Kate and I took a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, which was quite the experience. At top speed, these move at an impressive 200mph; the scenery outside becomes a blur, and I got a bit of a headache trying to catch glimpses of the farms and cities we passed. Our hostel in Kyoto was the nicest I've ever seen, with pod beds and privacy curtains. Kate had imagined a slum house with moldy blankets, and was quite relieved. We stayed in a hostel because money in Japan practically spends itself: everything is incredibly expensive, including public transportation. Kate's friend gave her a handy tip - convenience stores (7-11 is the most popular) actually have very good, and very affordable, food, including prepared food (not just deep-fried grease balls, or whatever they have in the US). Every night we would buy dinner and breakfast for the following morning at 7-11, and lunch was our meal out. It made travel in Japan much more affordable, though I never expected to eat 7-11 food in my lifetime.
Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan, and as such has literally thousands of temples in its borders. We visited two - the first had a nice garden, and the second had a spectacular garden. The gardens were very peaceful, grounds covered in moss or stones raked into intricate patterns, with huge trees dripping with moss shading the area.
Below: Kyoto temples
We also wandered through Gion, the traditional geisha district, but only saw two brushes and many closed doors of tea houses. Still, it was beautiful. I took a traditional tea class in Gion, where an elegant Japanese lady named Nao demonstrated the art of making matcha, where you whip matcha powder into water. Matcha-making is a traditional ritual; each of her movements was deliberate, graceful, and rather mesmerizing. Clearly this profession was not meant for one as clumsy as I. Afterwards, she did give us a chance to whisk matcha tea ourselves into a cappuccino-like foam. This required a quick wrist movement that I found impossible, so Nao helped me out with a few graceful flicks of her wrist.
Below: tea ceremony, my sad matcha cappuccino, and Nao. Plus Gion at nighttime.
Now, a word on this tea whisk (pictured whisking matcha above): this was not the first time I had encountered this devious but if kittchenry. While in Tokyo, Kate and I were stopped on the street by a TV crew looking for victims for a local "quiz show." We unhappily agreed, and were presented with the below whisk and the question: " what is this? "
My first guess - the first one! - was whisk. They prodded me - "for what?" "Eggs? Batter? I'm not sure." The conniving TV man then told us it was used in art, obviously to throw us off, so we threw out wild guesses ( paintbrush? Paint mixer?) until they finally stopped us and informed us it was a whisk for traditional tea making. My first reaction: "I was right!!!!" They stood around sheepishly grinning until we left , and I'm sure the footage will be edited to make us (and all Americans) look like uncultured idiots. If you can't tell, I'm a little bitter.
Kate and I spent one afternoon in Nara, wandering the central park and admiring the many half-time half-sized deer that roamed the park. We must have seen at least four wedding photoshoots too, most of which were elegant and lovely, and some of which were comical - for instance, a suited groom chasing deer, trying to subdue them into being photographed with his bride. After this adventure, I left Kate to explore the International Manga Museum to her heart's content while I headed for Mount Koya to live like a monk for a day.
Below: mini deer and Nara Park
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