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content/series/2023-japan/_index.md

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

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