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Published: April 29th 2012
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M - Kyoto is the place in Japan for seeing temples and old style Japanese architecture. As a result it is pretty mobbed with tourists. We were expecting this but even so it was quiet a shock after the relative quite of southern Japan. However the big tour groups seem to focus on the main 2 or 3 sights and don't seem to get going until after at least 9am. Once the tour buses arrive the main sights are a little too busy for our liking but if you get there early and then move to the other sights you can still get a much quieter experience and the sights are just as impressive.
If the weather is right a walk along the Philosophers walk is well worth it as it links many interesting temples and is in itself is a pretty walk. It is also the walk for cherry blossom viewing. The blossoms usualy come out in late March. This year they were late. We were in Kyoto for several days in late March/early April but the blossoms weren't really fully out yet. This was a shame as we expect the Philosophers walk is stunning when in
full bloom. Maybe another time?
My favourite site in Kyoto though is the Fushimi Inari Shrine
. This shrine is made up of several hundred orange gates set closely together to make a sort of outdoor tunnel that winds up a hill. To enjoy the gates at their best you definately want to get there well before 9 am so that you can photograph the gates before the tour groups arrive. The walk to the top takes about 45 mins and is well worth it.
Kyoto is pretty close to Kobe. Anyone who knows Kate and I and our food obsession surely knows the subject of the next piece of this blog. Kobe beef. If you have eaten as many business dinners in high end american steak restaurents as I have then you are familiar with Kobe beef (even if like I your budget didn't run to it). If you haven't heard of Kobe beef then here is the quick overview.
Folklore has is that Kobe beef comes from Japanese cows that are raised on a diet of plenty of beer and massages. The reality, yes it it from Japan but they
donkt get the massages and beer. The myth probably stems from the reality that Kobe beef is extremely tender and full flavoured because of its "pampered lifestyle" and as such is highly prized. In fact when you see it cold it has such high marbling and fat content it doesn't really look that appealing. We think that if you stuck in your average supermarket at the same price without a description we doubt anyone would buy it.
What is true however is that I have also seen Kobe/Wagu beef cost several hundred $ in US steak houses. Kate and I once had a 2 inch square piece as part of a tasting menu at a very high end restaurent in a Chicago. It was incredible.
Kobe is actually just one of several regions in Japan that produce this 'Wagu' style of beef and is the best known in the US. Wagu apparently means simply Japanese beef. The key point is that in Kobe we knew we could get similar beef for a fraction of the US cost. After several hours of research by my able assistant (the wife) we had chosen our restaurent and
booked our bullet train to Kobe!
We ate at the A1 restaurent. It's a no frills Kobe beef join that serves fillet or sirloin in three sizes with fat chips and veg and does nothing else. The restaurent name is unfortunate from a US perspective (its the name of a steak sauce) but the price was great for Kobe beef. Our meal was about $60-80 a head depending upon size of steak and included a glass of rather rough wine. The steak was fantastic even if the wine wasn't and it was the first steak I have ever eaten with chopsticks! Well worth it to eat Kobe beef in Kobe even if the lineage of the particular beef we were esting wasn't posted on the door of the restaurent like some.
As an antidote to the beef next up was some sushi and sashimi. When you don't speak or read the language you eat by pointing at the food and asking them to write down the price. This can be a little difficult/tedious when ordering plate after plate of sushi/sashimi but you need to be aware that your fatty tuna and sea urchin is
about four time the cost of a bit of mackeral. After our little splurge in Kobe we didn't want to run up a $200 bill. Solution - we found a sushi restaurent that had an ipad at every table. Each ipad had full picture menu software with an english translation and a running total for the bill. Hit order on the ipad and the next nibble/drink turned up in a few seconds. We had so much fun ordering we still ran up a hefty tab but at least we knew what we were doing which made everything so much more relaxing.
I'll let the photos do the talking re the wonderful temples and the gardens. Scroll down to see them all. Next stop Toyko!
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