234 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
234 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: "Traveling to 日本"
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draft: true
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date: 2023-01-31T09:28:13-08:00
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---
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At the beginning of April 2023, {{< tess >}} and I traveled to Japan for two weeks.
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## {{< ruby Kyōto ja >}}京都{{< /ruby >}}
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After a twelve hour flight from San Franciso, we landed in Osaka around 2:30 in
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the afternoon on Sunday. We cleared customs, and headed to the {{< ruby Haruka
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ja >}}はるか{{< /ruby >}} Express from KIX to Kyōto. After taking a brief walk
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around the neighborhood to get our bearings, we found dinner at a tiny izakaya
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in an alley on the western side of Kyōto's biggest river, the {{< ruby
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Kamogawa ja >}}鴨川{{< /ruby >}}.
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### Day 2
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The next day we were up bright and early -- thanks jet lag! -- and headed to {{<
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ruby "Fushimi Inari-Taisha" ja >}}伏見稲荷大社{{< /ruby >}} a Shinto shrine
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taking up an entire mountain known for its [sprawling
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pathways][fushimi-inari-torii] lined with bright vermillion {{< ruby torii ja
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>}}鳥居{{< /ruby >}}.
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{{< figures/image name="fushimi-inari-path.jpg" >}}
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We had lunch with Tess' friend and colleague Florian and his wife Namino at a
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nearby spot known for its grilled eel. That afternoon, we walked from our AirBnb
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up to [{{< ruby Kiyomizu-dera ja >}}清水寺{{< /ruby >}}][kiyomizu-dera-post]
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temple, a Buddhist temple in the hills on the east side of Kyoto, then wandered
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back through Gion and down the arcade shopping streets in central Kyoto. We
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ended the night at a newly-opened craft beer bar run by a French man with a
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substantial selection of craft beers from all over Japan.
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### Day 3
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The third day, we were up early again. We got a quick breakfast at a local
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place, and hopped on the train to {{< ruby Nara ja >}}奈良{{< /ruby >}}, the
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ancient capital city of Japan. Nara's main city park is home to hundreds of wild
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deer that tourists can feed with rice crackers bought from stands throughout the
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park.
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The main draw for us was {{< ruby Tōdai-ji ja >}}東大寺{{< /ruby >}} temple, a
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Buddhist temple in the middle of Nara Park that houses a truly enormous cast
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bronze Buddha. After visiting our biggest buddy, we grabbed lunch at a cafe in
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Nara and hopped back on the train to Kyoto.
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Once we made it back, we took a bus up to {{< ruby Kinkaku-ji ja >}}金閣寺{{<
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/ruby >}} temple, a.k.a. the Golden Pavillion.
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{{< photo "2023/kinkaku-ji" >}}
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We ended the day with a stop at [Beer Pub Takumiya][beerpub-takimuya], staffed by
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three gregarious and friendly Japanese guys. We got some much-needed time off
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our feet and had a good time chatting with them, and the Austrailian guy who sat
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next to us. After struggling to find a noodle place, we ended up at a small
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izakaya in a tiny alley off one of Kyoto's busy main streets.
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### Day 4
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Our fourth and final full day in Kyoto was rainy. We started with a stop at
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Lorimer Kyoto for a real Japanese breakfast. The food was fantastic, though we
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were both a little put off by the constant stream of Christian praise music they
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had going. We stopped at Walden Woods for a coffee on the way back to the
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Airbnb.
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After collecting a load of laundry we'd left in the machine downstairs, we took
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the train north a few stops and walked over to {{< ruby Heian-jingu ja
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>}}平安神宮{{< /ruby >}}. _(Explanation of what this shrine is.)_ Wrapping
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around the shrine itself is a beautiful garden filled with native trees and
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plants, ponds and rivers. It was lovely to wander the pathways in the light
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rainfall.
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We walked from there to the [Kyoto Handicrafts
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Center][kyoto-handicrafts-center], stopped in a place for udon, and took a bus
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over to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto-Gyoen. We had hoped to catch an English
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language tour, but it was canceled that day, so we took a brochure and wandered
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the grounds, marveling at the blending of Heian and Edo period architecture. The
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grounds have some lovely gardens.
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On the way to the palace we happened upon [Tozando][tozando] where they sell
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martial arts gear, including {{< ruby iaitō ja >}}居合刀{{< /ruby >}} and real
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{{< ruby nihontō ja >}}日本刀{{< /ruby >}}. One of my goals for this trip was to
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find and purchase a sword, and I did!
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After our stop at Tozando, we met our friends Ana, Megumi, and their new baby
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Sen for dinner at their apartment near Kyoto University. Ana and Megumi are real
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foodies and pulled out all the stops for us: two very interesting bottles of
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sake, a 60-day dry aged ribeye, and a number of {{< ruby kyo-yasai ja >}}
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京野菜{{< /ruby >}}, or locally grown veggies. We wrapped it all up with freshly
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made mochi wrapped in mulberry leaves, and some popcicles.
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### Day 5
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Thursday was a travel day. We had breakfast and coffee in the morning, then
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packed up and checked out of our AirBnb. With a few hours to go until our train
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to {{< ruby Kanazawa jp >}}金沢{{< /ruby >}}, we did some shopping and wrote
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some postcards. After a quick bowl of ramen for lunch, we caught the {{< ruby
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Thunderbird ja >}}サンダーバード{{< /ruby >}} Express from Kyoto to Kanazawa.
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## {{< ruby Kanazawa ja >}}金沢{{< /ruby >}}
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We arrived at our ryokan almost two hours late. They had clearly been waiting
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for us. We were greeted warmly by the staff and led to our room where we were
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given tea and a sweet and educated about how to wear our yukata and samue by a
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very sweet and patient Japanese lady. We took some time to get settled in our
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room, bathed, and enjoyed our private onsen bath. Dinner was at 19:00: an
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elaborate {{< ruby kaiseki ja >}}解析{{< /ruby >}} meal made up of a multitude of
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small dishes of all different kinds.
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### Day 6
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In the morning, our Japanese hostess brought us breakfast. Tess enjoyed the
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onsen in our room while I explored the public onsen on the grounds. Our ryokan
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has three public baths: one large gender-segregated bath downstairs, and two
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baths on the roof that swap between men-only and women-only at set times of day.
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At 10 we took a shuttle to Mattō station and a local train to
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{{< ruby "Kanazawa Station" ja en >}}金沢駅{{< /ruby >}}. When we arrived in
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Kanazawa, we walked to [Curio Espresso][curio-espress] for a coffee. (Breakfast
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didn't include coffee, and neither Tess nor I are quite able to give that up.)
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From there we walked to Kanazawa Castle and the {{< ruby Kenrokuen ja >}}
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兼六園{{< /ruby >}} garden.
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On advice from Ana, we tried to go to [7th Gyoza no Mise][7th-gyoza], but it
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ended up being too long a wait. From there we got back on the bus to Kanazawa
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Eki, got some lunch in the station, and took the local train back to Mattō.
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Back at the ryokan, we had a langorous soak in the onsen and another beautiful
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and delicious kaiseki meal before turning in for the night.
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### Day 7
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Time to leave the ryokan. In the morning we had breakfast at the ryokan and then
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got ready to check out by 10:00. We took the shuttle to Mattō station, and the
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local train to Kanazawa. There, we bought a pair of tickets for the {{< ruby
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shinkansen ja >}}新幹線{{< /ruby >}} to {{< ruby Tōkyō ja >}}東京{{< /ruby >}}.
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Fast trains gonna go fast.
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## {{< ruby Tōkyō ja >}}東京{{< /ruby >}}
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Our train dropped us off at {{< ruby "Tōkyō Station" ja >}}東京駅{{< /ruby >}},
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which is _quite_ an introduction to the hustle of Japan's biggest city. In terms
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of sheer size and number of people, Tōkyō is on another level from any city I've
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been in. We made it successfully to the Uedo line that brought us to a stop near
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our hotel, the [New Otani][new-otani].
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After we got settled, we went for a walk around our new neighborhood. We both
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needed a little pick-me-up, and we found [Hocus Pocus][hocus-pocus], a small
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nearby cafe selling donuts and pour over coffee.
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Despite the rain, we still wanted to get out and explore a bit. We took the
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train over to {{< ruby Shinjuku ja >}}新宿{{< /ruby >}} station where I got some
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good pictures of the bright lights of Shinjuku in the rain. We got soup curry at
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[Dominica][dominica-maps], a hard-to-find spot down an alley and a flight of
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stairs, and one of Tess' favorite spots. It was fantastic. She was also excited
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to show me some of her favorite spots in Shinjuku 2丁目, Tōkyō's gayborhood, so
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we closed out the night with drinks at [Rainbow
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Burritos][rainbow-burritos-maps].
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### Day 8
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After more than a week in Japan, this was the first that I actually slept until
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a reasonable wake up time: 7:00. Imagine!
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Tess and I were up and out reasonably early this morning, and took the train to
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Shibuya where we found coffee and toast at a small boutique shop called
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[Rec Coffee][rec-coffee]. This place was great. Tess bought some beans to take
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home. ☕️
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After coffee, we walked back to Shibuya station to say hello to the goodest good
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boy that ever was good, Hachiko.
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{{< photo "2023/shibuya-hachiko" >}}
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We crossed the Scramble and spent a while perusing the floors of [Hands][hands],
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where we (fortunately; more on that later) bought umbrellas, and then dove into
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Harajuku.
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We got [souflée pancakes][souflee-pancakes] for lunch at [Rainbow
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Pancake][rainbow-pancake] and wandered down Cat Street checking out shops along
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the way.
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Tess' friend Ray met us at the end of Takeshita-dori as it started to rain.
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After a rather intense and very brief rain storm (including some hail and
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lightning -- so glad we happend to buy umbrellas earlier!) we sat and chatted at
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Blue Bottle, bought some gifts at [Kiddy Land][kiddy-land], and I bought a
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yukata at a vintage clothing store called Chicago.
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- [Five G][five-g] synth shop
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- Seiko Seed
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- Meiji-jingu
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We wrapped up our day with dinner at [Sushizanmai][sushizanmai] and a drink at
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[Goodbeer Faucets][goodbeer].
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### Day 9
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### Day 10
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### Day 11
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### Day 12
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### Day 13
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### Day 14
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### Day 15
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[fushimi-inari-torii]: {{< ref "/photos/2023/fushimi-inari-torii" >}} "Fushimi Inari Torii"
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[kiyomizu-dera-post]: {{< ref "/photos/2023/kiyomizu-dera-pagoda" >}} "Kiyomizu-Dera Pagoda"
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[kyoto-handicrafts-center]: #
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[tozando]: #
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[beerpub-takimuya]: https://maps.apple.com/?address=%E3%80%92604-0836,%20%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E5%BA%9C%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E5%B8%82%E4%B8%AD%E4%BA%AC%E5%8C%BA,%20%E8%88%B9%E5%B1%8B%E7%94%BA400&auid=18427312708155676432&ll=35.012182,135.760673&lsp=9902&q=BEER%20PUB%20Takumiya
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[curio-espress]: https://www.curioespresso.com/our-story/
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[7th-gyoza]: https://www.white-gyouza.co.jp/branch/kanazawa.html
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[new-otani]: https://www.newotani.co.jp/en/tokyo/
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[hocus-pocus]: https://hocuspocus.jp/
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[dominica-maps]: https://goo.gl/maps/spLdi6JwYfcFPdmY8
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[rainbow-burritos-maps]: https://goo.gl/maps/p3wx1Rs3yXVmPaU76
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[rec-coffee]: https://rec-coffee.com/pages/shibuyahigashi
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[hands]: https://info.hands.net/
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[rainbow-pancake]: http://rainbowpancake.net
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[souflee-pancakes]: {{< ref "/photos/2023/souflee-pancakes" >}} "Souflée Pancakes"
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[kiddy-land]: https://www.kiddyland.co.jp/
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[five-g]: https://fiveg.net/
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[sushizanmai]: https://tokyocheapo.com/food-and-drink/sushi/cheapo-sushi-sushizanmai/
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[goodbeer]: #
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