JAPAN Day 6

October 26 - Kyoto Bound

Words: Sebastian + Images: Araceli

Our early-morning coffee (dependency) challenges were finding solutions and rhythm. Most hotel rooms have mini-drip coffee pouches that fit snuggly on a coffee mug. They are life savers. I also have a free opinion (as my friend Heshan would say): Either hotels need to provide taller mugs, or manufacturers need to design a basket that sits higher in the mug. The current proportions make it so that the basket sits in the coffee after the second small pour of coffee. The water goes through the brewing basket too fast. This makes for a soggy bag and a short murky coffee. De todas formas.

At the station, given that we had extra time, Araceli discovered the world of the Eki-Ben. Together with the myriad of sweets, cakes, candies, biscuits, and chocolates that are omnipresent. The packaging is the catch, and you can't help but stare at the wonderful combinations, colors, and designs.
We bought a few choice items, candied orange peel dipped chocolate, Tokyo Banana, and fig cookie, and went on to wait for the train.
Sitting on benches at the platform, you get to see the comings and goings, the flow of this whole train business. Once again, it's efficient. The crowd swells seconds before trains arrive and quickly evaporates seconds after. Since trains always arrive and depart on time, no need to arrive 10 minutes before departure time. Impressive.
And although it gets very crowded, it never feels quite like it. Personal space is extremely important in Japan and heavy traffic zones flow more like an intricate ballet. In other cities, it feels more like being a salmon swimming upstream.
The silence everywhere is also something that we keep noticing. No shouting, hawking, speaker-phoning, video-calling, cursing, and so on. Just a low-pitched hum, a choir of quiet speakers.

Shinkansen ride, nothing to declare. We notice the bow the train attendants do entering and exiting every single wagon. We sleep, we snack. And before we know it, we pull into Kyoto . Total: 2:45 hours
Our hotel is conveniently located in a remodeled Machiya townhouse. The team is incredible and helped us book all of our dinner reservations for our first Kyoto leg. Always happy to help, we got great Ramen, and gyoza, and visit recommendations from them. A special shoutout to Tomo San.
Once checked in and settled, time to discover the neighborhood. The Bukko-ji temple next door (almost) houses the D&Department store, one of the many incredible stores we will come across in Kyoto. Kitone , not too far off, is a tiny antique store that doubles as a tea room on certain days of the week. In Kyoto we found a certain vision of craft, where young and old, new and ancient, try to coexist respectfully. In the antique shops, curated stores, coffee shops, and fashion brands, this modern/antique duality was palpable. Of course, some were on both ends of that spectrum. We got to learn a lot, and we are very grateful for it.
Our tour continued with a stationary store and an incense store. Kyoto Benrido and Shoyeido respectively. The loop ended at Zen Kashoin , a pastry shop where traditional Kyoto desserts are created and presented like Haute Couture.

Time for a refresh at the hotel before our second Kaiseki dinner of the trip: Jiki Miyazawa. A few blocks away, we arrived a good 10 minutes before our 18:00 booking.

- In Kyoto, at the beginning, we faced a new challenge: where can we smoke? The narrow streets make it difficult to find a spot where you feel you won't disturb anyone. We never saw an outdoor dedicated smoking area.-

Indoors, we found a small counter restaurant with 10 seats. We had no idea what to expect, we knew it was going to be Kaiseki , and that's it.
Familiar ingredients or dishes started to appear, the fall season revealing itself to us a little more, chestnuts, persimmons, conger eel, mushrooms. The dreaded chawanmushi made a comeback, a second unpleasant encounter for Araceli.
One dish, their signature, stood out. Roasted sesame tofu with sesame paste and ground toasted sesame seeds. The texture of roasted marshmallow, with a fantastic nutty depth. The team is quiet, sharp, and all smiles. The more questions we asked, the more they opened up. We learned a lot about their menu, ingredients, techniques, and process, in the 2 hours we spent together.
One other thing I particularly appreciated was the final item of the evening: a bowl of matcha. The chef we most communicated with prepared each bowl individually. Checking temperatures, times, proportions. The whiskey danced on the tea's surface. The pauses, and slowdown, before fully ending each step gave the whole process its ceremonious aura. After turning twice and handing each bowl, a respectful, slow, slightly deeper, slightly longer bow concluded the matter. Wonderful. Certainly one of our favorite meals of the trip.