Kyoto photo and food extravaganza

Torii gates at Fushimi Inari

Kyoto brought a welcome switch to low-key tourism. Nap on the 2.5-hour train ride from Tokyo, another short nap in Matsubaya Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn, booked by Brian) and we were ready to explore the streets of Kyoto.

Hanging out at the ryokan

Though the city contained a few broad boulevards, the majority of the streets were narrow roads and alleys barely big enough for a single car. After meandering for a while, we stumbled upon a small restaurant filled with locals. We were offered the only available table, and sat down to a Korean barbecue of chuck roast, chicken liver and other obscure cuts of meat. All delicious, particularly when accompanied by beer.

On Saturday we set off with an itinerary planned by Brian: morning stop at Fushimi Inari, a major shrine on a Kyoto mountainside; a late-morning trip to Nijo Castle; lunch at Nishiki Market; an afternoon of roaming the city before heading back to the ryokan to prep for a 10-course (give or take a course) Japanese meal at Arashiyama Nishiki. The plan was going swimmingly until we made it to Fushimi Inari, which Brian commented was probably the most photogenic place he’d ever visited. So we spent the entire morning and early afternoon there, filling up our SD cards and depleting the batteries in our cameras.

Fushimi Inari has one main shrine and tons of smaller shrines. Thousands of orange torii gates line the path to the top of the mountain. The shrine draws lots of business people, who donate money in hopes of earning wealth. Nick, the owner at Hakuba Powder Lodging, later told us the place brings in a million dollars a day in donations.

Shrines — large and small — feature stone carvings of two foxes. Inari means “rice,” and the foxes signify some connection to rice; in tour books and subsequent web searches, explanations for the canines ranged from foxes being the messengers of the Shinto goddess of rice to signifying a strong rice harvest. Regardless, between the statues and the torii gates, the entire shrine area made for an impressive trip.

With a large part of our day exhausted by Fushimi Inari, we had time to make a quick walk through Nishiki Market for lunch snacks: grilled oysters, soy milk doughnuts, rice cakes, scallops.

For dinner, Brian led us to Arashiyama Nishiki. A waitress dressed in traditional garb took us into a private room and then brought course after course. Tofu filled with mustard, shashimi, multiple soups, beans, clams, dessert … between Tokyo sushi and Kyoto meals, it was a good trip for eating. Brian gets all the credit for that.

About to start the meal 

This course came in a shelf with drawers

Sunday morning we finally made it to Nijo Castle, where we toured the grounds. We passed through Nishiki Market again for lunch, and then it was back to Kyoto Station for the train and bus voyage back to Hakuba and return to the mountains.

 Walking to Nijo Castle

 Nijo Castle and the surrounding grounds

Surviving Tokyo

To appease the masses (or at least Uncle Steve), the blog returns. (Note to Uncle Steve: no computer for three days means no blog updates for at least three days.)

Back in Hakuba today after a long weekend between Tokyo and Kyoto, Tom and Brian and I hiked high above Happo One for our longest tour yet. Although we had beautiful, blue skies, we did not have good snow. I made a few nice powder turns, but they were unexpected in a run largely marred by wind buff, sun crust, old avalanche debris and other crud. But at least we closed the day with a soak in an onsen near the lodge.

So, with little to report from the slopes, the recap of a Tokyo all-nighter begins here. After taking a bus to Nagano on Thursday, we rode the Shinkansen (high speed rail) to Tokyo Station and then set off into a city intent on overwhelming our senses with an endless array of lights. We arrived in daylight, and once we found out how to actually leave Tokyo Station, we wandered the nearby streets for a bit before ducking into a mall, where we found an indoor market with meats, teas, pastries and more. 

First glimpse of Tokyo.

Then it was into the Tokyo Metro for more confusion and a ride to the area of Shibuya, where we emerged from the underground. Night had arrived at this point, and Tokyo was lit up: neon signs, flashing signs, big lights, little lights, tall narrow lights. Just an insane amount of lights.

It's so bright!

More confused wandering for us, until we retreated back into the metro to check out Shinjuku and eat dinner at a place called Lois, which Brian wanted to try. Yet we never found Lois — again, too many lights — and instead settled on a random restaurant. Post-dinner we returned to Shibuya and went to a bar for some sake, and quickly moved on to another bar; before we even entered, a Scandinavian named Eric met us at the door to make fun of my beard. Back inside, he befriended us and launched into a tirade about anti-Semitism spreading through Europe, and took a strong liking to Brian upon learning of his Jewish heritage. Yet Eric’s key contribution to the evening was introducing us to Yuki and her friend (Huki??).

 Brian makes a new friend in Eric, the agnostic wannabe Jew. 

Yuki became our tour guide for the rest of the evening and early morning. She led us to a third bar nearby, which was critical because at that point rain had begun to pour down on Tokyo (still lots of lights, however) and we had no interest in more confused wandering. 

Tom with Huki (?) and Yuki. 

By the time we left at 5 a.m., the rain had yet to let up, so Brian, Tom, Yuki and I hopped in a cab to Tsukiji Market, a fish market. With Yuki’s help translating, we eventually found our way to the tuna auction (becoming soaked in the process of dashing from warehouse to warehouse in the rain), followed by a 1.5-hour wait for breakfast of the best sushi any of us had ever had (despite being frigid in our drenched clothes.

 Tuna auction at Tsukiji Market.

 Sushi breakfast (along with miso soup and green tea).

After breakfast, we hailed a cab back to Tokyo Station, where our exhausting Tokyo experience ended as we boarded a Shinkansen for Kyoto. Kyoto brought a welcome slowing of the pace. Once again, however, it is past my Japanese bedtime, so this is all the blogging for today. Hopefully the update will keep Uncle Steve entertained until tomorrow. 

Shipping out to Tokyo and Kyoto

We planned to lap the out-of-bounds terrain from Tuesday this morning, but a sun crust made for miserable skiing — easily our worst run of the trip so far. At least we saw two more serows (the Japanese goat-antelope). Brian and Tommy called it quits after one run, while I stuck around for two more runs on groomers before coming back to the lodge.

Now we’re about to grab a quick lunch before heading into Hakuba, where we’ll catch the bus to Nagano and train to Tokyo. After an all-nighter in Tokyo, it’s off to Kyoto in the morning.