Just got back from a 12 day trip to Japan and had a wonderful time. The weather was great, food terrific, and people fantastic. This is just a summary of where I went and what I did. Stayed in Kyoto the first two days and visited Nijo, Imperial Palace, Ginkakuji, Sanjusangendo, Gion Corner show. Went on to Koyasan for a one night stay at Sekishoin. Took a guided tour with the Koyasan Interpreter guide club. The momiji was beautiful. Then went on to Onomichi where I rode a bike thru part of the Shimanami Kaido bikepath to the island of Ikuchijima. Took a bus to Imabari where I caught a train to Matsuyama. Rode the Botchan train and had a soak at Dogo Onsen there. From Matsuyama, I took the superjet ferry to Hiroshima and hopped over to Miyajima for one night. Stayed at Iwaso ryokan. Went back to Hiroshima and stayed two nights. Visited the peace memorial and had some great okonomiyaki. Spent the last night in Kyoto. It was fun but I was exhausted at the end of the trip.

You're killing me!!

Details, we want details (and can you break into paragraphs for easier on the eyes reading??)

angethereader: Sorry no details. I had a website where I posted pics and a daily diary of what I did. It worked out great since I was traveling alone. Just a little background, I'm a sansei(3rd generation) from Hawaii. I went to Japan last year and enjoyed it so much. This is just an excerpt from my first day there.

Well, the adventure begins. Landed on that floating-sinking place again, Kansai airport. For some reason, that 8 hour flight went by excruciatingly slow. I must have been anxious to get here or something. The flight was enjoyable though, 60,000 redeemed miles for a biz class seat on UAL. Plus, the plane was empty. Only 2 people in 1st class and 5 in the biz cabin.

My brain has started to upload all the japanese words I know, which is not gonna take long. My ears are ready to hear a thousand "irrashaimases" and my mouth is ready to say ten times more "nihongo wakarimasens". I also brought along a tripod so that I can take more "I was there" pics.

This time I know the drill at immigration. I go thru the foreigner line which was pretty long. It's slower cuz a lot of people do not fill out their embark/disembark card properly. I get some yen at one of the exchanges there(115/$) and take the Haruka express to Kyoto Station. From there, I caught a cab to the Royal Hotel. Made it in record time without a hitch, just like a native.

I check in and immediately go to Tagoto Honten, a restaurant close to the hotel. This is where I had that good misogi soba last year and caused a commotion when I left a tip. I order the misogi soba and the waiter rattles something off in nihongo. I ask "arimasen?" He finally gets me to understand that they ran out of the misogi soba flour and are just using regular soba. I order it anyway and say "nama biru(draft beer) onegaishimasu, okii(large) desu". He hesitates and in his best english says "small or middle". I tell him give me a "middle". Anyway, the soba was great and the tab was 1638Y, no tip.

I catch my second wind and take a cab down to Gion Corner where they have nightly performances of the japanese arts..tea ceremony, koto, flower arrangement, gagaku, kyogen, kyomai, and bunraku. Kind of touristy but gives you a good flavor of what they are like. Only lasted 50 minutes.

This might be too much "details" for you.

No, it's not too much detail for us, thanks.

kawa:

are you kidding.....we loooooove all the details!!!

I'm from Oahu too so I felt just like you the first time I went to Tokyo trying to remember my 6th grade Japanese class lessons on the plane and then being overwhelmed by it all. Luckily living in Hawaii really prepares you for Japan in a way that no other state does.

Bochan train, lol.....love it.

Great start! More more more

Aloha!

ooo, this is going to be good.

more please.

Okay, so you want more details huh? Here is an excerpt from my 2nd day.

My first day of sightseeing turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. Temps are in the low to mid 70s. I've been surprised how warm it is actually. At night, it gets into the low 60s, hardly any wind so no chill factor.

The concierge told me that the Imperial Palace is open to the public from Nov. 1-5. You usually have to make an appointment to visit there. It turned out perfect cuz it is located between Nijo and Ginkakuji, places I had planned to visit today.

Caught the Karasuma subway close by my hotel for Nijo Castle. It was built in 1603 as the residence for the first Tokugawa shogunate, Ieyasu. This is where they have the famous nightingale floors that squeaked to alert them of intruders. I toured inside Ninomaru Palace. Impressive. There's a lot of rooms and paintings on the walls. Incidentally, the floors do still squeak. The grounds of the castle are pretty big, with a big moat surrounding part of it.

Took the subway again with one transfer to the Imperial Palace. This is another on that burned down a few times. There were huge crowds of people, mostly older in age coming out of the woodwork. You have to pass thru a security checkpoint to get in. I just lined up and went with the flow. Didn't want to disturb the "wa". There is a specific route that you have to follow and guards all around. I took my pics and was glad to get out of there.

It took me awhile to get my bearings to find the Imadegawa St. bust stop to Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion. The Ashikaga shogun wanted to put silver on it as a counterpart to the Golden Pavilion but never got around to it. This place feels identical to Kiyomizu with the same hilly climb with vendors along the street leading up to it. It is up along a hillside and a bit cooler with all the trees. The grounds were real nice and it was very relaxing after escaping the hordes of the Imperial Palace.

After the long trek today, I wanted to have a nice kaiseki meal so I went to Wakuden at Kyoto Station. It is on the 11th floor of the Isetan Dept. Store They also have a branch in Gion that has kaiseki meals starting from $150 and up. Quite a reputation. It took me almost an hour to find the place. There's a bunch of restaurants and no signs in english. Not even hiragana, which I can read. I had to ask four different workers where it was. Had to be practically led there by the hand.

I get a seat at a large bar counter with a fantastic view of the city. The waitress says they only have a nihongo menu but luckily she can speak a little english and I a little nihongo. I tell her I want a kaiseki set. There are two choices, a 4 course set for 4200Y and a 8 course set for 8400Y. I go for the hachi.

There is a mother and her young daughter sitting next to me. They are amused at my pic taking with every course. After every pic, I turn to the daughter and say "sumimasen". She smiled broadly every time. I try to guess her age and make a complete idiot of myself. I tell her "hachi go sai", which is 8 and 5. I've been watching too much old people on Soko Ga Shiritai. The girl looks confused and her mom stops herself from laughing long enough to tell me she is "ju sai"(10). I take some pics of them and teach them how to do the shaka sign instead of their usual V. Pay it forward. Anyway, it was a great meal made that much better by their gracious company. What a fun night.

ooo, hawaiintraveler will like the review of the kaiseki dinner at Wakuden.

I've never gone to Imperial Palace for the reasons you allude to in your report. I am one of those who did not appreciate Ginkakuji very much. I know the grounds are supposed to be famous. But is it is small and I almost felt a bit clautrophobic after having gone to Kiyomizudera, which is so nicely spread out and large, on a previous trip.

so what happened on the 3rd day. Is that when you went to Sanjusangendo? Another poster on here was going to go there but she never posted a trip report, and I really want to hear baout it.

sorry for the letter inversions. it's a bad habit.

emd: Yeah, sanju was on my 3rd day. Left for Koyasan the day after.

great report. can't wait for more.

makes me want to jump on the next airplane to Japan right away...

ok, we are ready now for day 3. Don't get too stuffed at Thanksgiving to impede your work on the trip report!

I am really getting revved up to go back now, btwn your report and Clark55's.

kawa - thanks, love the details.

so, what were your eight courses, or which was best?

The 8 course meal at Wakuden was excellent. Of course, their presentation was very pleasing to the eye. There were two dishes that stood out. They cored out a lemon and put in some kind of tofu on the bottom. Topped it off with crab mixed with a light tasty sauce. Served it with a bamboo jigger that they filled with sake. Umai! The other one was yuba topped with uni with a light sauce, an excellent balance of flavors. They do not overpower the dish with strong sauces so that you can actually taste the food you are eating. In kaiseki style, the rice dish comes later in the meal. To me with this type of cuisine, you won't get quantity but the quality and presentation are top notch.

emd:

there's that yuba you love soo much, lol

Excerpt from my diary of the 3rd day in Kyoto:

Today was a more mellow day of sightseeing. I was not able to match yesterday's breakneck and breakleg pace. My first stop is Sanjusangendo. The concierge tells me to catch the subway at Sanjo Keihan station, a couple of blocks across the Kamo River from my hotel. I'm supposed to get off at the Shichijo stop but I'm not paying attention and thought I missed it. So I get off and I'm in the middle of nowhere with no familiar landmarks. I ask a couple, an old man, and another lady and nobody knows where Sanju is. I finally find the right person who knows when an obasan comes ambling along on a bike. She is very talkative and practically wants to pack me there on her bike. I can't understand half of what she is saying but get a "masugu" here and a "hidari" there to get me going.. She was a feisty one.

This temple is another one that burned down, what one didn't. You have to take off your shoes to enter the main building. It is very dark and eerie inside. There are 1001 Kannon statues, the buddhist goddess of mercy, lined up in rows. It is an awesome sight to see. Photos are not allowed. The building is very long and they used to have archery contests in the hallways way back then. I think they still have an annual contest.

Sanjusangendo is different from the other tourist spots in Kyoto. There are no vendors who have set up shop here. No street with vendors on either side, no temporary tents on the grounds, just a small gift shop. I thought that to be odd and a bit refreshing.

I then went to the Gion area to browse around. Found the Kyoto Handicraft Center but was in and out of there in 2 minutes. The streets are crowded with people since it's a national holiday, Culture Day. I walked all the way to Nishiki Market cuz I wanted to eat at this 300 year old soba restaurant called Misoka-an-Kawamichiya. I was surprised that I found it so easily. The soba was alright but I still like Tagoto's one better. Actually, Misoka's shrimp tempura was better. Juicy and succulent. Oishii!

Cruised around the Teramachi shopping area and went back to the hotel to talk to Kodama-san, who works at the concierge. She helped me quite a bit last year and always gives me good advice. There's the momiji festival next week in Arashiyama and she told me not to miss it.

I asked her where is a good place for unagi kabayaki, grilled eel. She says that there is this restaurant close to the hotel that has the best unagi in all of Japan. Ok. So I went there for an early dinner. There's a window in the front where you can watch them grill the unagi. Nothing better than grilled unagi, yummy. My order also had some carp sashimi. You have it with a sweet miso sauce. I asked the worker there if they use binchotan charcoal and he said yes. Binchotan is considered the best charcoal in Japan. Any self respecting kabayaki restaurant uses binchotan. It is also used as a deodorizer and filterer. They even put it in when cooking rice to remove the chalkiness. The man there who looked like the owner said that they have been in business for 100 years.

Next up: Koyasan

I think I'm probably the person who emd referred to as having never posted a trip report. I just want to apologize to everyone. Since returning from Japan in August, I worked a combined total of 160 hours of OVERTIME in September and October. I've cut back to just about 20 hours so far this month, but quite honestly, I'm tired and usually just veg out when I get home.

I'm usually not such a flake, so I feel very guilty. I still plan to post something eventually because I think there are a couple of points that would be of interest and be helpful to others. My sincerest apologies for being so tardy.

jlaughs, no personal slight or guilt intended at all. I have been waiting to hear about that shrine and am glad kawa went there in his trip report. I thought you might do a report as you said you would, but then I thought you were gone from the board, as I haven't seen you posting recently but maybe I missed it. No intention re your personal situation, etc. I am just glad to have two good trip reports being posted simultaneously now. This is great.

Emd, the guilt is self-imposed. I feel bad that I haven't posted anything yet.

Btw, my BF wasn't too hot on all the shrines and temples. They made him a bit uncomfortable because it was a little "iffy" whether he was doing something against his religion (Mormon) or not, but Sanjusangendo was his favorite. Well, maybe it was a tie with Kiyomizudera.