Recently, a good friend, Austin, and I traveled to Kyoto, Japan, for some fun and relaxation. The plan was to fly directly in Osaka and then take the 75 minute train north to Kyoto. Unfortunately, our trip got off to an auspicious start, though, when we found our flight had been cancelled the night before we were scheduled take off. It wasn’t just our flight, though, but all direct flights from Qingdao to Osaka that weekend, as a result of a tropical storm that was scheduled to hit Japan. We were left scrambling to find an alternative and ended booking another flight that connected through Seoul for about $200 more.
We arrived in Osaka around 4:00 in the afternoon on Sunday, where there was barely any trace of a storm that was apparently rocking the eastern seaboard of Honshu. After catching the train north, we had dinner at Kyoto station, the city’s central transportation hub. The top floor has about a dozen restaurants all serving different Japanese cuisines and we discovered a noodles joint that looked good and I had a bowl of soba noodles with wild duck and leeks, which was fantastic. Austin went with the udon noodles, which also looked great.
Soba noodles with wild duck and leeks
Nestled among the Hira Mountains, in the center of the main island of Honshu, Kyoto is the former imperial capital of Japan and provides a window into “old Japan”. The city is home to over 2,000 Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples, which give the city a peaceful and welcoming vibe. Walking around the modern downtown, you will rarely hear a car horn honking or pedestrians chatting away on phones. Instead the entire city seems to be constantly reflecting in reverence and tranquility. The city streets are immaculate, not a single gum wrapper or cigarette butt can be found, and every car, including the taxis, who’s drivers often wear suits and white gloves, appear to be washed daily. Even their garbage trucks look freshly cleaned and polished.
After a long day Sunday, we slept in a bit on Monday. We headed back down to Kyoto Station for lunch and this time ended up a fish and box lunch place. I ordered the black cod, which came with miso soup, pickled vegetables, and rice with a raw egg.
Black cod lunch
Following lunch, we walked the 45 minutes to Fushimi Inari-taisha, a Shinto shrine with a multitude of red gates that is the most famous sight in Kyoto. The grounds of the shrine were beautiful, and no surprise in Japan, immaculately kept. The main shrine sits at the base of Inari Mountain, with several smaller ones on the trails that lead up the mountain. After a couple hours of hiking and exploring, we still hadn’t reached the top, and decided to veer off from the crowds of tourists and followed a picturesque path through a bamboo forest to where it looked like several monks were living.
Fushimi Inari-taisha
Bamboo Forest
After getting home and showering, we were starving from our long hike and decided splurging on some sushi was just what the doctor ordered. We tracked down Sushi Sei, a moderately priced sushi joint that was a 15 minute walk from our Air BnB and the sushi was hands down, the best I’ve ever had, not to mention the fragrantly delicious miso soup. We each ordered the “deluxe platter” that was a mix of about 15 different pieces of sushi, as well as a side of grilled eel and a bottle of sake to wash it down. The food was the perfect amount to leave us feeling satiated, but not stuffed.
Kyoto is famous for being the top sake-producing city in Japan, but it is also known as the birthplace of Japanese whisky. Earlier in the day, I had tracked down Kyoto’s best whisky bar, and we decided to head there for a few pours of dessert. Bar Cordon Noir had hundreds of bottles of Japanese whisky, bourbons, and Scotch to choose from. For our first round, we both decided to go with the “Japanese Old Fashioned” which differed from the American version in that they used Japanese whisky instead of bourbon, and a variety of Japanese spices and herbs, as well. The taste was similar, but I still think I prefer the traditional Old Fashioned.
bar cordon noir
I also sampled two of their Japanese whiskies, the first a 17-year single malt and the second a blend that was aged in a charred barrel. Both were excellent, and I wish I had taken notes of the tasting. The bar itself was spectacular, all wood with their hundreds of bottles lined up in perfect order with their labels all pointing straight ahead. Like all of Japan, the attention to detail was astounding. Again, in fashion with the country, the service was impeccable. Three attentive bartenders manned the bar and were there the instance you were looking for a refill or recommendation, but not a second sooner, so they never seemed to be hovering.
Tuesday morning, we got up early to look for breakfast. Just two blocks from our apartment was a restaurant that served traditional Japanese breakfast and was rated by several websites as the best breakfast in Kyoto, but unfortunately they were closed on Tuesday. Monday was “Respect for the Aged Day” and we found that many establishments had closed on either Monday or Tuesday. Instead we made our way to an Inoda Coffee, a Kyoto-based chain that has been serving coffee and breakfast throughout Japan since the 1930’s. We were surprised to see that they offered a breakfast plate of pancakes, sausage, and a mixed vegetable salad that looked and tasted like coleslaw, which was surprisingly the perfect mix. Again, the serving size was perfect and we left ready to explore the city again.
Our next stop was the International Manga Museum. Neither of us are big manga fans, but it seemed too interesting to pass up. It was cool to see some original artwork and check out some of the thousands of manga they had to read.
Before stopping for lunch, we discovered an enormous Buddhist temple, the length of three city blocks in the middle of downtown. Higashi Honganji was originally built in 1602, but has been burnt down and rebuilt twice, most recently in the first half of the 20th century. After walking through the enormous gate, we took off our shoes and meandered around the temples for a bit, taking in the gorgeous architecture.
Gates of Higashi Honganji
For lunch, we headed to nearby Kyoto Tower, which has a food court consisting of several highly rated restaurants. We both decided that the gyoza looked best and enjoyed a quick but delicious lunch before grabbing a coffee to prepare us for our afternoon trip to the Yamazaki Distillery.
The Suntory Yamazaki Distillery sits just outside of Kyoto, at the foot of Mt. Tennozan, and, dating back to 1923, is the first Japanese whisky distillery. Shinjiro Torii’s goal was to “create a perfect whisky that reflects the nature of Japan and the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship” when he built the distillery. Torii also founded the company Suntory, one of the largest beverage companies in the world which has recently purchased Beam, Inc., and so Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and Old Crow among others, along with it. Originally the company mainly sold imported wines, but Torii soon moved to producing his own liquor and after becoming fascinated by Scotch whisky, decided to attempt what was considered impossible: producing a local whisky that would be on par with the those of Scotland.
Suntory Yamazaki Distillery
A few of the other whiskies owned by Suntory
We toured the museum, which explained the history and distilling process, before getting to the real treat: the tasting room and gift shop. I selected tastings of five different whiskies, which ran about $20. I also purchased a bottle of a special reserve single malt whisky that is only available at the distillery, a souvenir rocks glass, and a bag of bacon that is cured in the whisky barrels.
First round of tastings
After the distillery, we walked over to Mt. Tennozan. Behind a small temple, a basket of walking sticks were offered for those that wanted to hike up to the summit, a two hour climb. Signs at the start of the trek warned to be on the lookout for wild boar, monkeys, and especially harmful wasps. So with no water between us, and after downing about five shots of whisky, we decided the smartest thing would be to charge ahead and attack the mountain head-on! We hiked for about 45 minutes before realizing that this probably wasn’t the smartest course of action and decided to head back down before we stumbled across a wild boar or a hive of wasps – comparatively, the monkeys would be a welcome diversion.
Mt. tennozan temple and view
For dinner, we were both excited to track down a juicy, Kobe beef steak, since a good steak is next to impossible to find in China. We found a place where we could enjoy one for less than $50, not easy in Japan. The steak was decent, but not as great as I was hoping. For sides we had a cheesy mashed potatoes and a marinated wild mushroom plate that stole the show.
Wednesday morning, I unfortunately had to head back to China. I took the 75 minute train to the airport, which of course was spotless. The train actually arrived 15 minutes early, but they locked the doors so that they could clean it thoroughly for ten minutes. Kansai International Airport then provided the fastest check-in I’ve ever experienced. I literally was through customs and security less than 20 minutes after arriving to the airport. From there, it was back to reality, though, as my six hour layover at Shanghai-Pudong left much to be desired. For a city of 24 million people, you would think that they would have more than one offering of restaurant in the terminal, but their terminal only featured four iterations of the same restaurant that offered a variety of noodles and other basic Chinese foods that had little flavor. Also annoying was the fact that there seemed to be zero outlets to charge a phone or laptop. Ah, to be back in Japan…