Day 9: Drama in Kyoto

DID: Jason visited a whisky distillery in Yamazaki while the rest of us had some down-time in the hotel. Gave us a good chance to catch up on postcards and Gavin’s mountain of homework. Also Rhys got to have a morning nap – first one since we left home. (He’s finally learning to sleep in the stroller but he looks uncomfortable and only sleeps about 30 minutes max.)

Once Jason got back we had a quick lunch and then did some shopping in the Shijo area. This is kind of like the London Oxford St equivalent of shopping – big department stores mixed with high street chains and a few boutiques here and there. Three main department stores: Daimaru, Hankyu and Takashimaya. Takamashi is the oldest/most traditional (and therefore probably my least favorite). Daimaru is like Macy’s or John Lewis, and Hankyu was the most modern/Selfridge’s/Bloomingdales-like. We were all intrigued by a cake shop in the food hall of Hankyu – they had cylindrical cakes displayed across a long rotating bar (similar to rotisserie chicken). The bakers were decorating the cakes on the bar, then serving them in donut-shaped slices.

The sidewalks are covered and lined with paper lanterns. They also play this infernal traditional music which sounds like a kindergarten band of recorders, flutes and drums. My theory was that they intentionally annoy you with the music to drive you into the shops.

Shopping led us to the Geisha area in Pontocho. At this point we realized that our map was conveniently left in the hotel room, so we were reliant upon my [terrible] memory to tell us where to go next (Geisha spotting, laundry, and bunraku (Japanese puppet) theatre were on the to-do list). Fortunately our meanderings did lead us to all three, so we finished the evening with clean clothes, some pix of a Geisha on her way to a ‘teahouse’, and a bit of bewilderment regarding Japanese puppetry. (3 people to control the puppet, all in full view of the audience. What’s the point?) The puppet show (as well as tea ceremony demonstration, harp playing, flower arrangement and a few other traditional Japanese arts) were performed at Gion Corner. I went with Gavin while Jason did the laundry. Although I enjoyed it, I’m glad we didn’t pay for two adults.

Back at the hotel we had a momentary panic that Rhys' favorite stuffed animal, Skippit, had been lost but fortunately he was just hiding under a chair.

Rhys is beginning to appreciate the wonders of the Japanese toilet seats. He’s figured out how to work the bidet option – he presses it, then gets this big smile on his face and says ‘nice’.  :)

Christmas-like decorations are popping up everywhere – this is in celebration of a holiday called Tanabata which happens on the 7^th day of the 7^th lunar month (this year in early August). Bamboo shoots are decorated similar to a Christmas tree with paper chains and simple paper ornaments. Most importantly, people write wishes on long rectangular strips of paper to hang on the tree. We’ve been encouraged by lots of people to write a wish for their tree – I think they just want to see the English writing. Gavin has so far wished for a deer, a monkey and to go to Disneyland. I wished for raindrops made of dumplings.

ATE: Breakfast – fruit and other snack items we had on hand.

Lunch – burgers Kyoto style at Hamburg Labo. One enormous patty cooked to order (on the French scale I would say – my medium burger was still raw in the middle) placed in the middle of a tray with many small plates. The other plates contained bread, rice, salad, miso soup (with a hint of orange or something citrus-y – quite nice) and potato salad. We also were able to pick a dipping sauce for the meat – I chose teriyaki, Jason chose the ‘traditional’ sauce which was a green-ish broth and tasted a bit like onion and green tea.  Gavin went for steak cubes rather than the patty.

Dinner – we tried not to eat on Restaurant Row but its magnetism proved too strong once again. This time we picked one that was around the corner from the first place we went to. I will forever remember this place as the ‘Cheers’ of Kyoto – it’s all bar seating and the chefs greet everyone warmly (and loudly)! The other diners were amused with the jap-english communications and hand gestures. The chef was out-pacing me with the beers but was sober enough to grill some excellent yakitori. Also had the special plate of the day, a thinly sliced cold roast beef with lemon.  Other items included roasted pork belly and raw eggplant dipped in a soy-based sauce. I ate the pork belly and eggplant together, it tasted like a Japanese twist on prosciutto and melon.

While we were at the restaurant, the chef from the yakitori place we went to the first night came in for a smoke and a beer. He recognized us and said hello. We also got waves from the chefs at the noodle shop from the night before. It’s easy for us to become celebs in this part of town – we’ve seen one other westerner all week.

Side note 1: Gavin’s chopstick skills are improving by the day. He is not using a fork at all, always starts with regular (but child-sized) chopsticks, and then eventually switches to the trainer chopsticks (joined at the top). I give him a week before he loses the trainer ones altogether!!

Side note 2: Most of the restaurants we have been to (both in Japan and Korea) have special place settings for the kids (including plate, cup, small fork + spoon). I’d even go as far as to say that they get their own place settings more often here than at restaurants at home. At first I thought they were giving us the forks just because we’re Western but I noticed today that they are also giving the forks to the Japanese kids too.