“Nippon, here we come!” read my itinerary for ten days in Japan from New Zealand life in May last month. I arrived at Kansai Airport on Air New Zealand – they used to fly direct from Auckland to Osaka but stopped doing that – so we had to change to another airline which was lengthy and difficult and consisted of many trains. Eventually we walked to a friend’s apartment in Suwanomori, then headed into Kyoto the next day to leave our bags at our ryokan inn and explore Kyoto.
Kyoto used to be Japan’s capital and was the Emperor’s residence from 794 to 1868, and is now Japan’s 7th largest city with 1.4 million people. It was spared from air raids during WWII so is largely historically intact. We stayed at Iroha Ryokan in Higashiyama-ku which was fantastic, I highly recommend it (twin share about NZ$55 each). It was really attractive with a zen garden stone entrance and we had an ensuite room that was 7 tatami (floor mat) in size with futon mattresses on the floor. Note – inns have the communal bathing where you wash first under a shower head and then bathe in the massive hot bath. Shampoo and liquid soap, hairdryers and so on, as well as robes and towels are all provided.
We had lunch at Choice Cafe across the street from the ryokan which surprisingly was vegan and gluten-free. I had vegetarian curry on wholemeal sprouted brown ice and the world’s tiniest rice pudding icecream (1 tbspn!)We hired bikes ($NZ11 a day) nearby and biked up the river on a wide stony road alongside the University. After a few blocks, we came to the famous cobblestones trail known as ‘Philosopher’s Walk’, and rode bikes along the cherry tree-lined stream for maybe 3km past a mixture of old and new houses, cafes, shops including a kimono shop. Most of the cherry blossoms had finished as the weather was too warm for them but a few were still in blossom.It was lovely and sunny, about 22C.
Below: buying train tickets was pretty confusing at first but you soon get the hang of it once you get your destination sorted!
Below: the futon mattresses in the Irohan ryokan (inn) at 84 Ohashicho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto.
There are more shrines there, I think, than food stores! Here’s another pretty temple we came across on our bike ride.
PHILOSOPHER’S WALK
MURIN-AN GARDEN
Later that day, we visited Murin-an garden (NZ$5 entry), built by political and military leader Yamagata Aritomo between 1894 and 1898, where the Munrin-An Agreement was signed, and now a historial places trust garden and houses. It had beautiful water features and lakes with a shoji-screen tradional house where you could take part in a tea ceremony as well as a Western-style building with artifacts inside.
KATSUKURA
We went for dinner at the most incredible katsu-don restaurant I highly recommend, Katsukura in Sanjohonten (about $NZ13). It was so cool grinding your own sesame seeds and adding the special sauce then dipping the crumbed pork fillets (katsu-don) in. So oishii.
GION BY NIGHT
The temperature had really dropped by nightfall. After dinner, we strolled around Gion, which is Kyoto’s (and Japan’s, after Memoirs Of A Geisha) most famous geisha district, located around Shijo Avenue. It is mostly teahouses and is great to walk around at night in avenues lined with red lanterns. This actually had the most foreign tourists I’d seen in any place so far. Everyone had camera phones out. No geisha to be seen though so we crossed the river and we saw someone with white makeup coming towards us alone on Ponto-cho Alley. A Geisha on her way to walk! It was a pretty magical experience. I nodded my head to her and took a single photos and there were no other people there, so she seemed quite calm and unhurried as she walked off down the lane. I had checked earlier and it is considered fine to photograph geisha but I would always smile and check that they seem fine with it first as you would do with anybody that you photograph out of courtesy.
Below: teahouses and streets in Gion at night.
SHINSHINDO
A popular French-style bakery cafe attached to the Park Royal hotel in Kyoto is Shinshindo and we headed there for breakfast and to be honest I was ready to murder an ‘English tea’ ie tea with milk, much as I love green tea! An almond croissant is NZ$2.80 and cooked breakfast with hot drink and unlimited bread tray service at your table, is $NZ11.
Megan Robinson
2nd June 2015
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