A great little dip

The onsen - definitely one of those how-did-I-not-know-about-this-sooner things in Japan. Literally, it means hot springs, and they are a dime a dozen in these parts. According to my book there are urban onsen, oceanside onsen, riverside onsen, onsen towns, clifftop onsen, hidden onsen, semitropical onsen, onsen with beach, onsen with sand bath, mountain onsen, do-it-yourself onsen, and onsen ski towns. Whew!

For my part, I was only able to bathe in two of these marvels. The first was an urban onsen in Kyoto - essentially a public bathhouse. It was segregated by gender, where you strip down completely, then wash up (onsen are for soaking, not cleaning), and then soak away. The Kyoto bath had many different kinds of pools. Inside, there was a cedar tub, electric tub, mud tub, hot hot tub. Outside, there was a cool tub and a warm tub. Each are fed with natural hot springs.

The second was at a small onsen town outside of Matsue, called Tamatsukuri Onsen. I got off at the little railway hub for this town, then walked for 15 minutes along the river. The walk itself got me in the mood, as their were sakura hanging down everywhere.

Then I got to my onsen. This one was basically in a spa hotel, which is how these onsen were setup (the accommodations were very posh and very Japanese). I paid my day fee of 800 yen and then went into the changing room. Emerging into the onsen, I found two large pools, one indoor and quite hot, the other outdoor and rock-lined, surrounded by a quiet little garden. What a setting! The next hour was pure delight.

These onsen almost merit their own trip to Japan, to explore all the different types on offer.

A fine place to meditate

Kyoto is synonymous with temples. They are EVERYWHERE. And, as you might expect, with temples come hordes of tourists. Take Kinkakuji, the Golden Palace, for example. This potentially nice temple is just packed to the gills. So, unless you like shuffling along behind elderly Candian tour groups for the better part of an hour, don't go. In fact, just to make it easier for you, here's a photo of the main exhibit:

There, now you've seen it!

However, with the amount of temples that Kyoto has, some of them are purely marvelous, and sans crowds. My favorite was Tofukuji in the southeastern part of the city - it's an easy name to remember because it sounds like a delicious dish, right? It is tucked away 15 minutes from the closest bus stop, no signposts to be found, in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Entering is quite a sight, as it boasts a magnificent Doto Garan complex. It also has a lovely creek with covered bridges and a delightful checkerboard-groomed rock garden.

A great discovery! And, it had the added bonus of being the place where Shingo meditated as a young adult. Walking around, it's easy to see why this would be such a great place for that. It is making me excited for my upcoming meditation in Bali!

When there's only one thing on the menu...

...go in and order it. This will be even more true in Singapore, I think. Yet it also applied in Kyoto. K and I were dying to try okonomiyaki, a griddled pancake of egg and cabbage covered with a chef's choice of additional toppings that can include meat and seafood. On Yasuko's recommendation, we went to a corner shop in Kyoto.

On sitting down, we looked at the menu, and ordered one of everything on it (well, two actually, because we were pretty hungry):

The dish itself was pretty good - lots of different flavors, and the mix in each bite was unique. The dark brown sauce was a great addition, a little bit like a lighter version of hoisin. Filling and satisfying, goes well with a beer - that's why this is the late-night food of Kyoto!

The place itself had a kitschy ambiance, included pre-selected dining partners (see me conversing with one below) and an open style kitchen where you could watch the fun.

Bake me a pot

After taking us to a wonderful little boutique paper shop (hidden away down two alleys), Yasuko showed us the house-museum of Kawai Kanjiro, a famous local potter. The house was a great example of traditional Japanese-style homes.

He had his studio in his house, which not only meant there were some fantastic pieces on display, but also that there was an enormous homemade kiln in the backyard.

In addition, he had a creative eye for wood, and would craft designs for his friend the woodworker to make. These were gorgeous sculptures, plump and delicate at the same time.

My days as an amateur potter made me want to slide right in under the wheel and throw a few myself...

Bad food not yet banned in Japan!

You may be thinking either (a) Joe likes everything he eats or (b) the wonderful country of Japan has somehow managed to expunge all bad tasting food from its borders. Let me assure you that neither is the case.

After a nearly interminable walk to find an ATM that would accept international cards and deliver Japanese yen, K and I found ourselves in a new neighborhood loooking for some good dinner. After turning away from a first-floor Lonely Planet recommended establishment because of the high proportion of foreigners inside, we ventured one floor up to a place brimming with Japanese (and, ok, a couple of foreigners too...).

And, we had a disgusting, largely inedible meal with not really anything that we were excited to eat after one bite. The roll call, please:

Left to right, you have overly boiled, limp greens with icky garnish, soft and mushy fried lotus root with pork paste, and day-old firm tofu with green tar and at-least-ok miso sauces. Ewwwwwwww.

Oh, and they ruined fresh fish too! Every piece looked old, tired, and not worth eating. Slimy ebi, frozen maguro, hard as rocks conch. Blech!

The meal was SO awful that we had to console ourselves and get sustenance at a dessert cafe down the street. And not just any dessert cafe, but one that has a dessert so awesome that you have to order it five days in advance and so many choices that they've displayed them all in a storefront glass case (with plastic food models, of course).

Just to show I was down and not out with culinary adventurism, I decided on the fried chicken parfait - a slightly delicious and slightly bizarre miz of, well, fried chicken, fruit, and soft serve. K added in a BLT and a black sesame and mochi parfait to round us out a bit. Though the fry oil could certainly have been fresher, the meal set us back on track and gave us just the boost we needed to get home.

Gorgeous art and 300 french pastries

Here's a recommendation you won't find in any guidebook: when in Kyoto, go to a french bakery and look at the art on the walls. You'll see stuff so wonderful you won't mind staring at it, letting your espresso get cold and your croissant get a bit stale. And, of course, not just any french bakery, but one specifically...

My cousin Shingo paints, and, in my humble opinion, he paints really well. The aforementioned bakery has purchased some of his art and it adorns the walls of their flagship location. The bakery itself is very neat, it dates to 1913, has ~13 locations, and delivers baked goods to many hotels and other establishments in the Kyoto area (including Tully's!). They make over 300 kinds of pastries everyday and they are very tasty.

The bakery commissioned three paintings from Shingo for their space. His works fit beautifully into the environment and are deep and rich.

At a separate location, he has one additional work up. It is joined by original lithographs of Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Sam Francis (Shingo's father). Great company!

Finally, I must thank Yasuko, the bakery owner, for her incredible hospitality. She let K and I stay at an unused traditional Japanese house of hers in a lovely and quiet part of Kyoto (the Ryoanji area). It was a great and unique introduction to this culturally rich place. She was also a great tour guide, taking us to a hole-in-the-wall paper shop and to a locally famous potter's house (more on that to come!)

A traveller's best friend: wonderful hosts!!!

I'd like to introduce two people that have made Japan a much more personalized experience for me: my cousins Shingo (left) and Osamu (right).

They have served as hosts extraordinaire to everything Japan. Osamu has opened his home and organized several meals. Shingo let us accompany him on a trip to Kyoto and see an otherwise unseeable part of that wonderful town. A big THANK YOU to them both!

Hanami-ing in Tokyo and Kyoto

April can be a special month in Japan. For one week sometime between March and May, the sakura (cherry blossom) trees bloom their brilliant small white / rose flowers and produce spectacular viewing in spots across Japan. It is such an event that it has its own word in the dictionary - hanami, or cherry-blossom viewing.

First up, Tokyo. Here, there are a couple of well-known spots fo hanami. We chose Yoyogi-koen (Yoyogi Park) near the Harajuku neighborhood. Here, we stumbled upon perhaps the best day of the season for hanami, as the park was filled with merry-makers. Groups had picnic blankets, delicious food and drink. In addition, there were several karaoke machines and 20-person coordinated dances done in character costume. Oh, and don't forget the group of folks dressed as 50s greasers. Bizarre and completely lovely.

Second, the gorgeous sakura of Kyoto. Wow, they really take this city to a whole other level. There are wonderful sakura in Maruyama-koen, complete with outdoor restaurants and food hawkers. There are delightful sakura at Kiyomizu-ji that are lit up at night and surround the hilltop temple. There are fantastic sakura lining the river of the traditional Gion neighborhood, great complements to the architecture of the area.

What lucky timing to have landed in these cities on the right days of the year!