewers of deliciousness. Watching the Yakitori being cooked right on the bar about two metres away from us was both entertaining and insanely good smelling (additional note for Suzie and Barry, Aisha is sure the soy sauce was Tamari, which is apparently the 'original' soy sauce according to the area its from). The food was cheap and the drinks were cheap (and generously doled out too) so slightly tipsy a few hours later we wandered out into the street and the 30 metres back to the hotel in a haze of good food, good drink and good times.

Yesterday we got up with a feeling that our last full day in Kyoto was going to be a mission. We jumped the subway and a bus to see Kinkakuji (the Golden Temple) at the north end of Kyoto city, which was a beautiful (as described) gold leaf plated temple situated in very serenely manicured grounds full of japanese maple trees fading through every shade of red and orange imaginable. The path continued up by the temple into the forested hillside, past beautiful ponds, stalls selling good luck charms and holy everything. Even with the huge numbers of tourists the place managed to transcend it and seem almost serene. Almost.

With the wind blowing a gale, we headed back down south for the Fushimi-Inari shrine. If you like
Gion CanalGion CanalGion Canal

Timed exposure of the Gion canal...
Torii gates, then GOOD NEWS, the Fushimi-Inari shrine is the place for you. The red painted gates welcome you straight out of the JR station across the road and draw you up into a labrynthine series of paths lined so densely with Torii gates that they form the impression of a fence. The 'shrine' is actually a huge section of the dense and lush forested hillside above Kyoto. We didn't even attempt to cover all of it, as it goes right to the top of the hills and had nowhere near the time and energy left in our reserves, but the sheer size of the site swallows and conceals a lot of the people who are there, so you can occasionally feel almost alone, before another group comes around a bend behind the gates and shatters the illusion. We found a dilapidated, smaller shrine off the main path near what we took to be a caretakers house and here amongst the birdcalls, 100 metres away from the path there was peace to be found. On our way back down we passed a small group of people reciting prayers for someone who had passed away in a haunting series of chants and incense burning, a reminder that while some temples are sometimes just historical monuments, this one is still a living, meaningful shrine to many.

Last night we ventured out once more towards the geisha district of Gion. The bus ride (a quick one in the wrong direction, then a longer one in the right direction) got us to a section of streets which were more or less indistinguishable from the rest of Kyoto (nondescript, built up and somewhat depressing - like inner southern Sydney with a Japanese twist). After some vague wandering and half-hearted map consulting we stumbled (TOTALLY on purpose) into a tiny cross-street with a canal running beside it. which felt (apart from the Toyota parked halfway down the road) as if it had been pulled from the 18th century, or straight out of Memoirs of a Geisha. The road was paved with stones and lined with Geisha houses which looked virtually unchanged, lanterns along the street cast a scattering of light along the autumn tinted maple trees, and the canal gurgled along while in some windows backing the canal we could see Geisha serving food and entertaining patrons. Taking our time, we wandered along for an hour and a half, drinking in the sense of place and history before we called it a night and made our way back to the bus stop. The bus ride back to the station was definitely our most packed Japanese public transport experience (even more than the trains in Tokyo!) and really embodied the 'sardines in a can' feel - intimate would barely describe it.

Stopping on the way back for some more noodles from the uber cheap 24 hour noodle joint (Kitsaune Udon, Tempura prawn cake thrown in on top of fish broth and udon with chopped shallots FOR THE WIN and Beef Udon, for those playing at home), we finally called it a night.

Kyoto is kind of weird, we have to say. While Tokyo feels insanely liveable, not that much traffic (as everyone;s on public transport), really easy to get around and just a really nice place to be, Kyoto is kind of...depressing. It's like Canberra in a way, in that it is definitely a car city, so it's noisy and the traffic is pretty congested. Buildings are decidedly uncharming in the main and the whole place feels quite downtrodden. There are pockets of beauty (and fun) of course, and the people seem as friendly and tolerant as Tokyo but overall we feel a little more 'meh' about Kyoto.

With today being our last full day in Japan (we fly to Hong Kong tomorrow afternoon!), we feel a little sad to be leaving Japan, a country that we've quickly come to love a lot). This country (and Tokyo in particular) has made an impression on us for a whole swathe of reasons, and we're both very sure that we will be back here, sooner rather than later (with much improved Japanese skills to boot!).

Love to allayou!
Aisha and Tess


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23rd November 2011

just letting you know your parcel arrived and its all good, no rattling broken stuff. and remember, for relaxing times, make it Suntory time.

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