Delicious Destination: Japan
November 10-20, 2012
Japan was a
somewhat unexpected trip in our travel wish list, but it turned out to be one
of the most amazing trips we’ve ever taken.
My friend Michelle’s (OMC) husband, Kyle, is a Navy pilot and has been
stationed in Japan the last few years.
Missing my friend and former roommate, we decided to take a trip to
visit and see what Japan has to offer.
OMC and Kyle
live outside of Tokyo, but I also wanted to see Hiroshima and Kyoto. Hiroshima, for the historical significance
since we also visited Pearl Harbor this year.
Kyoto, because I read about its cultural history in So Far From the Bamboo Grove. OMC was a fabulous hostess and tour guide and
I don’t know how we would have made it all over the country, much less
navigated Tokyo without her. She also
checked out The Rough Guide to Japan, which is
an excellent guide book. I enjoyed it so
much I ordered it from Amazon when we got home.
OMC
recommended we purchase a 7 day JR Railpass prior
to our arrival, since we would be traveling around the country. The 7 day pass was ~$350/person and was money
well spent. We used it so much; I think the JR lost money on us.
The weather
forecast predicted highs ranging from the 50s to low 60s. I really struggled with what to pack, as I
wanted to look cute but be comfortable at the same time. In the end I decided to wear jeans and tennis
shoes, and found a fabulous black fleece
cardigan at Nordstrom, which turned out to be the best $40 I’ve ever spent
(I just wish it had pockets). I paired
the cardigan with light sweaters each day, and also had a light rain jacket and
umbrella packed just in case (good thing I did!). In addition to packing for 10 days in a carry-on
suitcase, I also brought my trusty backpack,
which has so many pockets, and holds so much, it’s like a Mary Poppins bag.
Depart IAH:
Saturday—Day 1
The flight was ~14 hours direct from Houston, and Scott and
I passed the time on flight by watching movies, reading, watching the first
half of Mad Men season 1, and napping.
Tokyo: Sunday—Day 2
Our flight arrived almost an hour early at NRT, which was
good thing because it didn’t seem so bad until the last two hours. OMC picked us up and took us to her favorite
sushi place, Shin’s. I had the misfortune of developing the
“throat tickle” the day before we left for our trip so her friend Brittany
graciously met us for dinner with a bottle of Robitussin for me. Dinner at Shin’s was delicious and we sampled
the spicy tuna roll, scallops with asparagus, and yellow fin tuna. After getting settled at OMC’s house we were
ready to go to bed about 9pm. The 15
hour time change took a few days to get used to, so between that and my
coughing I woke up a few times during the night.
Tokyo: Monday—Day 3
Our first full day in Japan started at a leisurely
pace. I was very excited for my first
shower room experience, which was amazing.
All Japanese homes have a “shower room” which is an open room that
contains and bathtub and a shower head on a hose. Typically Japanese families bathe together,
so this makes it easy to get everyone showered without making a huge mess. My other favorite feature, which is so
efficient, is the toilet sink. The top
of the toilet tank contains a faucet, and when you flush the toilet, water
comes out of the faucet for you to wash your hands and then refills the toilet
bowl.
 |
| toilet sink |
 |
| shower room |
We took the Tokyo
metro from Zama going into Tokyo and also got a PASMO card to put money on
for our metro fares (we were able to cash out our balance before we left). We spent a lot of time on the subway during
our trip, which was a great way to get around and also observe the locals. OMC was able to track the metro schedule on
her iphone which helped us know when and where to get places. People do not eat or drink on the metro and
phones are on vibrate. People pass the
time by napping, reading or using their phones to text, play games, or listen
to music. Also across the country
subway/train stations not only facilitate transportation but also contain
stores, restaurants, and malls to make everything efficient when using public
transportation. Most families have one car
or no car, so public transportation is a way of life. I always enjoy this on trips, since Houston
is not a walking city. However I was
informed that Tokyo is Houston-hot in the summer and during those times you really
wish you can just get in the car and crank the A/C so you don’t have to walk to
and from the train.
Our first stop in Tokyo, was in the Roppongi neighborhood at
Jane’s Pearls. Jane is a Japanese-American born in Hawaii,
and was so gracious to educate us about pearls.
After seeing everything there was to offer, Scott bought me a long
strand of traditional pearls and two long strands of small pearls that can all
be worn together or separately in a variety of ways. This was the perfect memento to have from our
trip so I can think of Japan every time I wear them.
 |
| entrance to Yasukuni Shrine |
Our next stop was to the Yasukuni Shrine and Yūshūkan Japanese
war museum. We had some excellent
Japanese ramen noodles on the Shrine grounds.
The museum was very interesting and some of the things we learned were
that when the West came to Japan requesting they open their ports to
foreigners, Japan sent ~20 consultants to the US and Europe to learn about
Western culture. Also of course one the
events leading up to the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor in WWII was the US Oil
Embargo and Japan’s view of the Pearl Harbor attack was that we wanted them to
do it so we’d have an excuse to enter the war. After the museum we strolled
through the shrine’s garden and koi pond.
We spent the evening in Shibuya walking around and taking in
the sights. One interesting store we
visited was, Tokyu Hands, it’s
an everything store. A hybrid of Target,
Hobby Lobby, and Home Depot all combined into one. They already had their Christmas items on
display with the slogan “Happy Party Christmas” instead of the traditional
Merry Christmas. Since most Japanese are
Buddhist or do not practice religion, Christmas is not celebrated as a
religious holiday but as a commercial
holiday.
 |
| Tokyu Hands "Happy Party Christmas" |
We stopped in a British pub for a drink before our dinner at
a theme restaurant, The Lock Up, which was
a rather unique experience. Scott was
handcuffed upon entering and we were led to our jail cell for dinner. We weren’t sure of the exact theme, which
seemed to be a mix of mental institution/mad
scientist/Frankenstein/jeckell&hyde.
The drinks on the menu were in a mad scientist theme served in beakers
and test tubes. I ordered a drink that
had cotton candy with it. We ordered
shrimp tempura with fondue, pizza, potstickers, grilled meat, and a few other
“tapas” style items to share.
 |
| Scott "Locked Up" |
We walked through the Shibuya Crossing, the
world’s busiest intersection, on our way to the train station, and for a Monday
night ~9pm, there were so many people! I
cannot even begin to imagine what this must be like on a weekend.
 |
| Shibuya Crossing |
Tokyo: Tuesday—Day 4
OMC surprised us with our lunch being a private sushi lesson
@ Shin’s. She knows I love to cook, so
it was great to learn something new. Making
sushi rolls is much harder than it looks.
The key is to move quickly since the rice is so sticky. We first laid the seaweed paper on the bamboo
roller, and then formed a ball of rice in our hands; quickly spread it across
the seaweed paper, and the left a small border one long side. Next was adding a stripe of wasabi paste
using the finger roll method—this also has to be done quickly or one end will
be very spicy with too much wasabi and the other end won’t have any. Next place two strips of tuna side by side to
form a line and begin using the bamboo matt to roll up the sushi log. Once it has been rolled, you want to press
your fingers over the mat to make it more of a rectangular shape. The knife is then dipped in cold water to
help make a clean cut, and then quickly wipe the knife clean with a damp
towel. While we ate our creations for
lunch, Shin then made a sushi “burrito” filled with eggs, crab, and variety of
other items which we also tried. He also
gave us a gift of a sushi calendar, which I have hanging at my office as a good
diversity tidbit.
After our lesson we
headed into Tokyo and strolled through the gardens of the Meiji Shrine. Afterwards we walked through the Harajuku main drag and
surrounding neighborhood. This was an
area with interesting people watching.
Some of the girls dress up like dolls and characters. Strolling down the street was a bit of
sensory overload, lots of shops and signs with many colors and Japanese
characters and people everywhere. We
eventually found ourselves walking through a more upscale residential and
retail area that wasn’t as crowded. We
stopped by a French style café, Café
Anniversaire, for dinner. We sat
outside, and felt like we on a sidewalk in Paris instead of Tokyo. I enjoyed some champagne, and had some
prosciutto and cheese crostini for my dinner.
Scott and OMC had a salmon salad sandwich, and a prosciutto salad.
 |
| Sake barrels at Meiji Shrine |
 |
| Meiji Shrine |
 |
| Meiji Shrine |
Hiroshima:
Wednesday—Day 5
Wednesday morning was an early start since we were going to
Hiroshima. We finally began using our JR
Rail pass to take the Shinkansen bullet train to Hiroshima. When we arrived at the Hiroshima train
station, we took a quick cab ride to our hotel, the ANA
Crowne Plaza, which was conveniently located near the A-Bomb Dome and Peace
Memorial park and museum. We quickly
learned that Asian style beds have very hard mattresses. Historically the Japanese slept on tatami
mats, and it’s only been since the war that they began to use western style
beds.
After freshening up, we strolled along the river and made
our way to see the A-Bomb Dome. This is one of the few structures that
survived the Atomic bomb, and this is the only building that was kept, as a
reminder of that time. We noticed there
were several groups of Japanese school children visiting on a field trip. A group of them, ran up to me and asked if I
would answer some questions for their school project. They wanted to know where I was from, what I
thought of Hiroshima, my name, and what are popular foods and sports in my
country. I was then approached by many
more students, and they had a different school project. Their project was asking people to write
peace messages. I think I wrote at least
20 peace messages. Afterwards Scott and
OMC laughed, because the kids first saw them, but then saw me and my blonde
hair and decided to run up to me instead. I had wanted to walk through more of the peace
park, but I saw how many school groups were over there waiting on their tour
buses, and was worried I’d never make into the museum before it closed, because
I’d be writing so many peace messages.
 |
| A-Bomb Dome |
 |
| Peace Memorial |
 |
| Peace Walk |
Peace
Memorial museum was a very moving experience, just thinking about what
happened that August day and the days that followed. I didn’t feel guilty as an American, but more
just sad that such a devastating event had to occur. I’m sure that at the time it wasn’t an easy
decision to make, and that there weren’t any good options. The museum had models of the city before and
after the bomb. We learned that that the
two of the reasons why Hiroshima was a target was that it was a military
stronghold, but more importantly, there were not any American POWs in Hiroshima. Also there were no air raids on Hiroshima, so
that it would be easier to see the full impact of the bomb. The museum had letters from Albert Einstein
written to US government with his hypothesis of what the impact would be. Also on display were many letters written
over the years by the mayors of Hiroshima to various governments asking them to
stop nuclear testing and remember what happened to Hiroshima. On display were many artifacts, stories, and
testimonials of what happened that day.
One photo was a man’s shadow that had been preserved on the sidewalk, a
watch that stopped ticking at the exact moment, among other things. It was expected that nothing would grow there
for 75 years, but the next spring despite everything being charred and black,
the plants started to sprout again as if nothing happened and it provided a
renewed sense of hope. However it was
sad to read about the birth defects that resulted and the large increase of
cases of children with leukemia in the years that followed.
Afterwards we had dinner at Ristorante
Mario, which was across from the museum and recommended by the guide
book. We had seen quite few Italian
restaurants so far in Japan, and decided to give it a try. One thing that was interesting is that
everyone there was Japanese. Usually at
home the owner of the Italian restaurant has some Italian ancestry, but that
was obviously not the case here.
However, the food was very delicious, and surprisingly authentic despite
our location. We all started with the Caprese
salad, which consisted of arugula, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and ricotta cheese
with balsamic vinaigrette. For my entrée
I had fettuccini pasta with prosciutto, and a cream sauce, followed by a
dessert plate of a sorbet and chocolate tart.
I also had some prosecco with the meal.
It was quite chilly and windy that evening so we decided to
spend our evening at the hotel bar instead of walking around the city. I had the most delicious and beautiful tea
presentation. I ordered the chamomile
tea, which was brought to me in a clear glass tea pot, which had chamomile
flowers floating in the tea. In addition
a base with a tea light was provided to keep the tea warm.
Miyajima Island &
Fukuoka: Thursday—Day 6
This was one my favorite days on
the trip and the main activities were so different from each other that it felt
like two days. We started our morning by
using our fabulous JR Rail Pass to travel to Miyajima and then took the JR
Ferry to Miyajima
Island (shrine Island). The ferry
ride over had a beautiful view of the floating O-Torii. Upon arrival we made our way to the Itsukushima-jinja
shrine. We made our way through the
shrine along the water enjoying the view of the beautiful fall foliage along
the way. After taking a few token
tourist photos, we then made our way into the hills to see the Daisho-in Buddhist
temple. The walk through the hills was
amazing; taking in nature, seeing more beautiful fall colored leaves, and the
view of the water from up high. The
temple was my favorite event of the day.
The sights and sounds were so unique.
As I entered the property I was greeted with a cup of tea. The temple grounds were full of garden paths
and several caves that were each their own little shrine. Afterwards we made our way down the hill and
had some delicious street food of chicken, beef, and pork.
 |
| Floating O-torii at Itsukushima-jinja shrine |
 |
| Itsukushima-jinja shrine |
 |
| Itsukushima-jinja shrine |
 |
| hillside path to Daisho-in Buddhist temple |
 |
| Daisho-in Buddhist temple |
 |
| Daisho-in Buddhist temple |
 |
| Daisho-in Buddhist temple |
 |
| Daisho-in Buddhist temple |
 |
| Daisho-in Buddhist temple |
 |
| yummy street food |
After Miyajima Island we used our JR Rail Pass to take the
train to Fukuoka and attend a sumo
tournament. Sumo was much slower than I
was expecting. They spend more time in
their prep routine trying to intimidate each other than actually
wrestling. The prep for each match was
several minutes and the match itself was 30 seconds to a minute.
 |
| sumo match |
 |
| sumo match |
 |
| sumo match |
 |
| sumo match |
Iwakuni & Kyoto:
Friday—Day 7
We started our day with a quick trip to Iwakuni, to see the Iwakuni
bridge. The bridges construction mimics
a stone skipping across the water and makes it easy to cross during a flood.
 |
| Iwakuni bridge |
 |
| Iwakuni |
 |
| fall leaves at Iwakuni |
 |
| Iwakuni bridge |
Then we were on our way to Kyoto, which turned out to be our
favorite city on the trip. Our hotel,
the New
Miyako Hotel was conveniently located across the street from the train
station. After checking in we purchased
a city bus
day pass and rode over to see Kiyomizu-dera. Afterwards we went to the Gion district, walked
around, and then strolled down the lovely Pontocho alley. Pontocho is lined with restaurants and bars,
and OMC took us a fabulous place for dinner called Issian
Pontocho. Our waitress, Alex, is a
high school student, but her English was so American she had to be from the US
and we found out grew up in Los Angeles until she was 9, at which time her
parents decided to move back to Japan.
Our dinner consisted of several courses that were cooked on a large hot
stone on our table. We had shrimp,
scallops, chicken thighs and necks, pork, beef, and veggies. All the pieces were small and could be easily
eaten with chop sticks.
 |
| Kiyomizu-dera |
 |
| Kiyomizu-dera |
 |
| Kiyomizu-dera |
 |
| Kiyomizu-dera |
 |
| Kiyomizu-dera |
Kyoto in the Rain:
Saturday—Day 8
Our second day in Kyoto was very unique not only in the
places that we visited but also the weather, which turned out to be very
rainy. Had I been at home in Houston I
would have spent the day napping on the couch, but I had to be a good tourist and
see everything Kyoto had to offer, rain or shine. Also OMC’s friend, Julie, had been in Tokyo
for work and she met us in Kyoto that morning.
We started our sightseeing by walking through the thousands
of Torii gates at Fushimi-Inari. The rain was more of misty sprinkle and we
felt prepared with our rain jackets and umbrellas. During the torii gate walk we thought about
what a cool date spot this would be, but wondered if the Japanese viewed it
that way since the walk was technically a shrine.
 |
| Fushimi-Inari |
Next we made our way to the Gekkeikan Okura Sake
Museum and Brewery. The rain was a
little stronger but not enough to slow us down.
A few times we looked like super tourists as we kept checking our maps
trying to find it. Even though the sake
museum exhibits had Japanese captions, we were able to get the gist of the
history and process of sake making. At
the end we had the opportunity to sample two kinds of sake and some plum
wine. I’m not a sake fan, but I did like
the plum wine. Fortunately Spec’s
carries their products so we can enjoy some at home.
Afterwards we hopped on the city bus to make our way over to
Jonan-gu shrine
and gardens. We debated whether or not
to change our plans to an indoor activity, but decided since we were already
wet we might as well keep going. We did
not know what wet was at this time. As
we walked, the rain began pouring. We
were soaked and since there weren’t any tourists out and about due to the
weather, there were no cabs in sight. As
we approached the gardens, we said they better be the most beautiful gardens
we’ve seen, and thankfully they were which made the rain worth it. In an
attempt to escape the monsoon we eventually found a taxi to take us to local
subway station.
When we got back to the hotel, Scott and I changed into dry
clothes and then had a very late lunch at the hotel restaurant. I knew if I took a nap, I’d be ruined for the
day so I had to keep moving. This was
our opportunity to have a date night on the trip. I was determined to have some Kobe beef,
especially since we were so close to the town of Kobe. Our Google searches found two places in the
Gion district with rave reviews, Grill
Miyata and Hafuu. We decided on Grill Miyata, as it sounded
like a delicious hole in the wall, where a Mr. Miyagi type man would cook us a
fabulous meal, and tell us about Japan.
The bloggers all said it would be difficult to find, but we did our
research, walked down the street and found it right away only to find out it
was closed. Neighboring business gave us
the impression it was closed for good.
So that meant plan B, dinner at Hafuu.
At this point we couldn’t use our iphones map app since we
had no wifi, but I thought I had recalled it being located along the
river. After walking around with no
luck, we decided to wander through Gion’s main streets. I spotted an iphone store and knew they would
have internet on a display ipad. I
walked in and asked if anyone spoke English, and attempted to tell the store
clerks about our restaurant search.
Miraculously they found the website, address, and map for Hafuu on their
ipad. However their attempts to draw a
map with only lines for streets and no words really had me worried. So I asked them to write the name and address
in Japanese so we could give it to a cab driver. We found a cab, and I showed the driver the
address card and our wordless map. He
seemed a little unsure, and I thought for sure we would end up driving in a
circle only to get out where we started.
He began driving and turned occasionally where I thought the map might
have directed. One of the final turns
was down a quiet dark street, he stopped the cab to ask a man closing up shop
if he knew where the restaurant was (no man in the US would ever dare stop to
ask directions…I couldn’t believe it).
The stranger indicated it was just a little further down the street and
within seconds we had finally arrived at our destination.
We walked into Hafuu and had the option to sit at a table in
the dining room or have counter service.
We opted for the counter so we could see the action in the kitchen. We ordered the Kobe beef dinner set which
came with several courses, at this point a month later I don’t remember much
except they were all yummy but the Kobe beef was the star attraction. Only two cuts were offered, the sirloin and
tenderloin, we ordered one of each and they split both on our plates so we
could sample both. By far the most heavenly
tasting steak I’ve ever had with the exception of Killen’s Kobe beef which is a very
close tie. We had a nice chat the Hafuu
owner, who told us he briefly attended college in Florida for a year and then
returned to Japan. He and his wife own
two Hafuu locations, and their other location is the one on trip
advisor, etc and wondered how we found their “local” location. We told them about our story. At the end of the meal, the owner called a
cab for us, and he and his wife escorted us outside to make sure the driver
knew where to take us.
Kyoto: Sunday—Day 9
Luckily for us the weather cleared up for our last day of
sightseeing in Kyoto. We purchased a Kyoto
sightseeing pass which gave us unlimited on/off privileges on the city
buses and Kyoto subway for the day. This
was a full day as we made it to five temples, which was great so I could enjoy
all my nature walks.
- Golden Pavilion
- Ryoanji temple
- Ninna-ji temple
- Nijo castle
- Silver pavilion and philosopher’s path
 |
| Golden Pavilion |
 |
| Ryoanji Garden of Infinite Learning |
 |
| Ninna-ji |
 |
| Nijo Castle |
 |
| Silver Pavilion |
We had some time to kill before catching our train back to
Tokyo, so we ventured to Pontocho in Gion and first stopped at the Stardust
Club, which was teeny tiny, dark, full of smoke, and the walls were covered
with Jazz/Blues posters. We stayed for a
drink and then went down the street to try another bar Fly Me to the Moon. This
bar was also teeny tiny, but had a massive drink menu. As a rule everyone had to order a drink, I
guess this was the seat fee.
Finally it was time to go, so we made our way to Kyoto
station, and grabbed some “gas station snacks” for dinner. I had some pretz to snack on and Scott purchased
pretz and chu-hi.
Oddly, one of my favorite Japan experiences was on the train
ride home. On the local train from Tokyo
to Zama, a group of drunken 25 year old Japanese guys entered our subway
car. They had a box of pizza, and upon
seeing us started yelling “Oh Shit!”.
Apparently drunk is the same everywhere.
We had a good laugh, and they sat with us talking to us in English and
wanting to share their pizza. One guy had an app on his phone that he typed in
Japanese and it translated to English so he could communicate with us.
Tokyo: Monday—Day 10
After getting back to Tokyo late the night before, we had a
late start to our day. We were also a
man down as someone had too many Chu-His the night before.
We started the day with lunch on the base. At this point we needed a break from eating
Japanese food and wanted something more comforting. I had Mexican food, pork carnitas tacos,
which were very tasty.
After lunch we made our way to Yokohama, and our first stop
was the Cup
Noodles Museum. This was a fun
experience to learn about the creation of ramen noodles and industry
history. It was also another example of
how the Japanese think about what best for the group instead of the individual,
as the ramen noodle inventor eventually disclosed his patent, in order for the
industry to make better products. Next
we went to Landmark
Tower observatory, to the view of Yokohama lit up at night. Then we strolled through Yokohama’s China Town. At first glance I thought it looked just like
everything else, but after taking a closer look, I noticed that the torii gates
were red and more ornate than the traditional Japanese torii gates.
Finally we were hungry and ready for dinner; our first few
restaurant attempts were unsuccessful as many restaurants were closed on
Mondays. We ended up at a quaint Spanish
restaurant named Primero. Of course the
staff was Japanese, but our waiter actually spoke more Spanish than English! I was delighted by this as I could actually
communicate and practice my Spanish. Surprisingly
the rest of group spoke very little Spanish, so I had the chance to play “tour
guide” and translate the menu, plus order more drinks as needed. Everything we ordered was very tasty, and
compared to tapas I’ve had in Spain or at other Spanish restaurants in the US,
surprisingly authentic. I kept my order
simple with sangria, queso manchego (manchego cheese),jamon de serrano
(Serrano ham), and gambas al ajillo
(shrimp w/ garlic). OMC ordered a bacon
wrapped plantain concoction that she was fabulous, maybe I’ll try to duplicate
it at home one of these days.
Tokyo & Houston:
Tuesday—Day 11
Our last day was bittersweet, I was wishing I had extended
our trip through Thanksgiving so we could stay longer, but it was time to go
home. Kyle treated us to base tour and showed us some F-18s. Then he and OMC escorted us to the train
station so we could catch the Narita Express to the airport (our JR Railpass
covered the Narita Express too!).
 |
| F-18 |
One thing that surprised me about the airport was that we
didn’t have to take off our shoes when we went through airport security. On the flight home we watched the second half
of Mad Men season 1, did some reading, napping, and 11 hours later we were back
in Houston.
We were glad to be home sleeping in our own bed but
regularly think of our trip and continue to observe and discuss cultural differences
and ways we could benefit from Japanese customs. Hopefully we can go back to Japan and
continue to see more of the beautiful country.
