So after a coach trip back from Kawaguchiko (Mount Fuji) to Tokyo’s Shinjuku Bus Terminal – back-tracking was not what we’d planned but it was the easier and quicker route – we made our way to Tokyo Station via the JR Line train. “Yes Steve, there was a direct bus to Tokyo Station, no need to go on about it, and anyway it was far slower and more expensive”. Now to work out how to get Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Kyoto….

It was very straightforward and efficient (not sure why we were surprised) – queue for a bit then a bloke with perfect English firstly sorts out free travel for your journey to get to the Shinkansen (put your iPhone on a pad and it voids the last journey on your Suica card – amazing), then tells you that he can get you on a train in half an hour, less if you’re not bothered about sitting together. And “no, you don’t need special oversize luggage tickets sir – those bags will easily fit overhead”. Really mate, would you like to try lifting them?! We parted with £150, which seemed like a fortune but was actually amazing value for 2 seats on a train that was going to whisk us over 300 miles in just over 2 hours. While Steve looked after the bags, and took videos of trains, Debbie went in search of train snacks. The much lauded bento boxes were a bit odd so she bought sarnies, cakes, crisps, Vietnamese spring rolls and a couple of cans of beer. Steve was not proud! The train boarded efficiently and departed exactly on time – of course it did, this is Japan – and we set off at over 150mph in the direction of Kyoto. The seats had loads of legroom, better than any airline economy class (and a fair few business classes) but weren’t hugely comfy until reclined a little. The conductor bowed every time he entered and exited the carriage – we love the Japanese formality and politeness. The Shinkansen is truly amazing and shows what is possible if a nation invests in their railways – running about every 10 minutes between major cities at 3x the speed of driving and costing far less than the nearest UK equivalent. We had seats on the coveted Mount Fuji side of the train but already knew that we weren’t going to see her – Debbie caught a glimpse of her bottom but no more. So what is the etiquette on train beers? Debbie figured that it was fine if they were being sold in the Shinkansen terminal shop, but uncharacteristically waited until someone else opened a tinny before indulging. Then Steve followed, obviously forgetting his disgust that beer had been purchased. The train travelled so fast that we almost didn’t get to finish our drinks before arriving in Kyoto where we navigated through the huge but rather lovely station and hopped (well not quite, we are old and with heavy luggage) onto the subway for 1 stop to our hotel.

Holiday Inn Kyoto Gojo was the bargain of our trip so far – it was free. The hotel had recently been brought into the IHG (Intercontinental Hotels Group) stable and Debbie had found an amazing opening offer, using not too many of her IHG points to bag a 5 night stay. As an IHG One Rewards Platinum tier member she got a decent upgrade to a spacious ‘high floor super king room’ overlooking Kyoto tower and which was 3x the size of our Tokyo digs. In fact the bed alone was probably bigger than our entire Tokyo room! The PJs were stretchy & comfy, but with stupidly short arms and legs, so we didn’t wear these to go to the top floor onsen. We ended up extending our stay to 8 nights as (1) we liked Kyoto and (2) it was a comfortable base from which we could easily travel out of the city by train for day trips. We had originally planned to spend 3 nights in Osaka which was only 20 minutes away by train, and staying put in Kyoto avoided lugging our bags to another hotel. We also figured that Osaka was just another big city and probably offered nothing we’d not have seen in Tokyo or Kyoto, but may be wrong on that. There were some availability issues at our hotel to navigate, but once rooms became free for our additional nights Debbie very cheekily suggested to the front desk that she would book & pay for their cheapest room and they could upgrade her to the room we were already in – you can take the girl out of Liverpool – but it worked and she had no shame, despite the Japanese staff probably being appalled by her brashness.

The weather forecast for our first full day in Kyoto was horrible, with heavy rain pretty much guaranteed for the entire day and evening, so Debbie booked a much needed hairdresser appointment at the beautiful Be Fine Aveda Coo salon in the posh shopping district. Trying to explain what she wanted was interesting – “Please sort out this straw-like mess bleached by a month in the strong Philippines sun & salt water, don’t touch the blonde, no more bleach, touch up the root shadow with the darker colour, cover the grey and don’t cut too much off, here’s a picture, thanks” – using only Google Translate (odd as the salon was specifically recommended for English-speaking tourists). But all seemed to be understood OK by the 12 year old trendy Japanese boy doing her hair. Towels and a gown were applied in a very ceremonial manner, a tray was brought for her spectacles, plastic ear covers applied (not seen those before) and the magazines were provided on an iPad. It was a better result than the disaster in Derby she’d had during our brief visit home – a good cut and nice blending of the roots, but Debbie swears she can see a tint of purple on the previously very white bits and Steve made the obvious comment about her age and a purple rinse. Even with an expensive treatment for the UV damage (which has worked brilliantly, God bless Japanese hair products), the bill was lower than she’d paid in Derby and FAR LESS than at her usual Devon salon.

The City of Kyoto

Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan for more than a thousand years until 1868 – home to a sublime collection of ancient wooden houses, temples, palaces, shrines and gardens around which a quite lovely and relatively compact modern city has grown. It offers the best of both worlds and a more traditional version of Japan than the current capital city. Debbie found a travel blog with a good 2-day itinerary covering the must-see places and which formed the basis of our sightseeing plans, but without trying to pack it all in to such a short time. As it turned out we didn’t manage to cover all of it, even with an extended 8 day stay.

On another day we took a train a few miles South-East of central Kyoto to Fushimi-Inari-Taisha – the head shrine of the Inari cult and dedicated to the god of rice and sake, another beautiful complex of buildings but more famous for the 10,000+ vermillion torii (gates) which frame a 4Km path to the summit of Inari-san, forming a mysterious tunnel which is one of the most iconic photos of Kyoto. The bright orange painted wooden gates are apparently replaced every 10 years, each one an offering by a company asking for success in business and with the black lettering on each gate indicating the company that donated it. Foxes were everywhere – statues and cuddly toys – as white foxes are said to be Inari’s chosen messenger and serve as guardians against evil spirits. We didn’t climb all the way to the summit, but did go some of the way to try to get a decent picture without too many tourists as, funnily enough, the number of people is inversely proportional to the distance from the entrance. A beautiful site, totally different to those in the centre of Kyoto.

A bit further out of town to the North West, the Arashiyama district was possibly our favourite – with the gorgeous Tenru-ji temple and it’s magnificent Zen gardens leading to the magical bamboo grove (our pictures don’t do it justice, but it’s another common depiction of Kyoto). This was the Japan that Debbie had imagined. The surrounding area was great too, with boats for hire on the river, decent coffee for Steve and the best burgers we’ve had in ages!

The Gion district, home to the Kyoto Geisha (Geiko in the Kyoto dialect) and ancient wooden houses, was pretty and atmospheric with shops and restaurants VERY discreetly labelled and traffic cones even covered with wood so an not to spoil the aesthetic. This wasn’t somewhere to just go looking for a restaurant – you had to know where you were heading. Half of Japan’s remaining 600 Geisha live in Kyoto and we did see a Geiko, in a taxi on her way to an evening appointment, but were both too slow with our cameras.

We didn’t get to the Golden Pavilion (too much effort by public transport, taxis are stupidly expensive in Japan, and we ran out of time), or the Imperial Palace, and missed loads of shrines and gardens. But we did get a good flavour of ancient Kyoto and it is an amazing place. The modern city is great too – anywhere with Gucci and Louis Vuitton, alongside Zara, H&M and some gorgeous food can’t be bad!

The Food

It was in Kyoto that we came to realise just how amazing Japanese food can be.

Desperate for a curry, and still with Katsu to tick off our Japanese food bingo card, Steve found Kyoto Katsura on Tripadvisor – the #6 of 13,780 restaurants in Kyoto. Even at 6pm, and in the pissing rain, there was an orderly queue on the pavement outside but we only had to wait about 15 minutes. A small place with just 12 seats around the counter, watching the 2 chefs cooking the most simple but amazing food – a choice of Wagyu beef, pork, chicken, seafood and veggies (or a combination) coated in panko breadcrumbs & deep fried then sliced and served with rice, curry sauce, pickles, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and a deep fried premium egg with a runny yolk. Debbie thought that Wagyu in breadcrumbs seemed very wrong so opted for the pork. Steve didn’t share her concern so had the full monty – beef, chicken and pork, as well as his own and Debbie’s eggs, which were a challenge to eat with chopsticks. It turned out that Debbie was wrong and deep fried Wagyu cooked rare is amazing, as was everything else.

Not knowing what it was, but liking the idea, we ordered overflowing sake for two to accompany our meal. The waitress stood a glass in a wooden tray and then filled it from a very large bottle of sake. Once full she kept pouring so the glass overflowed into the box. We drank the glass of sake and then wondered what we were supposed to do with the remaining sake in the box. Tip it into the glass obviously! We ended up with about three glass fulls. Googling later we discovered “overflowing” is a Japanese way of showing generosity. What a fabulous place – and a bargain at £42.

The Japanese eat early – restaurants usually finish lunch service by 2pm, re-open for dinner at 5pm-ish and all-day opening is rare. We struggled to drag ourselves out of bed for early sightseeing, so usually weren’t ready for lunch until after most restaurants had finished serving. We did find an excellent place for a late Sunday lunch, and cheeky bottle of nice red though, Rigaletto Smoke Grill & Bar – an Italian place in the historic Gion district which did an amazing value (and very good) lunch menu for just £12.50 each so we had an antipasti starter, soup, a pizza to share, Wagyu pasta bolognese to die for and desert – fabulous.

Japan is obsessed with matcha (powdered green tea), particularly in Kyoto, and it is everywhere and in everything – matcha ice cream, matcha Kit Kats, matcha soda, matcha sweet pancakes, even matcha pasta. Debbie hates tea in any form so wasn’t going near anything matcha, but Steve tried a matcha latte and immediately discovered that he doesn’t share the Japanese passion for the stuff!

We’d not yet done a food tour or cooking class in Japan, and found that availability in Kyoto was quite limited for the best ones, so Debbie got a reduced price deal through Get Your Guide which promised to show us the best of Kyoto food, a visit to a traditional bar and a walk through Gion at night to hopefully witness Geisha on their way to evening appointments. Our guide Umi met her group of 5 (Lloyd & Rita from Oz, Helena from Taiwan and us) outside the busy Minamiza theatre, where most of Kyoto also seemed to be meeting. Bless her, it was Umi’s first time running the tour and she was very nervous, but did have an iPad presentation to explain things to us in English – including a little quiz. Well, now we know that it costs up to $900 for an evening with a Geisha, they are skilled entertainers, musicians and conversationalists and most certainly not prostitutes, and then Lloyd told us a story about an ex-colleague who had the best night of his life with a Geisha! He also made other direct references to sex during the evening, which surely scandalised poor Umi!!

Our first stop was Kawamura Ryuri Hei, a beautiful traditional restaurant where a private room was already set for us and quite unexpectedly we indulged in a beautifully presented multi-course dinner accompanied by a couple of glasses of sake – sashimi, duck, delicate Japanese omelette, a savoury jelly, assorted tempura, delicate fish in a broth – an excellent start to our evening. Umi then took us to a random bar down a backstreet – where half the menu was unavailable but we did get to sample various fried things on skewers, more sake and plum wine – before moving to a final stop for desert, with Debbie trying rice balls in sweet red bean syrup, and matcha (not for us!). The evening was good value for what we’d paid (about £50 each) but not quite the cultural, educational and food discovery experience that we’d hoped for.

The food hall in the basement of the ultra-posh Daimaru department store was like nothing we’ve ever seen – like the love child of Harrods, Fortnum and Selfridges but with gorgeousness and range way beyond any of them. Fruit baskets taken to a new level (although how many blokes would be delighted to receive one on Fathers Day as they were advertising?!), the most beautiful sweet treats, stunning meat and pre-prepared bento boxes (apparently we don’t have time to go there to pick up lunch for our train journey to Hiroshima), and some stupidly priced melons and mangos. We had to get out of there quickly, before we blew our entire trip budget on a lovely lunch.

Debbie had stumbled across the famous Nishiki indoor food market while out for her hairdo and it made the Tokyo fish market pale in comparison with around 200m of small stalls, tiny restaurants and bars selling all manner of loveliness and some things that she wouldn’t try if her life depended on it (e.g. small octopus with a quail’s egg stuffed into its head and sparrows on a skewer). She took Steve back one lunchtime and we indulged in a variety of Wagyu gyoza (as did David Beckham, and at the same table), huge crispy tempura prawns, tuna/squid/salmon/snow crab sushi for Steve with some cooked fish options for Debbie, and Kobe beef and chicken & green onion skewers. It’s probably best if we don’t add up how much we spent on those beautiful snacks, especially as we went for a Nepalese curry for dinner afterwards!

The indulgence – Japan is famous for its beef, with prized Wagyu and the even more exclusive Kobe being highly sought-after. It’s very expensive but we had to try it, and if you’re going to do it then do it properly, so we raided our ‘Indulgences Pot’ and booked dinner at the critically acclaimed Mouriya Gion restaurant, where the food is cooked Teppanyaki style by personal chefs at a counter. We’d not yet ticked either Teppanaki or Kobe beef off our bingo card, so this was surely good value as we were killing two birds with one stone (not literally). We donned the best clothes we had – shirt for Steve, blouse for Debbie, with clean combats and trainers – but the place was pretty relaxed and thankfully we didn’t stick out like a sore thumb amongst the 5 couples seated at the semi-circular counter surrounding the pristine Teppanyaki hot plate manned by 5 chefs. Steve opted for the ultimate indulgence, 150g of A5 grade Kobe sirloin, and Debbie chose A5 Wagyu fillet at about the same price. The lumps of meat, bigger than we’d expected, were brought out for us to inspect – absolutely beautiful with Steve’s being more marbled than Debbie’s – and then the magic commenced with the frying of garlic chips to accompany our beef. The dinner consisted of several courses in addition to each person’s chosen beef, starting with Kobe beef sushi which melted in the mouth. Debbie doesn’t do raw meat or fish but the brave little soldier tried it and, much to Steve’s disgust, quite liked it so it didn’t get passed across to his plate.

A delicious pumpkin soup with cream , and a delicately cooked fish course (flounder,) followed before the chef started preparation of our meat. He recommended Steve’s Kobe sirloin to be cooked medium to ensure the fat marbling dissolves, somewhat alien to Steve who usually eats his steak rare, and medium rare for Debbie’s comparatively lean fillet, which is what she’d have asked for anyway. The meat was cubed and expertly cooked/served in 3 batches, along with grilled shiitake mushrooms, sweet potato, aubergine and beansprouts, with the recommendation that each cube of beef has salt, wasabi and a garlic chip placed on top for eating. OH – MY – GOD – that’s all there really is to say. The best steak that either of us have ever eaten, or are likely to ever eat again.

Obviously meat of this quality needed a very decent red to accompany it, but the restaurant only sold wine by the glass so a couple of glasses of a rich Napa Cab Sauv it was. A fruit and sorbet desert and coffee finished off a stunning meal and experience perfectly. We got change out of £300 (just) and it was worth every last Yen!

Our fellow diners were obviously not poor pensioners trying to fund a 2 year trip! The American bloke next to us ordered the largest Kobe Fillet on the menu at £225, and then a £170 Kobe Sirloin as he still had room for more meat. His very slender wife was just picking at hers as she was too full! We think he was a professional soccer player, he was a big Liverpool fan and knew Stevie Gerrard, and as they were staying at a £1,500/night hotel blowing a grand on dinner was probably no big deal. But that was nothing in comparison to the Japanese couple next to them who had a lobster and then a huge Kobe Chateaubriand, and ended up giving away some of their steak to the American as there was too much. Unfortunately it didn’t make it to our end of the counter 🙁

Was it worth the splurge? ABSOLUTELY!

Kyoto certainly gave us some exceptional food experiences – Japanese food can be REALLY amazing – and if budget/clothes allow there are plenty of fine dining and Michelin star opportunities too. On this trip we have neither the budget nor the appropriate clothes, but next time……

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Kyoto conclusion

We absolutely loved it! A city that has everything, the ancient and the modern, great shopping, amazing food and easy access to fabulous day trips (there’s separate post on those). If you were only able to to do one city in Japan, we’d say make it Kyoto and skip Tokyo but be aware that it’s full of tourists and very crowded.

Next stop Hiroshima – we sent our luggage ahead using the baggage transfer service for the first time so fingers crossed it will be there when we arrive…..