Travel to Kyoto

Monday the 28th.  Our trip is almost half over.  Travel day to Kyoto.  Because of some hiccups with luggage handling (we didn't want to lug all our stuff to Kyoto, Kinosaki, Onomichi, and Osaka), I had to change our train ride to late morning.  Wouldn't have happened if we stayed at the Four Seasons...  Anyway, I digress...

We take the Shinkansen for the short, 3 hour, comfortable Green Car trip to Kyoto from Tokyo. Here is my Ham and Cheese sandwich with a cold bottle of water, covered with my freebie cloth Rilakkuman cover (to reduce condensation).

Emily with her rice and her Nishime (Renkon, Bamboo, carrot, Kabocha) and small bottle of water.

Connie, taking a picture of her clam over rice.

Sam had a cold tsukemen, with a plain dipping sauce.

Here we are at Saga Arashiyama station in Kyoto.  We arrived at our hotel, the Granvia, but too early to check in so we dropped off all our luggage and went out to visit the Arashiyama area.  This is several kilometers from the City center, in very quiet mountainous surroundings.  It's about a 1/2 hour train ride from Kyoto station. It's hot, so we get some macha shave ice.

We had to stop at a combini (we probably stop at 99% of the ones we see). Sammie gets a Cronut with macha.

The Hozu river. There is a Sagano scenic train that travels along the shore of this river.  There are several trips each day, by reservation only, and I figured that we really didn't have the time to do this on this trip.  It is supposed to be beautiful in Autumn with the colors changing.

The Togetsu-kyo bridge over the river.

We arrive at our destination, the Iwatayama Park, with its monkeys.  These are macaques.  They're quite used to people.  Here's one making acquaintances with Sammie. Notice a little bit of resemblance?

Sometimes they're a bit moody. Stay away from them then.

Sometimes, they're playful.  Sometimes they like to jump into the water.

Sometimes, they just sit and rest.

But they always like to eat.

Here is Em, feeding one some apples.  The humans have to be behind bars to feed them, or else the macaques can get aggressive.

It is a 20 minute walk up to the park.  In hot, humid weather, it is a challenge. But the view, and the fun with our newly found relatives is worth it.  Here you see Kyoto.  If you click on the picture here, you can make out a tiny tower slightly right of center.  That's Kyoto tower, just north of Kyoto Station, and the location of our hotel.

We take our leave, head down the hill, and walk to one of the bamboo groves in Kyoto.  They're supposed to be beautiful in a light wind, but we aren't lucky.  It is hot, and humid, with nary a breeze.

There are bugs around, and the girls get eaten alive by biting insects.  I'm lucky and am spared, except for one bite on my right elbow.  Em gets about twenty bites on her body, with Sammie close behind.

Upon check in, after we return to our hotel, we all say, "Ahhhh."  Unlike the Lohas in Tokyo, this hotel has really nice spacious rooms, with big beds.  We stayed here in 2011 for several nights.  That time we had a north view of Kyoto tower and the two Hongwanji's.  Now we have a south view, with the JR tracks visible.  Here is a Shinkansen coming in from Shin-Osaka.

Later, that evening, we decide to have ramen.  They have a "ramen street" here (we came here in 2011 as well). There are eight ramen-ya which are "branches" of places throughout Japan. We looked at all the pictures and chose this one.

Turns out that (unbeknownst to us) this is Yamagishi's place. He's the originator of tsukemen.

Em isn't into ramen, if you recall, so she gets hot rice with grated yam, an egg and some veggies.

Here is my tsukemen. I find the broth to be a bit lacking, though the noodles are superb.

Here is Connie's ramen.

It turns out that what makes Yamagishi's broth really good is the fish powder that is put on his pork based broth.  Sammie kept telling me to put some on, and I kept resisting, but I finally gave in, and she was absolutely correct.  Without it, the broth was a bit too vinegary and sweet.  However, halfway into my bowl, after I put some of the fish powder in, the broth blossomed.  After returning to research Yamagishi's place, I learned that Sammie was absolutely correct. Everyone says that the fish powder is what does it!  Amazing.

Here is a night view from the top of the massive stairs and escalator at Kyoto Station with the tip of Kyoto tower in the background.

By this time, we need our dessert.  We go to Estacion Cafe, in The Cube, a shopping mall in the station. Kyoto is known for its tea (nearby Uji is the tea capital of Japan).  

Below find Macha Anmitsu, with Kanten, and fruits.

Here is my green tea shave ice with dango, green tea and Azuki.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, our free day in Kyoto.

Meat meat

We needed to get to Rokurinsha this trip, obviously.  I had originally planned to go to the Haneda branch, not once, but twice, first when we arrived from SFO, and also upon departure.  However, the Haneda website is obviously incorrect (either it was there, but is gone, or it will be coming soon).  We had a limited amount of time, so we decided this day was a good day.  The hitch, for me, was that we were going to Satou for lunch, so I couldn't really eat a lot.  Fortunately, the regular Rokurinsha breakfast portion is relatively small.  Sammie was going to go to Satou, but she decided against it.  So, she had the deluxe Rokurinsha breakfast tsukemen.

The small portion had a small piece of kamaboko and a thick piece of chashu.  Sam's came with a larger portion of noodles and an egg with a perfect center.

Em isn't too much of a ramen/tsukemen fan, so she skipped this in favor of our free hotel buffet breakfast.

We (Connie, Sam and I) joined the four others after finishing and then we headed out to Kichijoji for steak. Satou has been blogged to death in the last several years and there are usually more foreigners there than Japanese. We had a little bit of time to burn, so we hung out at the JR Kichijoji station.  The last several years there, we had seen a lot of construction going on, and finally we saw the fruits of that disruption.  There was a brand new mall there, Atre. The food court there was clearly high end. Kichijoji is a very nice area of Tokyo, about 20 minutes by train from Shinjuku, and many well-to-do live here. It was a Sunday AM, so there were perhaps less people around than on a busy commute day, but there was a ton of food ready to be purchased and consumed.

Only Donna, Cal, and I decided to go to Satou.  The rest preferred to have less rich food.  Everyone has a right to be be wrong. There was a line upon our arrival about 15 minutes before opening at 11. Good thing we make the first seating. The poor guys who just missed have to stand at the top of the steep stairway, staring at everyone eating for the better part of an hour. We arrive and are seated at the counter by the manager, Takashi Ryu. We recognize him. I've seen him at each of my visits. 

I showed the pieces of meat we were going to ingest already in my prior post.  Our portion was actually 1 1/2 of those pieces for three orders of their ¥10,000 Matsuzaka Sirloin beef. 

Mmmm. Here is Cal posing with the beef, and Donna laughing in the background.

Our set.  We all order the same meal, with some beer. A refreshing salad and a couple of sauces (like that Satou wannabe place made famous by Rocky). And below that, our meat grilling.  I think that each portion measured out at 180 or 200 g (not certain).

Here is our chef and our meal.  A perfect medium rare.  I prefer, in my older age, a bit more warmth in my meat.  Gone are the days of ingesting cold beef.  Besides, the marbled fat is best when liquified a bit.

Cal loves the ninniku, so I ask for extras at ¥100, but they don't charge us in the end.  

I get more and more full by the second that afternoon.  We travel back to Tokyo Station later and walk over to the new JP Post Kitte building across from the Tokyo. Kayla tells us about it (I'd not heard or read anything about it -- a very large open 7 floor building (B1F to 6F) with upscale trendy shops and restaurants. This is in the site of the old Tokyo Central Post Office.

I, for one, am too full for dinner.  I just want dessert at Mihashi!  Sam and Donna agree and we head there. The rest, Cal, Em, Kayla, and Connie go to Ochazuke En in the basement floor of the Shin Maru building.

Sam has Ozone, with cooked mochi with a crunchy exterior.  Looks good, but I just needed my standard macha ice.

Afterwards, to the bath at our hotel...

Sushi Iwa and more...

We arrived and we meet Iwa-san.  For most of our meal, Connie, Sam, Em and I are the only ones at the six seat restaurant.  There is a private room in the rear, which has two patrons (as he is preparing six portions, two of which go to the back).

Iwa is Edomae style sushi.  A little different from the sushi we all get in the US. Aged and marinated.

Umi Somen as a starter. Nemalion vermiculare is the scientific name. Literally like somen. Flavorless by itself, unlike Umi budoh, but with a vinegary shoyu sauce, it is refreshing.  I like its crunchiness.

We start with Tai (snapper).  I was a little bit hazukashii, so I didn't take pics of all the sushi.  I took a bunch of pictures last year... Tai's a standard in Sushi-ya.

Karei (Flounder or Flat fish) is what we started with last year.

Kinmedai (golden snapper).

Maguro.

Chutoro. Marinated for about ten to fifteen minutes in a shoyu based sauce, along with the Maguro and Katsuo to come a little later. Chutoro has more fat and is a little lighter pink than the regular deep red Maguro that we're all used to.

Ishigaki gai. (Giant clam named for one of the Ryuku islands near Miyakojima). It is very soft, not chewy, unlike some of the clam that we had at Zanmai the day before.

Katsuo (bonito) with a dab of ginger.

Ika. Finely slivered.  Not crunchy like squid usually is.

Shiro Ebi. With yuzu and shiso. 

Kobashira

Kiso.  Not sure of spelling and not sure what kind of fish... But here is what it looks like:

Hotategai

Anago

To finish off, four rolls: Kyuri. Maguro. Kampyo. Toro. I like how there is very little rice in proportion to the filling.

White Miso clam soup to end.

Thirteen pieces and the Maki.  A great meal...

We even met up with Iwa's apprentice there.  He remembered us from our last trip.  He said our kids had grown!  (he's the one with good English, and lived in San Mateo before)  Numerous blogs show him, and mistakenly call him Iwa.

Later that day, we meet up with Cal, Donna and Kayla, and we, of course, have to decide on dinner...  I used Tabelog (the Japanese Yelp), and even though it is only in Japanese, I can figure it out.  Google translate helps a lot.

I find this place called Doma Doma. In Nihonbashi, about 4 blocks from our hotel.  It's a chain Izakaya.  Decent food, relatively cheap and filling.

A couple of salads, onion rings. Margherita pizza. Negi omelette. Cal and Kayla.  Takitori. Al dente clam pasta. Sizzling eggplant plate.

For dessert, we go to Mihashi, our standard.  We've been there, now, five years in a row.  Usually, several times a trip.  We just happened upon it in July 2010, but it has now been blogged to death.  

Macha ice with Azuki beans on the bottom and soft ice cream on top.  Some like it without the macha.

So, tomorrow, Sunday, we're off to Satou, in Kichijoji, for Matsuzaka beef. Here's a preview:

Japan, so far...

With our last day before us (Thursday), we decided to try one more day of Snorkeling. I'd read about Arasuguku beach, near Yoshino beach, and thought it would be a good choice. We got up early, and got to the area about sunrise, 6 AM. The problem is that I couldn't locate the road to get there. Several isolated, narrow, unpaved roads go through, but they seem to be too "rugged" for comfort. Maybe the next time we're in Miyako.

Disappointed, we decide to go to Boraga beach, another nice place. This beach was on the way back to the hotel. This beach is said to have a freshwater pool fed by spring water adjacent. We park, then walk towards it, but suddenly, the screech of a Cicada that whizzes by Em really scares her!  She runs back toward the car. Even though we see, down in the distance, the beach with the pool, as well as the beach,we decide to turn back... Besides, there doesn't appear to be a significant reef to buffer the high surf. So, getting into the water might prove difficult.

On the drive home, we see one of the ubiquitous Miyako policemen on the roadside. They are called Mamoru-kun.  Miyako has very few police, so this is a tool to help them out.  I am pretty sure that we saw only one police car, one time during our entire five day stay. Good thing too, with our driving skills.  Actually, Connie did about 97.6% of the driving during our stay, since she isn't as good being a navigator like Mr. Chekov (she's more like Jim Kirk). She did quite well.

They look scary. Better obey the laws.

Seriously, here are the real ones.

OK, really seriously now, here is a picture of what they look like,

Later that day, at the airport, while waiting for our flight to Tokyo, we saw a book which showed all the different ones that they have on the island.  They're all different.

Oh well, since going 0 for 2 in our trek to find Akira again, we go back to the hotel and decide to go to the pool for an hour before going to the breakfast buffet.   Connie's been trying to get comfy in the water over the years, and now with the help of a crackerjack swimming professor (Em), she is able to float, swim, and open her eyes underwater! Next time, I am confident that she'll be able to fully snorkel with abandon.

After a quick breakfast, we do last minute packing, except for a shirt that remained in Em's closet (picked up later, after lunch), and then head out to Higashi Hennazaki cape, at the SE tip of Miyako.  After parking, we walk for about a quarter to half mile to the tip. There is a modern lighthouse at the very end, constructed due to several significant shipwrecks in the reefs nearby.

The seascape is quite eerie.  There are a number of large rocks in the shallow water, brought in by a tsunami about 250 years ago.  There they remain.

The breeze was strong and refreshing, given the hot and humid conditions. Here are the girls.

We then went into Hirara, to do some last minute shopping for snacks at Max Valu, and then go back to Hiro for a last meal.  Believe it or not, we ate at Hiro's five times in total (once a day!).  It was comfort food, and was typical Okinawan cuisine. This time, we had a different waitress (since this was lunch, not dinner).

This likely looks familiar to all you fans.  Clockwise, from the left, Yaki-soba, Goya Champuru, Somen Champuru, Sake onigiri, Yaki Yasai, and Zaru Udon.

We drop off our car, and then we see Happy again, waiting for us.  I guess he had a slow day, and decided to meet us to pick up our gear.  I'd recommend him wholeheartedly to whomever wants snorkel gear rentals.

Our flight back to Haneda on Thursday went smoothly, though it was delayed about 15 minutes. Our trek through Haneda went well; we grabbed the Tokyo Monorail to Hamamatsucho station, where we got the Yamanote to Tokyo Station, the home we know so well.  It was late, just a few minutes shy of midnight, and the basement level was closed, so we couldn't walk through the mall. Once back on the street level, our hotel was a mere one block away. We were greeted by the hotel staff with the usual Japanese hospitality.  Even though we economized by not staying at the Four Seasons, the check in procedure went very smoothly.  

Just as we were about to get on the elevator to our eleventh floor room, Connie spied Cal in the street.  We chatted with Donna and Cal for a few minutes, and since fatigue was the overwhelming feeling for all of us, we bid adieu, and off to sleep.

We were shocked with our room. It was so much the opposite of our room at the Four Seasons.  This was a typical business hotel, and we got one of the largest rooms, "big" enough to accommodate four.  Ugh. We make the best of it; we rationalize by repeating to ourselves that we would spend most of our hours roaming the streets of Tokyo.

We had a really nice breakfast the next morning, Friday the 25th. I had to validate our JR rail pass and make all our train reservations (nine legs) at the station, so I met everyone else about a half hour later. At the Super Lohas Hotel, we get a free buffet breakfast with our room each AM.  It lacked the elaborateness of the breakfasts in Miyako, but it satisfied, nonetheless.  Eggs, Japanese-style western sausages (sounds like an oxymoron, but those who have had western breakfasts in Japan know what I mean -- they look like regular hot dogs that have gone through the Incredible Shrinking Machine), bacon, and Nihon-shoku breakfast (with my favorite hot white rice, tsukemono, nori and natto).  Sorry, forgot to get pictures.

After breakfast, the six of us take the subway to Tsukiji.  We wanted to browse the outer market, one of our favorite places to roam (actually, there are several of us who don't find it fun, and their initials are Sam and Em). We get a bunch of treats, including a steamed Uni bun.

I prefer my Uni uncooked, but Connie was really happy with it.  I didn't ask if the pigment was squid ink but it likely was (this looked very similar to a bun we purchased in the Hakodate morning market two years ago).

We then decided to go to Sushi Zanmai.  My patient, Kunio, is a sushi chef in Cupertino, who told me to go there.  He said that the chefs there are older, and they go there when they cannot find work elsewhere.  We had a great three piece set of Otoro, Chutoro, and Maguro for the amazing price of ¥598.  The six of us shared a bunch of sushi, enough to stuff us all, for about ¥10,000.  Sorry, we have no pics!  Not sure why?

We then took the subway to Ginza (we could have walked, but it was soooo hot that we really didn't want to), and roamed the streets.  Sam and Em wanted to go to Itoya, so we went to the newly opened store (the previous location underwent renovation and I'm not sure if the current location will be the permanent one). Itoya is a really nice stationery store, one of the most famous ones in Japan.

Afterwards, we walk to Yurakucho to go to Muji and Loft.  This location is huge...

Donna and Cal have to meet Kayla, so we walk back to our hotel, and we go have dinner at En in the Shin-Maru building. Sorry, but the only picture we have of this is a mixed up Maguro Ochazuke of Sam's which is not publishable.

We roam around Tokyo Station later that night.  Tokyo station has what I would call permanent construction. There is constant change. New this trip is Granroof.  I thought it was a big new area with a bunch of restaurants, but I later find that it is just a cosmetic upgrade (but a huge cosmetic upgrade -- it is really attractive looking), since there aren't a lot of new restaurants or shops.  It's all a part of a concept called Tokyo Station City (kind of like what Kyoto did with their new train station, and what Osaka did with their new "Osaka station city").

Saturday AM, we have our buffet breakfast, and then meet up with Kayla, who we haven't seen in a year. She's done with school now! We have a few hours before our lunch at Iwa, so we go to Roppongi. Our goal is to go to Don Quixote (a variety store with numerous branches in Japan). Roppongi is Cal's "Japan home."  None of us had ever been there. He'd been hounding me to go there for years. Upon disembarking from our Hibiya line subway car, we are immediately struck by littered streets, a number of unsavory folks, but no Nigerians. 

Don Quixote was interesting.  Another place we'd never been to.  It is a little like a poor man's Tokyu Hands, but they also sell high end stuff like Omega watches and Celine handbags, along with ¥ 200 neckties.

We then head to Tokyo Midtown, a large multi-use project that encompasses a number of city blocks, with museums and galleries, businesses, shops, and a Ritz Carlton. We were only able to see a very small part in the limited time we had, but it was indeed a beautiful area (as opposed to the part on the "other" side of the street where it looked more like Kabuki-cho).

Cal, Donna and Kayla had one more Waseda University event, a sort-of graduation for Kayla, to attend to, so we left to go to Iwa for lunch.

We arrive at Ginza station a little early, so we roam around the area.  I got lost last year, trying to find Iwa (I knew exactly where I was, but Shimbashi station was a maze), so I wanted to make sure we had enough time. We found a "Natural Lawson," and the bento's there seem to be of a higher quality than that seen in other combini's.

Next installment of Humid Summer to come.

Last full day in Miyako

Yesterday, we had a mostly quiet day, thanks to the weather.  It was windy, but it hardly rained, except for a 5 minute storm while we were driving from Hirara back to our hotel after breakfast.

We went to Max Valu to search for breakfast and lunch. Along the way, a stop at the adjacent Golden arches, where Sam got a breakfast meal (the usual eggs, which she didn't like, pancakes, hash browns).  We got some onigiri and Makizushi at Max Valu, along with bottled water and tea.  Connie got a Katsudon and Tako, which was eaten in the car.

We then walked over to Coco, the local combini.  There are a whole bunch here in Miyakojima. The parking lot in front of the store was a bit odd. I'd never seen tandem parking in a commercial area like this...

Once we were done with breakfast, we drove back, and it was then time for lunch.  We bought lunch at Max Valu too.  But we were a little bit full with all the snacks that we also consumed, so we only snacked on lunch.

Even though the weather didn't look great, we thought we would check out the small beach at our hotel, and go snorkeling.  It didn't pan out, as the waves and wind were a little bit too much. So, we went to the so so pool, and spend a couple of hours there, while biding our time for dinner.

Guess where we went to dinner? Yup.

Small plate, with Umi budoh.

We got ten dishes, in total, since we're trying to save our appetite.  Two dishes of Zaru Udon, since you can't just have one; one dish each of Zaru Soba, Katsu Kari, Umi budoh, Kaki furai, Goya Champuru, and one other dish that Em had which I am blanking on.

Here is Sam's katsu kari:

Sharp readers with good math skills will wonder that the dishes listed only total eight.

We had another bowl of the Satou Kibi ice cream, as well as Mango Shave Ice.

Couldn't wait to get the picture.

You get the impression that we really like this place.  It is right across from our hotel, and you can tell that locals hang out there. The service is spotty, to downright poor.  But, you just gotta hang loose.  We're in Hawaii Okinawa, after all.

Tomorrow night, we leave for Tokyo. Which means, early AM snorkeling.  We plan Aragusuku beach before breakfast, then sightseeing after check out.