Loving the report...looking forward to more!!

"litter was sprinkled all over the beach, mostly the kind that washes up, from plastic bottles to copious amounts of boat lines and buoys and floats"

it's actually the biggest headache for the people living in the coastal areas of japan, especially for residents on the sparsely-populated shores of the Sea of Japan. Because of the ocean currents (Kuroshio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurosh...n_currents.PNG )and the Westerly wind, most of the trashes from Korea/northern China float into the Sea of Japan. City officials in the Chirihama area of Noto, for examle, collect garbage on the beach almost every day as is shown in http://www.47news.jp/localnews/Envir...323170543.html , it's simply impossible to keep up with it (especially when the westerly wind is strong).
http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/zarutoro/...3/2387e607.jpg is a beach on an remote uninhabited japanese island located between western Japan and South Korea, while http://ridinghigh.cocolog-nifty.com/...post-8ed3.html is a beach in the Fukui area (southwest of Kanazawa) Vulnerability to floating garbage differ from place to place, but i stopped swimming in the Sea of Japan 15 years ago because of the worsening situation.

Love the detail you noted, like that cartoony wild animal sight, we decided it was probably a racoon too but we never saw any!

We said the same about the litter, we figured it was being washed in from elsewhere as we've never seen litter on the streets of Japan, people just don't litter. It's one of many aspects of Japan I much appreciate!

As we were there in low season, I figured that there must be much more frequent beach clean-ups in summer when the beaches are full of visitors.

I think we had the opposite experience of Kenruoken, I was expected it to underwhelmed - although I knew it was slated as one of the top 3 in Japan, we'd seen to many wonderful gardens on previous trips that I couldn't imagine what might make it different, even though I'd seen photographs. But in person, I absolutely adored it - I think for me it was the way that every pace I took, ever time I turned even slightly, there was a whole new view, a whole new area of garden with its own little design details - a stepping stone bridge, a rock garden, unusually trained trees... and how the winding paths and winding streams made it seem that the entire garden was so much bigger than it was. We didn't visit the villas or teahouses but I was utterly captivated by the garden!

Loving your report! x

Great report bringing back memories of our last trip to Japan. You were lucky with the weather in Kanazawa. When we were there, it rained 3 days out of 4. And it was cold, to boot.

We loved Kenrouken Garden, even in the rain. And there was a small museum (can't remember the name) in the garden or very near it, that was interesting and kept us out of the rain for a bit.

I'm looking forward to more of your report.

I'm glad you enjoyed Kanazawa. We were there in a downpour our whole three days, but still saw a lot. Next time, I'd stay longer (and see if I can arrange for drier weather).

Enjoying this so much. We leave on Sunday, this is so helpful.

Hi pthomas156! I'm really enjoying your trip report so far! Haven't gotten to read all of it yet - will try to get through more tonight :)

<< I have to thank Rachel from the Fodor Forum for suggesting Backstreet Guides for our first day in Tokyo>> I am so glad you were able to join a Backstreet tour and that you enjoyed it so much!! :D It was a great way for us to see so much of the city in our first few days. Everything we learned from our Backstreet guide was invaluable! So happy to hear you had a wonderful experience with them as well.

Wow, I am really feeling lucky now about our weather in Kanazawa and especially Noto, which wouldn't have been as gorgeous without the sun. Kanazawan, thanks for the info about the beach litter, so interesting. Kavey, you are so right on about the unusually trained trees in Kenrokuen. Japan has also made me appreciate bark (and greenery without flowers) like never before. Rachill, thanks again for Backstreets!

On to the next bit:

April 16 ON TO KYOTO

We rose leisurely, shared a breakfast plate at the Travel Cafe, and were at the train station by 11. The best thing about this train system is that there are so many trains you don't even worry about the schedule. When you want to go, there will be a train for you. Even during cherry blossom season we never made a single reservation in advance. We went to the tourist info center in the station and asked where to find an ATM (7-11 store) and how to get to Kyoto. No bullet train, but the Limited Express took only 2 hours. We had a little trouble figuring out how to buy these tickets on the machines, and the line at the ticket office was long, so we looked for a set of machines with an attendant. The young attendant spoke some English and helped us buy the tickets. We were almost foiled when the machine asked us for our credit card pin, which like most Americans we don't have, but we had just been to the ATM so we had cash. It was about $60 a ticket. The machine was kind of confusing (What are ladies' seats? Turns out there are ladies-only cars) so we were glad we had our helper.

On the platform we showed the attendant our reserved seat tickets to make sure we were in the right place and she showed us where to stand to board Car 2. These marks are precise. We bought some chips at the 7-11 on the platform and had a smooth journey through mountains and hills and farmland to Kyoto.

The Kyoto station is enormous, very modern, packed with the usual food stores. We looked for somewhere to get a snack of maybe sushi, so we walked across the street from the station, but it was 3 pm, an awkward time. Many restaurants close between 3 and 5. We spotted a McDonald's -- would we end up there!? Then we realized there was a vertical mall across the street from Mickey D's, Yodobashi, with a sixth floor full of restaurants that stay open all day for weary shoppers. We picked out a cheap and cheerful modern restaurant, Shirikujicho, whose amazing plastic food display we liked and shared a plate. We followed the menu instructions "how to enjoy rice from a wooden tub." Hilarious. A lot of dishes were various ingredients (raw or cooked fish, pork etc) that came on top of a wooden container of rice. "Enjoying" involved scooping rice into a bowl, placing three condiments in it, tasting it, then adding the main ingredients from the tub. Only about $10.

We grabbed a taxi in front of the mall and showed the driver our map from Hotel Mumé and the name printed in Japanese. He wasn't familiar with this tiny hotel but he found the street in the Gion district (pointing out landmarks in limited English, nice guy), and consulted passersby about the exact location. The staff from Mumé came right out to greet us and staff member Tai checked to make sure the driver didn't overcharge us (he didn't).

Tai whisked us into the dining area in back, settled us into a couple of beautiful old Japanese chairs overlooking the rushing canal out the French doors, and did our paperwork. Then, over coffees, he gave us the 411 on the area marking sights on a map. He went to high school in NZ so his English is perfect, tho with a NZ accent! Haven't had such a thorough briefing since Designer Cottage in Christchurch NZ, ironically. We wanted to just wander around the neighborhood tonight so Tai gave us photo printouts of the front of a couple of local restaurants (we can't read the names in Japanese), and we went to our 4th floor room, Butterfly, to settle in. The hotel has 7 rooms.

Butterfly ($256 a night) is dark with high ceilings and beautiful touches in reds and blacks. The glassed-in bathroom is shiny modern. I almost had a heart attack when the toilet lid automatically raised up when I entered the toilet closet! All Japanese toilets have bidets, but this one was especially elaborate, with a dryer function, water pressure control, even a massage button (couldnt figure that out). Man, do I want one of these!

We dashed down for happy hour cocktails 5-7, and chatted with a young couple from Dallas. They were envious of our long retirement vacations and said they've been alienating their families by traveling over the holidays. I tried sweet plum wine, which I loved, but I was suddenly feeling a little indigestion. Too much eating maybe! We relaxed in our room for a while then went out to explore.

The Gion is a beautiful historic geisha-entertainment district with lots of old wooden houses and cobblestone streets. This was Saturday night and a party atmosphere was pervasive. Lots of men roaming around and lots of ladies clubs with fancily dressed ladies out front. What were these exactly? Bars everywhere, on the fourth and fifth floors of newer buildings. Taxis and expensive cars with drivers waiting in various places too. We even passed a horse meat restaurant, good grief. I was just not hungry. So Chris picked out one of the few restaurants with a couple of tables outside, which turned out to be mostly Italian, Japanese-style. I had a pizza roll and a Coke, my go-to stomach remedy, and he had some sort of rice ball covered with egg maybe and a fruity sauce. Odd but he finished the whole thing. I could hardly wait to go to bed, tho I had dropped a bit of pizza grease on my pants and I had to search a Family Mart for spot cleaner and then wash my pants. They're my favorites! Walked 4.5 miles today.

April 17 EXPLORING KYOTO'S TEMPLES

It rained til almost noon. We had breakfast at 8:15 and went back to bed. Chris slept while I did my journal. When the sun broke out, we left for a walking tour of the southern Higashi area. Tai looked at our map and suggested a route and what not to miss. We walked first to the grand Chion-in Temple, with one of the biggest gates in Japan. Impressive! Lots of people, it being a nice Sunday. We walked all around the buildings and the very cool cemetery and saw the 70-ton bell that they ring on special occasions. Huge. Much bigger than Liberty Bell. We were lucky to find a monk doing a prayer service so we watched for a while. We then made our way over to the temple down the street, Shoren-in, which was much smaller but had a nice garden and they let you ring their bell. Which I did.

We followed the crowd to matcha ice cream; lots of vendors selling food. Tour groups everywhere. Rickshaw guys were pulling tourists around. A lot of girls and couples in traditional wear having their picture taken. The buildings looked historic and had lots of interesting detail. We spotted a cafe with a rare table outside, Cafe Gion, and stopped in for a coffee ( me) and Kyoto brand beer (Chris). Pear tart to share. Great people watching. Loved it. As we were walking home we saw a crane land in the street one over from ours, dubbed "the most beautiful street in Kyoto." We later learned the cranes hang out in a tree on that street and we would see them often. They stand for good luck and a long life!

We wandered back through the Gion to Mumé, arriving in time for happy hour. We met Dave and Judy from California, whom we would become friendly with over the next few days. Full of humor and common sense. We bonded over our crazy tales of negotiating houses and moves in retirement (and getting rid of so much stuff that we hate to buy anything when we travel).

We took off for a sushi bar across the river from Gion, Kappa Zushi. We walked over across the bridge, which was a lively spot with people hanging out and sitting along the river banks. On the other side was a six-story building completely lit up with diners in each glass "box." Interesting design! We turned right as soon as we crossed, into a narrow street stuffed with restaurants on both sides. Sushi, beef, everything. Some employees outside luring customers. But we didn't see our restaurant. Mumé had printed a picture of the front so we could find it. We thought it was supposed to be close to the turnoff, but people that we showed the picture to kept waving us farther and farther down the street. Finally we found it!

We had counter seat reservations so we could watch the chefs. Lots of foreigners in this restaurant, but some Japanese. The sushi selections were exciting. Various levels of fatty tuna, which they weren't out of like in the US. Surprised that one of my favorites was spring onion. Japan has a way with onions. We had high grade fatty tuna, fatty tuna with leeks, a fatty tuna roll, horse mackerel, konbu with cod roe, sea bream from wakasa, and ark shell (our server's favorite; it was a chewy shellfish, very good). And probably more. It was $68.

Walked back home thru lots of nightlife and girlie bars on that side of the river. Our side, which had been chaos on Saturday night, was much calmer on Sunday. Walked 7.5 miles today. Back in the room, we found that our toilet has become like a pet. We greet it when we go in and it turns on a light and opens its "mouth."

April 18 ARASHIYAMA AND CHRIS'S BIRTHDAY BBQ


Chris's birthday! A lovely elaborate breakfast once again, with potato soup. They make everything from scratch at Mumé. The croissants, the spinach rolls that look like leaves, even the yogurt in a Toshiba yogurt making machine. It tastes almost like sour cream, delicious. Nana gave us detailed instructions on getting to Arashiyama by taking the train and changing.

We walked to the station right across the river, the first we'd seen that had ticket instruction signs posted in English; the key is to put your money in the machines FIRST to buy a ticket. That helps a lot. It was a quick ride there. Nana had advised us to take a cab up to the top of our planned route and walk down it back to the station. Good plan. It was about a $12 ride, well worth it. The trail was scenic instantly, with beautiful historic farmhouses with thatched roofs and big gates and intriguing landscape. We found the map wasn't to scale, which led to some confusion. We finally found the first temple on our list, Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, which was sneakily hidden up a flight of stairs from the road. It was the paupers' temple, where a monk has gathered hundreds of gravestones to commemorate this place for those who have no graves. Our guidebook said it wasn't a must, but we found it pretty stunning. There's also a sweet tiny temple for unborn children. Took lots of photos.

The route has some tasteful restaurants and shops along it, and today few people seemed to be walking it with us at this point. In one shop a lady gave me tea to walk around with and admire her handbags, etc. The route itself, with pretty private homes, is as scenic as the temples.

We stopped at Jojakko-ji Temple which also doesn't get much press but had the benefit of a beautiful uphill walk that led to a really nice observation point over the whole city. Well worth the climb. The moss everywhere and other small features were fun. We skipped a temple known for its moss garden because it seemed to be about a 10-minute walk off the route. So we sort of picked and chose. Each temple or garden had an admission fee of $5 or $10.

Finally we got to the famous bamboo grove. It truly was mobbed, and that took away from the experience I must admit. It was beautiful tho, with the pale color of the trees enchanting. It would be a good idea to see it early or late. We headed back to the river through an area of town filled with restaurants and shops. Quite a contrast to most of that peaceful country trail. The shops were fun tho -- one was all about cats -- and the food shops were doing samples. We opted for strawberry ice cream and crossed the pretty river back to the train station. By tonight, it would be an 8-mile day.

Back at Mumé, the staff was well aware of Chris's birthday. At happy hour, owner Hisako kindly popped a bottle of champagne in his honor and we and other guests shared and toasted. The perfect touch. We chatted with Hisako for a while. She's owned Mumé for 7 years. She tells an hilarious story about how she was a typical Japanese princess daughter whose main skill was shopping. The relatives were saying it was time to get serious. She thought she might be good at running a small hotel because she herself was a picky customer. With her dad's help she bought the building we were sitting in. She said he was really taking a chance on her. But truly, she has made him proud. She has the highest reviews on Tripadvisor. Personally, we have never seen service like Hisako makes sure Mumé provides. It's like it's her personal responsibility to make sure you have a wonderful time in Kyoto, including outside the hotel. This attitude pervades the entire staff. They cannot do enough for you. Like Fuwari, Hisako is an artist.

Soon it was time to be off to Hiro, the BBQ restaurant that Mumé had made reservations for a couple of weeks ago. We had a lovely private room for this manly birthday meal. Our lovely young server in a kimono came in with the menu and brought us sake. She showed us the wall phone that we could use to call for her. Chris was the master chef tonight with the option of ordering anything he wanted. Hence the meal was meat and pickles. A super plan! He chose some regular exquisite beef, then moved on to cow's first stomach (as opposed to second or third or fourth, also offered). Surprisingly good. We had a few other meaty items including my favorite, marinated rib meat. God bless the Japanese, they have no fear of tasty fat. So so flavorful. Dinner was what we considered a low $97.

Hotel Mume! <3

Your stories are bringing back so many wonderful memories! Really enjoying the reports!

The rest of Kyoto:


April 19 THE ZILLION ORANGE GATES, GEISHAS, AND A MICHELIN STAR

Had a late breakfast, 9:15. Broccoli soup today. Talked to Tai and to Judy, our new happy-hour buddy, and decided to skip the train trip to the town of Nara tomorrow in favor of more Kyoto. Judy said Nara was so mobbed yesterday she didn't even bother with the long line for the big Buddha which is the main thing to see. We still haven't seen the Golden Pavilion or walked the Philosophers Path in Kyoto.

By 11 we were finally heading out the door to Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine and its orange gates. Tickets were only 210 from Gion station and we were there quickly. The street up to the shrine is filled with intriguing street vendors. But we pressed on to the shrine, which is dedicated to the god of rice and sake and is a gorgeous eye-popping orange. The buildings are just beautiful, but the most popular attraction is the thousands of gates that wind up into the hills. You can walk through them for as long as you want -- you could easily make a day hike of this. As you walk, the crowds walking with you begin to diminish (easier to take gate pix farther up) and you see a pond, statues, and lots of little shrines. We limited ourselves to about an hour's walk.

On the way back to the train we fortified ourselves from the street vendors, who were selling everything you could imagine. The tiny perfect octopi on a stick were photo-worthy but we went with quail on a stick, a regional specialty. Small whole quail were BBQ-ed on a stick, and the vendor slides it off, cuts it up, and gives it to you in a takeaway dish. Very tasty and crunchy. We weren't sure whether to eat the tiny head, so we didn't, but later we learned it's edible. In one storefront, a man was using metal molds to make a kind of crisp cookie in the shape of a fox's face; the fox is considered the messenger to the god of grain foods, and fox statues are all over the shrine. We couldn't resist this pretty treat.

We had to be back because we had late afternoon tickets to Miyako Odori, a theatrical performance by both apprentice and veteran geishas. It is held annually in April, during cherry blossom season, and is a very big deal. Mumé had sent us an email weeks ago, asking if we wanted them to get us tickets. We opted for the best tickets at about $40 apiece, which included a tea ceremony. The tea ceremony has turned into a herd-'em-in event where we could hardly see the two geishas doing the ceremony from the back of the big room where we were seated, and we downed our tea and small cake and hoped the performance would be better.

The performance, only an hour long, was stunning. The group works for six months on newly designed kimonos for this event, and the sight of all these geishas doing traditional dances and playing instruments and singing in this amazing colorful garb against beautiful theatrical scenery was something I'll never forget. The theater rents English audio guides so you can better understand the performance, which I highly recommend. Our seats were in the second row (thank you Mumé!) of the large theater at Gion Corner. All around us were mostly locals who were well-dressed for this occasion. I was especially impressed by the elegant, understated kimonos worn by some of the local women, a clear step up from the $35 rented kimonos we'd been seeing everywhere.

When we got back to Mumé we said to the staff that we had just run into Dave and Judy getting out of a cab to their restaurant for tonight. Then we went in to happy hour. Pretty soon Hisako was at our side wanting to know exactly where we had seen Dave and Judy. The restaurant had called and said they hadn't shown up. Hisako was very worried, especially because Judy was soon to have knee-replacement surgery and so she didn't have great walking stamina right now. Before you know it, she had dispatched a staff member on a bicycle to go rescue them! Later Dave and Judy said that they couldn't locate the restaurant, down a small street where cabs can't go, even tho they had a photo of it. Imagine their surprise and relief, they said, to see Miyuki from Mumé coming toward them on a bike! She led them right to their destination. Can you imagine any other hotel doing that? We were all agog.

Hisako had already suggested that one of the staff walk us to Nanba, our Michelin-star kaiseki restaurant for tonight, because it's practically down an alley and some guests have had a hard time finding it. We had agreed. So when we came downstairs to take off, Hisako put on her coat. She was going to walk us herself. It really wasn't THAT hard to find; the entrance to the tiny alley was across the street from a Starbucks! But apparently many gpses haven't been able to pin down this one.

This was truly a small place, with counter seats for 8 (maybe 6) and a couple of private rooms. The place was run by the chef and an assistant; his wife, in a kimono, served. Happily, she knew the English names of many ingredients in the many dishes and even had a dictionary to consult. Mumé had made this reservation for us a while ago, and at the time we chose the medium-priced kaiseki dinner, at 10000 yen each (other options were 8 and 15). It is omakase, or chef's choice from the best ingredients available.

The first course was a delicious fish mousse graced by 4 other ingredients. Next up was a piece of poached fish in a lovely broth, decorated with snow pea pods. That was followed by a plate of four different kinds of sashimi. Now the down side to this for me is that I'm always interested in exactly what I'm eating, and sometimes the server was too busy to explain it to us, or to look up some words and we didn't want to be rude by being demanding about every course and garnish (cuz everybody in Japan is so NICE, you know). And I'm writing this by looking at my photos a few weeks later and I can't remember names anyway! The next two dishes were different kinds of roasted fish, one nice and fatty and extra tasty, both accompanied by mystery sides. Now of course all of this was exquisitely presented, as though Michelangelo were going to sit down and paint it. The colors balanced, the textures balanced, the materials of the tiny dishes complemented everything else.

The next dish up won the cute award: two tiny tempura whole fish (sardines?) balanced on each other like they were swimming in the ocean; the pottery they rested on sand- and water-colored. Their teeny faces looked shocked that this was their fate! I was loosening my belt by now, only to face a big shrimp and a small whole squid with artful veggie pieces and a lime green sauce. I wish I could remember the next dish because it looks like a beautiful yellow pudding, but it was something much more complicated I'm sure. Then a bowl of beautiful herbed sticky rice. Finally: dessert! I loved the wine jelly that surrounded this dish of fruit sorbet with mango and blackberry pieces. But the chef wasn't done. Out came dessert number 2. It was Sakura-flavored and beautifully pale pink, but I'm not sure what you'd call it. Then green tea. The chef, who'd been a bit taciturn when we arrived, warmed up as dinner went along and we enthused about his art. At the end of this 2.5 hour performance, he walked us out and gave us a big bow and wave from the alley door.

What a day! (And we had walked 5.5 miles.) The bill with tax and service charge had been about $250. While we liked the dishes and truly admired the chef's skill, we didn't feel we had the knowledge of Japanese cuisine to appreciate this experience to the fullest. If it had been French, we would have. But we were just as bowled over by the much cheaper Fuwari and Hori the BBQ. A word to the wise if you feel like you might be of our ilk. There is much more incredible Japanese food than there is time to eat it!

April 20 GOLDEN TEMPLE AND CAMERA DRAMA

Walked 7.83 miles!

Breakfast began with cauliflower soup and pumpkin rolls studded with pumpkin seeds. Said Goodby to Judy and Dave. We exchanged contact info so they will visit us when they take a cruise out of Miami next winter. They spent $450 on a sushi dinner last night which makes our $258 kaiseki dinner look cheap! They were not happy about that as they didn't feel they were knowledgable enough about sushi to appreciate it.

We were seeing things in two spread-apart areas today, so on the advice of Nana at Mumé we took a cab to the Golden Pavilion in northwest Kyoto, $24. This temple on a serene pond is covered from head to toe in gold-leaf, and as it's a premiere sight in Kyoto, it was mobbed at 11am. Even orange-robed monks were taking selfies in front of it. The pond has lovely islands, perfectly tended in spare Japanese style. Bought a few amulets and admired the gold-flecked sake at one kiosk.

We began walking to Ryoan-ji Temple which is famous for its rock garden. Zen gardens have a lot of dry landscaping, done with artfully arranged and patterned gravel and rocks. We had a map, and after we'd walked a while we decided to grab a cab because according to the map we were only a third of the way there in warm sunshine. Turns out map was out of scale. The cab only had to take us a short way. We paid to get into the rock garden; the temple appears to be an afterthought. The characteristics of Zen gardens are simplicity and restraint, but I must admit the famous garden was a bit anticlimactic. About the size of our small yard in Newport, with about 15 rocks arranged in white gravel raked into various designs. The only color was the moss on the rocks. We were not the most appreciative of this, but it did set us up to look at other such gardens that day which we found more interesting.

At this point I realized I had left my little LUMIX camera in the cab. We quickly went back to the temple's cab line, but ours had left. We explained our dilemma to a driver standing near the head of the line, and he swung into action. He had an app that translates spoken Japanese into English, and he used that to ask us questions. He conferred with another driver and they called some sort of central cab office. I talked to an English-speaking man at central cab. He said they were sending a message to every cab company in Kyoto to be on the lookout for my camera. He took my info and our hotel name.

We asked our original helper to take us across town to the Silver Temple ($22 plus BIG tip for helping us, which he initially declined). In the car, central cab called me back to get a little more info. The cabbie and even I were feeling pretty confident that the camera would be returned. He let us off near the temple. As the afternoon wore on, I did not hear any news.

Apparently there were good intentions for the Silver Temple but it never did get covered in silver like the gold one. It's just a pretty temple that we didn't even go in, but the garden was very cool. It had a patterned sand garden much more impressive than the famous rock garden. The path wound up a short scenic bit into the mountainside; once again the moss was massive. A winding stream was rushing downhill, and the perfection in this country is so complete that a worker was standing on the rocks in the stream sweeping leaves out of it!

The street up to the temple was lined with shops and some eating places. I had a hankering for shrimp tempura so we stopped at the cafe nearest the temple. Bought a few souvenirs (a tshirt illustrating various types of nigiri sushi for our son) as we continued down the street. One store was all about rabbits, which mean various good things here.

The Philosophers Path began right at the end of the street, a beautiful path along a canal, with flowers sprouting on both sides. It was named this because a famous philosopher used to walk this route on his way to the university. You can rent bikes in Kyoto which would be a good idea for this side of town; we saw quite a few tourists on bikes. The path had walkers but was not crowded. On the street next to it were some really nice shops and some cafes that looked good. It took about 45 minutes to walk with a few photo/window-shopping stops. We saw a fancy bridal couple all in white having their photos taken on the path against the weeping cherry trees. The bride had a white dress that was long in the back and had a tutu mini skirt with a pink satin sash in front. I think her bouquet had glitter!

The Nanzenji Temple was quite close, so we decided to end our temple-viewing in Kyoto there. The huge two-story gate was a jaw-dropper; you can go up to to the second story for the view which Chris did. Then we admired the mysterious red aqueduct, eschewed the highly-touted forest walk to the waterfall behind it because we were beat, and I went into the temple or maybe the abbots quarters to see the historic golden tiger artwork but mostly to see the Hojo garden. I was puzzled because you seemed to have to remove your shoes (and pay) to go to the garden but a foreigner explained that you view the garden on boardwalks. The gardens were few but this was unique. Most of them had a dry landscape component and a couple of incredible Japanese maples that were blazing red burgundy in spring. Not a must garden but cool.

We wound our way back the mile or so to Mumé, helped along by a strawberry ice cream cone. At Mumé Tai greeted us with the news that my camera had been found! The central cab had called them to discuss getting the camera back to us. Tai said a cab might drop it off and if not he'd pick it up when he left work and get it to us by morning (what he didn't tell us was the next day was his day off). We collapsed into the river-view chairs for happy hour. Cute bartender (kuyi?) showed us the plum liqueur bottle from France that she had been using to make my plum and soda cocktails. I thought they'd been using plum wine, so now I'm a bit confused.

After a rest in the room, Chris went out to the ATM at 7-11 -- the only place we could find Cirrus, which Tai said was usual -- because we think we need cash for our temple stay in Koyasan. He came back with my camera. The cab company had dropped it off! Amazing. We headed out to dinner at a little down-home place called Kappa. Tai and the staff eat there all the time. It's just a huge counter so people come and go.

A big menu listed lots of small plates for 390 yen, and another menu had sushi and seasonal items and daily specials, all under 980 yen. We ordered a small whole grilled fish that the young couple on the stools next to us had just demolished. They called it "hake" and said it wasn't on the menu but our server wrote it down. We also ordered tempura ray fin (fabulous), BBQ chicken with Welsh onions (3 small tasty skewers -- they do wonders with onions in this country), two pieces of deep-fried pork with green perilla and cheese that came with two really good sauces. After that I ordered two pieces of fatty tuna sushi and two of onion sprouts but they were out of the onions so we subbed mackerel. I think the two fatty tuna were $4, and the pieces overwhelmed the rice cake. We should have been eating here all week! Chris finished up with a glass of local sake. The server brought the glass and a glass bowl-type plate for it to sit in, then she poured out of a big bottle and kept pouring as the sake spilled over the glass and into the bowl! We and the Italians sitting next to us laughed at the drama! An older man sat down in the Italians' place and began talking to us in limited English about Trump. He knew that Trump and Hillary had won the New York primary yesterday. He was pretty astounded by Trump. Chris tried to teach him the word "idiot."

Back at the hotel, our pedometers read 8 miles for the day. Tai had all our train directions for getting to Koyasan printed out for us. Pampering plus. He went over the ins and outs of our several connections. He said to leave our suitcases in our room tomorrow morning and he would forward them on to the Crowne Plaza in Hiroshima, our next stop after Koyasan. It would cost about $10 a bag, and we should pay the hotel in the morning and if it turns out to cost more the hotel will cover it! We would just take backpacks so we don't have to drag our suitcases onto crowded trains and then up the cable car to the temple city. This is a very common thing to do in Japan; there are baggage services and baggage storage places everywhere for people who are traveling by public transport. Hisako said to make sure we take an extra layer because it's colder in the mountains. She and Tai would both be off tomorrow so we said our goodbyes with lots of hugs and Chris telling them he'd never seen service like this anywhere, and he has traveled millions of miles for work.

WONDERFUL. We will be at Mume at the end of our trip. The specifics are so helpful because we were wondering whether we should arrange a guide in advance but it seems like they were very helpful with your itinerary. Did you make any other restaurant reservations in advance besides Hiro?

Your story about the taxi driver returning your camera is one more reason that Japanese taxis are the best in the world!

FromDC, a guide in Kyoto would be fun but because Mumé is so willing to help, you could easily go without. How long will you be there? They can help you sort out what to do when.

Kathie I love the white gloves the taxi drivers wear -- and how clean the taxis are!

Isn't this forum terrific? we will be at Mume for 4 nights. I might get a guide for half a day just to get an orientation. I was in Kyoto and Nara more than 40 years ago, all I remember is the Golden Pavillion, I was there only 2 nights total.

Your report keeps getting better and better. We loved Mume and had our own amazing service stories from Hisako and her excellent staff. Loved the taxis as well. So many great memories. Our two trips are definitely at the top of our list of favorite travel destinations. Thanks so much for all the detail. A great read!

Each time I read this report I get more excited about our upcoming trip!

Outstanding report! Just caught up to your drive along the Noto peninsula and will catch up on the rest shortly. Does anyone know if it's possible to hook up with a day tour along the Noto from Kanazawa? As a solo traveler, I'm not a big fan of driving trips as you don't see much because you're too busy driving. Throw in driving on the left side of the road and I'd rather join a day tour that has been well received by other Fodorites/

MinnBeef, the info center in the Kanazawa train station is huuuuuuuge, as Bernie would say. I bet they would have the answer to one-day tours of the Noto. They certainly did provide a lot of info for people who were driving themselves. I believe the Japan Guide has some info on public transportation there.

Here is my second-to-the-last installment of this report!


April 21 STAYING WITH THE MONKS IN KOYASAN

Breakfast had carrot soup today; very nice but it can't compete with sesame rolls and croissants! My last Mumé breakfast. The yogurt tasted so much like sour cream that even Chris said maybe we should get a yogurt maker. We packed our backpacks.

We set out for the Gion station. I was a little nervous with these connections but Tai had said not to worry. We employed our usual technique of asking the official in the booth near the ticket exit gates where we were supposed to go. We took the Keihan train line to Osaka then an Osaka subway to the train station for Koyasan. The last part was a bit confusing but the gate official said we were right, and on the platform we ran into equally confused Australian 20-somethings who were also going to Koyasan so we all felt better.

The train to Koyasan was not cushy, just a regular commuter tho we'd be on it an hour and a half. It began heading up into tall, misty green mountains; it was a rainy day. The track twisted thru the mountains, a tribute to dynamite and engineering. We saw huge cedar and cypress trees and then a palm variation. Odd. At the last stop, everyone filed out and went right to a cable car train whose tracks were going straight up the mountain at an amazing angle. We squeezed on with everyone else (grateful not to have luggage, those with it were struggling) and the cable car lurched upwards. It was only 5 minutes but it was straight up. Then we exited to a bevy of station officials who looked at everyone's lodging plans and herded them onto city buses (290 yen). This is the only transport between the cable car and the town. Bus 2 dropped us off at the town center, and we stopped in Tourist Info for a map.

The town is like the Vatican City of Shingon or Esoteric Buddhism, a major sect whose beliefs were brought to Japan in 806 by the monk Kobo Daishi. The town now has 117 temples, about half of which accept lodgers. The thing to do here is stay with the monks. Our temple, Henjo-son-In, was a 10-minute walk away, past the town's cafes and shops, and next to the museum. It was sprinkling pretty good now, and we were happy to find the temple easily.

We entered through a beautiful garden, with rocks and patterned sand components, and saw the pretty wooden buildings. A monk greeted us and took our passports, then another monk showed us through the complex to our room. The lodging wing seemed brand new. Ours was a modern tatami room, quite spacious, with a couple of western chairs and table on the porch facing another lovely part of the gardens. Nothing was blooming yet but it was so well planned in textures and shades of green that it was quite delightful. The purple magnolia tree in front of the room next door was just about to burst, as was a reddish rhododendron. Everything is about a month behind here. There was also a low table and two floor chairs in the main room. The monk showed us where the bedding was and said our beds would be made up while we were at dinner. He pointed out our yukatas, which came with padded jackets for these chilly climes. We made tea in the room and had it with a couple of cakes that had been set out for us. It was nicely warm in there!

We could see a beautiful red temple through the trees from our room, so, as it was only 4 and dinner was not til 6, we took a walk. Just as we did, the rain started coming down more heavily, but we persevered. Our temple was directly across the street from the complex with the town's main temples, so we wandered over in the rain through the huge red gate we saw from the room and past a big pond with arching red bridges to a giant pagoda temple that was brilliant orange and white. We climbed the stairs and entered to be confronted by a huge golden Buddha flanked by four almost equally large golden Buddhas. What a sight! Adding to the sumptuous effect were half a dozen pillars painted with characters in brilliant colors. This is easily the most elaborate temple we have seen on this trip. An English sign indicated that it's the tallest building in Koyasan. After that the rain drove us back to our room, where I tried to dry my socks with my electric curling iron.

Our vegan kaiseki dinner (Buddhists do not believe in harming critters) was in a modern japanese-style dining room with western chairs and tables. Our table said "Pamera Thomas" in big letters. We sat down to about 9 different tastes of things in bowls and dishes. We picked up our chopsticks and more food kept coming from the hands of our monk servers. Tempura. Cold soba noodles. My favorite: a square of silky sesame tofu with a dot of wasabi that was so smooth and creamy. The tempura had a dish of salt with it instead of soy. What wasn't delicious was at least interesting and it was all beautifully presented. We had hot sake, which was great on a damp chilly night. We finished with the sweetest honeydew melon.

By 8 we were back in our room. Our futons with pretty pink comforters had been laid out. The pillows had rice or something like it in them! We were not up for the communal bath, so we dressed in our yukatas with the warm jackets and took some self-timed photos -- not selfies. We turned on our pocket wifi and caught up in news and emails and pretty soon it was time to sleep.

April 22 FROM KOYASAN TO HIROSHIMA

We were up at 5:45 and dressed for our 6 am prayer service with the monks. In the temple a few rows of seats were set up in front of a huge altar area. Half a dozen guests were already there. Right on time four monks came out and lit incense and rang bells and chanted in a deep baritone for 40 minutes. One was dressed in navy blue and white and the others wore orange and beige robes. Candles were scattered in the altar area and there seemed to be a gold Buddha in the distance. It was a big altar. When it was over, the Japanese folks knew to follow the monk downstairs and motioned to us to follow. We began stepping on a path of square cloths occasionally stopping to bow to a Buddha statue. After paths to about 6 Buddhas, we were done.

We went right into breakfast. An array of dishes was once again at each place. This time only an additional miso soup arrived. Breakfast wasn't quite as interesting as dinner, but it was pretty.
Then we packed our backpacks and by 9 we had paid -- they let us use a credit card which apparently many don't -- and we were off to sightsee. The first thing we saw outside the big temple complex was a row of monks in straw hats chanting for relief aid for the earthquake victims in the south. I asked Chris to donate so I could take their picture, and he only had a 1000 yen bill -- no coins -- which he wasn't happy to part with. But he did, and I took the pix. Hey, it was for eathquake victims!

It was a lovely dry morning. We walked to the famous town cemetery, which is the other big sight in town besides the temples we had seen yesterday. The easiest thing would be to take the bus or a taxi to the top of the long cemetery and walk back down to town. But signs said it was 2 kilometers to somewhere in the cemetery so we decided to walk. We strolled past several of the temples I had seen mentioned in tripadvisor and couldn't get into. They looked beautiful, similar to ours.

The cemetery was fabulous, full of tall, ancient cedars and cypresses sheltering more than 200,000 tombstones of every kind. The moss was everywhere, glowing bright green on headstones and statues and trees. Some gravestones were centuries old. The paved path wound through all of this and the statues climbed up the mountainside under the forest. In the morning mist, we felt like we should be looking for Hobbits. Lots of the small statues had bibs on them, asking for care for children. Not too many people; no tour groups. Quiet. At the top was a bridge with tall statues. People lined up to throw ladles of water on these gods to help their deceased relatives.

At the very top is the Torodo, a sacred pavilion with 10,000 lanterns, some of which purportedly have been lit for centuries. Regular people were chanting a rosary to the Buddha here. In back of the building was the big attraction: a mausoleum where founder Kobo Daishi is entombed, not dead but eternally meditating while waiting for the arrival of the Future Buddha. Even more people were saying the rosary here, lighting candles and incense; we joined in the latter. This is the only place we experienced people chanting aloud. Apparently every Buddhist wants to be represented, if only by having a lock of their hair buried here, so they will be in line when the Future Buddha comes.

By now it was sunny, and we were peeling off our many layers. We walked back through the new part of the cemetery, where even corporations have tombs (Nissan). All polished granite here, no moss. But it did lead to an exit road and the bus stop, which Chris found in the parking lot across the street. (We saw no taxis.) A bus came in a few minutes and we hopped aboard for the middle of town and a quick tempura-and-rice lunch near the info center. At the stoplight, there's quite a sight: a diagonal crosswalk to the info center as well as the ones forming a square. Had its own directional green man! A nice fellow at the center helped me figure out the transportation scheme to Hiroshima -- one cable car, two trains, a subway, and then the Shinkansen or bullet train. Whew!

But it all worked pretty well. We missed the suggested subway train because there just wasn't enough time to walk to the subway station from the train station. So we consulted one of the helpful info people, and they told us just to buy a ticket and take the next subway to Shin-Osaka for the bullet train. No problem. At Osaka, a huge ticket-agent line for the Shinkansen made us brave the ticket machine on our own. One of the info guys had suggested the 4:30 train but it was only 3:45 and Hyperdia on my phone said there were two Shinkansen in between. So we opted for reserved seats on the 3:59. We showed the tix to a uniformed person, and he said track 20. No problem! It was about 12000 yen for the whole Koyasan-Hiroshima route, with most of it for the bullet train.

The train ride was spring-green pretty through hilly country towns and lots of farms. (I noted this Shinkansen actually had an outlet at my seat, but only one, and my seat mate was using it for his phone.) When we landed at 4:30 it had taken us about four hours to go all that way. The GPS says it would be 6.5 hours to drive.

The street outside the station was thick with baseball fans in bright red shirts that said Hiroshima Carp. It appeared to be opening day of baseball, and the stadium was around the corner. I love that the team is named after koi! We took a cab from the station to the Crowne Plaza; later we learned how easy it would have been to take the tram but we didn't need to figure out yet another form of transport!

The Crowne Plaza is in a great location, around the corner from the Peace Park. We checked in; room 1923 had a beautiful view and our bags, delivered from Kyoto. So efficient. For dinner, the front desk recommended a visit to the okonomiyaki street food building, where dozens of stalls specialize in dishing up Hiroshima's soul food, but we wanted more sushi. Sushi Tei was an interesting 8-block walk away, down a narrow street. It was just a counter (on the first floor at least) with about 20 seats, all locals. But it had an English menu available. A tank full of swimming fish was right behind the two sushi chefs who seemed delighted to deal with us. We wrote down the numbers what we wanted. Broiled conger eel sashimi, fatty tuna, ark, delicious horse mackerel, abalone. Bill was $60 with two beers and hot sake.

We walked back past the Atomic Dome, illuminated at night. Under a full moon, the ruin of what essentially was Hiroshima's tall convention center was hauntingly beautiful. The bomb exploded 600 meters almost directly above it and left some stone walls standing. People from around the world contributed to finance its preservation as a wish that all such weapons be eliminated. For a complete contrast, we then walked down one of Hiroshima's pedestrian streets full of shops and cafes, buzzing with folks enjoying Friday night. It turned out to be a 7.5-mile walking day.

I hope you got to try okonomyaki in Hiroshima. We ate it in Okonomyaki Mura-the buildong with 4 floors of tiny restaurants that serve only okonomyaki. It is one of the meals that DH and I still talk about, because it was so delicious and so much fun to sit at the counter and watch them prepare the dish. For us, we felt like we had entertainment while dining.

Hotel Mume absolutely rocks! I had not heard Hisako's story but having chatted with her for the 3 nights I stayed there, I can totally see the whole picky princess thing! I can't wait to stay with them next spring for sakura!