Japan Part Two: Kanazawa and Kyoto

 

Deep in the roots of Japan

Hida Furukawa, Shirakawa-go

We left Takayama with a driver and a tour guide, and made a brief stop in Hida Furukawa, a nearby suburb where we went to the Hida Furukawa Festival Exhibition Hall. They show an excellent 4-D movie about the festival which I highly recommend.

Latte at Kanokoya Coffee and Waffles, Hida Furukawa

The tour guides seem to call each other to alert them to any peculiarities of the client; and clearly they got the message that I need a mid-morning latte. 

Shirakawa

Our next destination was the village of Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. The "go" suffix means village, but it also means you have to go because it’s so charming, it’s so different, and because tourism is its only source of income. 

Our guide steered us to an out of the way Soba noodle restaurant Sobasho Yamakoshi for lunch. Soba is made of buckwheat, so it’s the most nutritious choice compared to its noodle friends Udon and Ramen.  It's like choosing pasta made from chick peas, a healthier than thou choice, but Soba happens to be delicious a well as nutritious. We also ordered vegetable tempura which was a pile of various unidentifiable greens that the guide said the owner picked out of the forest that morning. I believed him. 

Shirakawa

Shirakawa is an isolated mountain village that gets 10 meters of snow in the winter, and 300 years ago someone came up with a brilliant architectural solution, gassho style housing, an A frame (they called it praying hands) design with a thatched roof. I mean thatching on steroids, some of it up to three feet wide. 

Kanazawa

Samurai garden, Kanazawa

We continued our drive winding through the mountains and Japanese countryside. Then we were dropped off at the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa which is indeed at the center of Kanazawa and serves as the anchor of new train station, shopping mall, and restaurant complex. 

Kenrokuan Gardens, Kanazawa

Kanazawa is the Seattle of Japan and gets 185 days of rain per year. They cleverly have a city-wide borrow-an-umbrella system where you grab one as needed and return it to another swap spot. Our guide  took us to the Namagachi samurai district, where the one percent lives, the Kanazawa Castle Park, the beautiful Kenrokuan Gardens and the amazing Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, which alone is worth a trip to Kanazawa. 

Installation at Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

The guide recommended Ippuda for lunch, a ramen restaurant where you can order mild, medium, or hot, and specify your noodle texture.  Ippuda started small but now has 100 locations in Japan and 60 around the world. No wonder, the founder has been named Ramen King and is in the Ramen Hall of Fame. 

Geisha District Kanazawa

Imai Kinpaku Workshop and Store

Kanazawa produces 98 percent of Japan’s gold leaf. In that city everything that glitters is gold. They even serve gold ice cream cones. You can buy gold flecks by the bag to brighten up your cocktails and dinner plates. 

Kyoto 

Kyoto Tower

The Thousand Kyoto lobby

The Thousand Kyoto was our favorite hotel, luxurious, modern, with an artistic portrayal of “wind” in the lobby, and a nightly light show on its huge staircase. Best of all they had an amazingly resourceful staff who helped me find my cell phone which I had left in a taxi! 

Heads or tails?

Our first day was rainy so the guide rearranged our tour to include covered activities.  We arrived at the Nishiki Market which seems to stretch to infinity, and more covered shopping at the Teramachi and Shinkyogoku arcade. Then we sloshed around in the old town but told the guide we were "templed out." He proceeded to test us on our temple knowledge and when we failed several questions, he said “See, so you’re not templed out.” Darr said “I am now. "

Japanese pancakes Okonomiyaki

For some reason they seated us with a stranger

We parted ways with the guide and had Japanese pancakes for lunch at Issen Yoshoku. They are not pancakes as we know them, they reminded us more of enchiladas and are stuffed with cabbage, meat, seafood and sprinkled with seaweed powder. 

Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama

The next day off to Arashiyama, a beautiful section of Kyoto with a bamboo forest. Adjacent to the forest is an estate once owned by a famous samurai movie star Okochi Sanso Garden. We sat quietly in a beautiful tea house where I sat on the floor and practiced copying a Buddhist saying with an ink brush and copy. Sadly I can’t read it. But I know it was something wise. 

Bamboo Grove

Tenryu Ji Temple, pond and island garden

Then on to an enormous Buddhist site Tenryu Ji Temple, big enough to accomodate the three types of Japanese gardens, a pond and island garden, rock garden and tea garden. We stood on the Togetsuky Bridge where we learned about a strange tradition of fishermen using herons to catch their fish. Darr who has photographed many a heron slurping down a fish asked how they get the fish away from the heron. You don't want to hear the answer. But the guide says the heron-regurgitated fish are delicious. 

 

Welcome to Nara Park

Feeding frenzy

No visit to Kyoto is complete without a day trip to Nara, an hour away by train. Nara Park abounds with tame deer that will eat rice cakes out of your hand. They can get a little pushy though, and there was a sign warning tourists that the deer can kick, bite and headbutt.  But when they bow their heads, which they do for food, it's so cute.

 

Great Buddha

Also in Nara is the Biggest Best Buddha: Great Buddha Hall Todai Ji Temple. The enormity of the Buddha is stunning, his nose width is 98 cm,  mouth length is 133 cm, and his feet thickness is 223 cm.

The guide took us to lunch at Momoshiki where we were introduced to the gyodi beef on rice bowl. There is a way to eat it our blond German waiter explained.  First plain, second with three spices; and third in hot broth. Yummy. Nara's signature dessert, shaved ice, was not as good as the name of the restaurant, Café Groovy. 

Fushimi Inari Shrine Too many people with the same idea

Unfortunately, after a three transfer train ride that afternoon I was too tired to see much of the Fushimi Inari Shrine, the one that is pictured in every travel story about Japan. I had reached my limit. I was deered out, subwayed out, shrined and templed out, and had to sign out. 

But what a great trip! 

Tender treatment for pineapples

        

A note about food:  A friend who has rather refined taste said don’t worry about restaurants in Japan, everything is good. He was right. There is not much not to like in land of fresh fish, perfect rice, delicious noodles and gyoza.  Enlivened by lots of teriyaki and soy sauce. And macha ice cream. A few recommendations: coffee and pastries at  the tiny cozy Cafe de Ginza after shopping; another skyview restaurant in Tokyo En; conveyor belt-delivered Sushi Kuinee in Kanazawa; Sobasho Yamakoshi  outside of Shirakawa; Sushi Tsukiji and the elegant Kizahashi in Kyoto; and Momoshiki in Nara.

Dinner at Kizahashi Kyoto

A touch of whimsy