Aqueducts & Temples - Final Day (It's a Trip Part 6.0)

It's our final day of this trip! It's gone sooo quickly! We've walked miles upon miles upon miles but I think we saw, ate and drank about as much as possible. Today we saw Nanzenji Temple and Chionin Temple then made our way home to Misawa. For information about where we stayed, how we got around Kyoto, etc., see It's a Trip Part 2.0. To read about how we got to Kyoto from Misawa, see It's a Trip Part 1.0. Or read any of the other gazillion (ok, actually 11 including this one) posts in my It's a Trip series to see how we spent our time in Kyoto/Hiroshima.

Kyoto map with today's locations.

The area where Nanzenji Temple is located was originally developed as a residence for a former Emperor in the mid-1200's, later that century (1291) it was dedicated as a Buddhist Temple. Just like pretty much everywhere else we've visited, the original buildings burned down long ago and have been rebuilt at least once. The grounds of Nanzenji have several buildings, gardens, sub-temples, a rock garden and an aqueduct, we just wandered around, we did not enter any of the paid areas.

We got to the temple via subway, Keage Station is about 600 meters from the temple.

Nanzenji is open everyday except December 28th-31st from 8:40-16:30/17:00 (depending on season). It is free to enter the temple grounds, admission cost to other areas vary, the principle attractions are the Sanmon Gate ¥500 and Hojo Garden ¥500. 

http://www.nanzen.net/

GPS coordinates: 35.012247, 135.793845

Here's a little snippet of monks chanting. We couldn't see them, but they were in the Hatto or Dharma Hall.

Aqueduct that was completed in 1890. The
purpose was to help transport water and
goods from Lake Biwa to Kyoto. It was/is
also used for hydroelectricity.

There was a sign that mentioned a crack in the aqueduct.
Right now it does not need to be repaired but is being closely
monitored. There is a website where you can view the latest
updates about the crack.

Geisha, Castle & Kiyomizudera (It's a Trip Part 5.0)

Here's day 5 of our latest adventure! Started off the morning with a visit to Hiroshima Castle, while a small part of me (ok, big part of me) wanted to go back to Miyajima to do what we missed out on yesterday, we decided based on the time it would take to get there-back along with the forecast for clouds/rain that our time would be better spent getting back to Kyoto and working on our "to do" list there. After the castle, we had our new favorite for lunch and hopped on a train back to Kyoto.

Map below shows our stops in Hiroshima today. Kyoto map is farther down in the post.

Hiroshima Castle was originally built in 1589 and was destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945. The 5-story castle was rebuilt in 1958. Only the main tower, gate, bridge and a few other small structures were rebuilt. The castle is now a museum about the castle history, Samurai and Hiroshima.

Beware of the mosquitoes around the castle. We lingered in front for maybe 3 minutes taking pictures and I sat on a bench to tie my shoe...I didn't stop swatting and still got at least 10 bites. They got the back of my legs through the slats in the bench!

We took the streetcar to get within walking distance of the castle.

Open from 9:00-17:00/18:00 (depending on season). Closed December 29-31. Admission into the castle is ¥370, entrance to the grounds is free.

http://www.rijo-castle.jp/rijo/pdf/english.pdf

GPS coordinates: 34.402433, 132.459607

Main Gate.

Hiroshima Castle.

Hiroshima - Eats & Drinks (It's a Trip Part 4.2)

YUM! Had some pretty great foods today and found a nice hole in the wall...literally a hole in a wall up a set of stairs. All of these places are marked on the map at the end of Part 4.0.

Lunch was at a restaurant called Bakudanya (http://www.bakudanya.net/) and we had the famous Hiroshima tsukemen. Tsukemen means "dipping noodles." The noodles are served separately from a bowl of broth which in the case of the Hiroshima specialty is cold. The broth is a soy based soup and you have to choose a level of spiciness (1-20) when you order. The noodles also come with cold boiled cabbage, pork, shredded cucumber, leek and sesame seeds.

Of course it couldn't be EASY for us to just go and have a great lunch...I had the address of the restaurant that supposedly invented these noodles, obviously we wanted the original. Or should I say, I wanted to original. The idea of cold noodles and cold broth was not exactly appealing in Keenan's mind. So we walked about 1/2 mile from our hotel to where this restaurant was located. It was closed, there was construction happening on the sidewalk directly in front of it. Crap. I looked up another place that served tsukemen. We walked there, closed. Crap. Finally, we ended up back near our hotel and noticed that right down the street was a place with a picture of tsukemen on the sign outside. Hey, it may not be the original, but we're still trying it, right? 

Well, after this trip when I was trying to find out the name of the place I found out that it's part of a chain, the same chain as the "original," haha, Bakudanya has a bunch of locations! Unfortunately we can't read Japanese so at the time we had no idea! It's kinda funny, but also not funny knowing that the wasted time would have been well spent at Miyajima as we may have gotten there in time to hike Mt. Misen. Oh well! As I said in the last post, missing the hike gives us a reason to go back someday...along with these noodles because they were delicious! Even the skeptic agreed!

GPS coordinates of the original Hiroshima tsukemen shop: 34.387255, 132.460150

GPS coordinates of the location we ended up at: 34.391534, 132.462495

We ordered the top option.

How to eat Hiroshima Tsukemen.
1. Let's challenge extreme your spicy level!
2. Add plenty sesame on top of noodle!
3. Then dip the noodle into the sauce, and slurp them with max sauce!
4. Add the extra spicy at any time you like!

Yummy! All my leeks ended up on a different plate...

We even got cool bibs!

Hiroshima - Peace Memorial Park (It's a Trip Part 4.1)

This was a very somber stop on our Kyoto/Hiroshima trip. As I learned about WWII and the atomic bombings in high school I never in a million years thought that I would be standing in Hiroshima, Japan looking at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial or better known as the Atomic Bomb Dome. That's something you only see in a textbook, right? 

Hiroshima - Miyajima Island (It's a Trip Part 4.0)

And we're off to Hiroshima! (More details about transportation and passes at the bottom of the post.)

While in Hiroshima we visited the Peace Memorial Park, Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Castle, ate some great food and partied at the oldest bar in the city. I did make a mistake in planning which cost us the opportunity to see more of Miyajima. Makes me sad and gives us an excuse to try visiting again some day.

The numbering of the "parts" of this trip are a little weird. This post (Part 4.0) covers getting to/around Hiroshima plus Miyajima Island. Technically we visited the Peace Memorial Park (Part 4.1) before heading off to Miyajima, but the park deserved it's own post. Part 4.2 covers food and drinks of the entire day. Hopefully that makes sense!

Shinkansen in Kyoto.

Green - Kyoto. Yellow - Hiroshima. Gray - Miyajima.

Gyoza, Tonkatsu, Foods on Sticks & Beer (It's a Trip Part 3.2)

What a day for food! And this post is all about just that, everything we consumed today. Last night we had an amazing Wagyu beef dinner at HAFUU, so today we were going for some other types of Japanese cuisine. Kyoto has a huge variety of food choices and we are going to take advantage on this trip! I'll go ahead and say it now, we are not concerned about the healthiness of our choices this week...

We started off today with hiking up Mt Inari at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. (Read about it and see a map of all today's destinations here: It's a Trip Part 3.0) We were starving when lunchtime rolled around. We rushed off to Kyoto Station to try some famous tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet). Japan has a couple great restaurant chains for tonkatsu (Tonkatsu Wako & Katsukura are a couple that I'd found) and Kyoto has locations for each of them. We were guaranteed to get some good quality fried pork! We chose Tonkatsu Wako, they have a location in Isetan Department Store in Kyoto Station, it's on the 11th floor in the "Eat Paradise" area. We each had a different set menu. Regardless of what you order, the soup, rice and cabbage are unlimited. I had 2 small pork filets and 2 crab croquettes. Keenan had a pork filet, 2 prawns, a cheese filled pork loin and an egg seafood custard. All of it was delicious! Well, maybe not the custard thing. I especially loved the light citrus dressing (yuzu sauce) for the cabbage!

Teeny clams in the miso soup.

Tonkatsu Wako.

Kyoto Station from the rooftop.

Grassy area on the roof of Kyoto Station, "Happy Terrace."

Careful Keenan!! 

After lunch we checked out Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Ryoanji (rock garden), Ninnaji Temple and Arashiyama (bamboo forest). (Read about the afternoon here: It's a Trip Part 3.1) For dinner we decided to do a little variety, gyoza and foods on sticks!

Gold, Rocks & Bamboo (It's a Trip Part 3.1)

After a great morning hike and lunch of course, we continued on, ready to see the sites of northwest and west Kyoto. **you can see a map of today's locations in It's a Trip Part 3.0** At Kyoto Station we hopped on a bus headed toward the breathtaking Kinkakuji Temple "Golden Pavilion" also called Rokuonji. The Buddhist temple Kinkakuji was built in the late 1300's and has burned down several times since then, most recently in 1950. The current building was built in 1955. This beautiful temple is covered in gold leaf and is a famous symbol of Kyoto. It has also been named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was absolutely the busiest place we visited on this trip. We stood waiting at least 5 minutes for the opportunity to snap a quick picture of me with the temple in the background. I would have loved to get a picture of both of us, but at the time it was not worth the hassle, it was crazy, we were hot, we moved on.

Kinkakuji is open every day from 9:00-17:00. Admission is ¥400.

http://www.shokoku-ji.jp/k_about.html

GPS Coordinates: 35.040090, 135.729243

Next stop was Ryoanji Temple and its rock garden, the most famous in Japan. This was just a few minutes bus ride from Kinkakuji. The site became a Buddhist temple in 1450 but no one knows when the rock garden was created or what it's supposed to represent. There are several theories, but it is recommended to sit and meditate to find your own meaning. Fifteen rocks are arranged in the gravel filled rectangular garden, from any given angle it is impossible to see all the rocks at the same time. We didn't linger long enough to discover our own meanings in the garden. We thought maybe we could see all the rocks at one point, but we were also standing vs sitting like you would if meditating...so maybe we were cheating? Or what we thought was a separate rock was connected to another, who knows! There was no room for us to sit and ponder, the platform was full and it was in the afternoon sun. Again, we were hot and didn't stay long. Ryoanji and the gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ryoanji is open everyday, hours vary by season. Admission is ¥500.
http://www.ryoanji.jp/smph/eng/
GPS Coordinates: 35.035601, 135.718263

Pond within the grounds of Ryoanji.

Famous Zen rock garden.

10,000+ Torii Gates?! Fushimi Inari Shrine (It's a Trip Part 3.0)

Wow! Soooo much accomplished today! Crazy amounts of history and walking and food! It'll take me multiple posts to do it justice...

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Here's the map of Kyoto with today's points of interest. I planned our sightseeing based on my own research and on a Japanese friend's recommendations.

We started off the day by going to Fushimi Inari Taisha is the principle Inari shrine in Japan. Inari is the Shinto god of agriculture (very specifically rice) and business. Fushimi Inari is famous for its thousands and thousands and thousands of torii gates. I can't find an exact number, and no one probably knows for sure, but there are over 10,000 torii gates at this shrine. This shrine is sometimes referred to as 1,000 Torii Gate Shrine. Torii gates spanning the hiking trail are erected for donations by individuals and companies that vary from ¥400,000 to ¥1,000,000+ (that's $4,000-10,000+). Not sure how old this shrine is, but it existed before Kyoto became Japan's capital in 794.
The main hall can be seen from the Inari Station exit. From there we just followed the gates (and the crowds) up the mountain.
We had the subway/bus passes that I mentioned in a previous post so we utilized the subway to Kyoto Station and then paid for the train to JR Inari Station.
There is no charge to visit this shrine and it is always open.
http://inari.jp/
GPS coordinates: 34.968002, 135.772715

Yes we did eat our vegetables in the
Natural ideal style at breakfast!

Romon Gate, donated in 1589. 

Main Hall.

BEST STEAK EVER ? Wagyu Beef at HAFUU! (It's a Trip Part 2 .1)

HAFUU! When we decided to visit Kyoto I knew we'd also have to decide if we were going eat Wagyu beef. Apparently it wasn't a decision for Keenan...it was a "must do." This is a tricky post to write as we are both loyal to the Nebraska corn-fed beef we grew up on and still love. We feel like we know our steak. Until this point we have not had a single steak at any Japanese restaurant that's left us saying "that was amazing, we'd eat there again." Now that has changed...

You may have heard of Wagyu or Kobe beef. Kobe is just one "brand" of Wagyu beef, but it is most well known. There are very few restaurants in the United States that serve genuine Wagyu beef. Lots claim to have Kobe this or that, but it is a lie! Japan exports very little of their beef and the actual numbers vary from year to year. That 100% Kobe beef steak or hamburger you're getting at that place down the street? It's most likely not, as in 99% chance not. Yes, even at that chain Kobe Steakhouse, fake. Unfortunately the USA has no regulations on using the words Kobe beef, so anyone can list it in their menu, genuine or not...ok rant over.

So what does it take in Japan for beef to be labeled Wagyu? Wagyu refers to limited meat brands with certain breeds of cattle raised using special methods. No, those methods don't include beer or massages, those are myths! One of the charactaristic features of Japanese Wagyu is the texture. The fat is woven finely throughout the muscle, called marbling. The marbling creates a tenderness that feels like each bite melts in your mouth. Wagyu beef is also high in unsaturated fats that melt at a lower temperature than saturated fats, temperatures even lower than the human body temperature. Thus making it literally melt in your mouth.

USDA Choice vs A5 (highest grade of Wagyu) marbling.
Photo from: http://insights.looloo.com/steaks-101-learn-different-grades-of-beef/

A couple very interesting articles about Wagyu beef:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/04/12/foods-biggest-scam-the-great-kobe-beef-lie/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2014/01/07/the-new-truth-about-kobe-beef-2/

The restaurant we went to, HAFUU, is owned by someone that has a meat shop more than 100 years old in Kyoto. This gives them access to high quality meat and the ability to sell it for a more reasonable price than some other places that sell Wagyu beef. We had a Japanese friend call to make reservations for us a couple days in advance...one more reason we were so nervous about catching that flight out of Sendai! They required a credit card for the reservation, and have a no-show charge. There are 2 areas of seating, the counter, which seats 16 and a back area that seats 20. We went with counter seats so we could watch the cooks. 

This dinner was definitely a splurge for us, but a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity! (A voice beside me is already saying that we MUST do it again before we leave Japan, so now...less potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity...)

The restaurant was on a mostly residential street.
It's just beyond the power pole on the right.

He's so excited!