The Road Less Traveled

I got up in the morning, had the free guesthouse coffee and a granola bar I’d brought from home, and got ready to go out. Kazo asked where I was going; I said Daitokuji temple (near the guesthouse), Shimogamo Shrine (recommended by Junko), then on the train to Nara. Instead, Kazo suggested I visit Nijo Castle, which is on the way to Kyoto Station. I took his advice and was happy I did. The castle had rooms where feudal lords were received by the shogun. The grounds were lovely, too. After Nijo, I got on the bus to Kyoto Station. On the way, we passed a great big building that looked like a temple or shrine. At Kyoto Station, I got off the bus and walked back towards that building. It turned out to be the Higashi Hongan-ji, a shrine which is the headquarters of the Otani branch of Buddhism. Even half- covered by aluminum during its restoration and renovation, it was the most peaceful and spiritual temple I visited on the trip.

I finally left around 11:00 a.m. and headed to the station to go to Nara. On the way, I stopped to by my first bento box (lunch box that comes in a cardboard box). For 800 yen (less than $8) I got cooked salmon, egg, shrimp tempura, 3 salads/pickles, 2 kinds of rice, and dessert. Although I probably could have eaten for less in a restaurant, I was happy to get so much variety and the convenience of portability for the price.

Nara

The express train to Nara only took 45 minutes, and the ride was free with my Japan Rail pass. I got out and walked along Sanjo-dori, a cute street of clothing stores and restaurants. I tried on some clothes, but a Japanese large is more like an American small or medium. Oh well. I walked to the information center and asked where I could rent a bicycle (another of
Manami and Koichi’s recommendations). They said the cheapest place was near the train station! I hadn’t even noticed it. They kindly called and asked if there were bikes left; there were one or two. I walked back to the train station with a map of where the rental place should be. I saw no shop. I even tried looking for a sign with a phone number that matched the rental agency’s phone number, but no luck. I asked a man guarding a “bike parking lot”, and he pointed me towards the train station (he was the first person I met all day who could speak no English). I went inside and asked at the train station information center, and based on that I found the rental agency. It cost 500 yen for the whole day. The bike came with a lock built in, and I was really happy to have a bike with a basket to put down my big bag.

At first, I was a very scared rider. Do I ride on the sidewalk or in the street? With traffic or against? (In Japan, they drive on the left, which complicates this last question even further). There was no one around riding their bike whom I could model my behavior on. All I could do was take a chance and hope no one got hurt. No one seemed disturbed by my riding; in fact, no one seemed motivated to get out of my way. The bell didn’t always work well either. By the time I got to edge of the city, I had to take a break. I parked in front of the 7-11 and went in to buy some Pocari Sweat, an odd name but a good drink. The clerk spoke English, then told me she is studying intercultural pragmatics in the university at Nara and hopes to get her Ph.D. We exchanged email addresses.

I made it into the entrance of Nara Park, and the first thing I saw was deer. Lots of deer. I kept riding until I reached the entrance of the great Buddha hall. It’s the largest Buddha statue I’ve ever seen in my life, and was definitely worth the journey. After the temple, I rode around the park grounds and was soon very glad I could enjoy it all from the comfort of a bike seat. I rode through the shadier part of the park and ended up at the entrance of another temple. I would have had to go up stairs, though, and I didn’t see any “parking lot” for the bike. I was too tired to walk up. I headed instead towards a place selling soft serve green tea ice cream (with an area to park a bike). A deer stood by looking at me while I paid for the ice cream, so for an extra 150 yen I bought a packet of wafers to feed the deer. It practically ate the first wafer right out of my hand. As another deer came over, I started throwing the wafers on the ground to get some distance. I saw another deer take a brochure right out of a woman’s hand; she managed to get it back but it was definitely dog-eared (or should I say, deer-eared). When the deer looked at me again after I gave out the last wafer, I gave it the paper that had been used to wrap the paper. The deer ate it right up. When I finished my ice cream, I gave it the rest of the cone complete with paper wrapper. No problem. Maybe we should consider domesticating deer to solve the environmental waste problem.

I hopped on the bike and rode back towards Sanjo-dori. This time I saw a pond with turtles and a view of the 5-story pagoda. I stopped there to rest and enjoy the view, then rode back to the train station. On the train to Kyoto, I recognized the Kyoto tower near the station before I saw signs that we had arrived. It felt good to see familiar landmarks in such a foreign place. I got off the train, looked at my arms, and realized I was sunburned. This was a mixed blessing—June is normally the rainy month but the sun was shining strong.

Dinner in Kyoto

I walked back towards Higashi Hongan temple. Even though the giant doors were closed, it was a great place to sit for a while and write my travel journal. I chatted briefly with a Columbian-Japanese couple on vacation from London who were looking at the temple and wondering what it was. I walked to the nearest bus stop, but soon realized the bus I wanted wasn’t going to stop there. I walked on towards Gojo street, where I saw a Japanese curry house. It’s thicker and not as spicy as Indian curry, but I have good memories of eating it with Manami in America and by myself in Korea, so I was happy to be able to have it in a restaurant. There was a wide variety of curry dishes; I stared blankly at the Japanese menu until a wise worker gave me a multilingual menu. I chose regular-spiced, regular-sized curry (not “lady sized”) with a fried cutlet of edamame, and some oolong tea. It was delicious, and worth 830 yen.

I woke up around 5 a.m. and was surprised to see the sun was starting to poke out. I thought it was ungodly to get up that early, and managed to go back to sleep until 8:30. When I got up, Manami and Koichi had already eaten breakfast, and Koichi had been for a walk. I had the two pastries Manami had bought me at the bakery and supermarket yesterday, and Koichi made some coffee for me.Koichi unfortunately had to do some work that day, so Manami and I went into the city on our own. We took a private subway line to the Ginza district, the fashionable part of Tokyo. We walked towards the Printemps department store (I believe there’s a department store in Paris by the same name). Our first stop was lunch at Printemps department store–we left Manami’s late in the morning, and it took well over an hour to get to Tokyo from Manami’s. Manami treated me to lunch at the Printemps’ Angelina Café. It was a casual restaurant by Manami’s standards, but its cleanwhite walls and white chairs, large glass windows overlooking the people in the crosswalk or in their fancy cars (BMWs and Corvettes imported directly from Europe), and waiters and waitresses in black and white uniforms felt nicer to me. The Krispy Kreme truck driving through the scene seemed a little out of place, but Manami told me later that it’s the latest craze—some people line up for an hour to get a Krispy Kreme donut.

There was no English-language menu, so I was grateful Manami could translate the items on the “set menu”. For 1,570 yen (about$15), one could get an entrée with a salad and soup, bread, and coffee or tea. I settled on the fish plate—pieces of fried fish (the less fattening version of eel) atop a slice of Spanish omelette. Believe it or not, it seemed the most traditionally Japanese of the choices. Manami ordered the hamburger steak topped with cheese and eggplant. Yes, I said eggplant. The portions were veryreasonable (i.e. not supergigantic American sized but not tiny nouvelle cuisine either). And we enjoyed the view of Ginza.

Angelina Café is very famous for its mont blanc dessert. We decided to split a small version of it and have it with our tea. It is round and served in a paper cup like a muffin, but it’s consists of a sweet cookie crust, cold whipped cream, and caramel on top. Words do not do it justice, and neither do pictures. Here’s a picture from the Web site anyway: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g999000/menu7.htm.

After lunch we walked around the department store. I have to admit seeing everyone in beautiful long flowing shirts or short dresses with tights and cute shoes put me in a shopping mood, but Printemps was a bit expensive. It was still a bargain compared to the nearby Coach and Armani stores, but that didn’t inspire me to buy anything.

We walked out towards the main pedestrian street of Ginza, which Manami called “Shopping Paradise”. There were many beautiful department stores here too. We walked into a personal favorite, Mitsukoshi, where Manami usually buys beautiful cookies in beautiful tins for me or my family when she comes from Japan to visit. Manami told me many Japanese students who visit the U.S. miss the food floor at Mitsukoshi, because there are so many samples of free
food. You can’t find that at a department store in the U.S. I sympathized with the students, but after my beautiful lunch I didn’t feel hungry even for samples.

After Mitsukoshi, we walked back to the subway. Manami made a point of taking me to the JR line stop instead of the private subway/train line she knows better so that I could make use of my Japan Rail Pass. We got on the train and had to change trains at Akihabara, the subway exit closest to the part of Japan where the horrible stabbings took place a week before.

Soon we were at the stop we needed for the Edo-Tokyo Museum, a museum about the history of Tokyo. Years ago I had seen an exhibit in D.C. about the Edo period–the early days or kind of cultural renaissance period of Tokyo, complete with shoguns. This museum not only had information on the culture and history of the Edo period, it also had replicas of major parts of life such as the old wooden bridge, a kabuki theater, and a printers’ shop. There were dioramas of the royal palace and ordinary people’s houses. There were binoculars so you could look up close at the models of people cooking or carrying things on their backs. There were interactive exhibits such as fire brigade signs, treasure chests, and water buckets you could try to lift. In the Tokyo part of the museum, one could see the development of the city. There was an interesting diorama of Ginza, which looked different from today but still seemed to capture the energy and style of today, with a touch of the “wild west” look of America.

After the museum, we got on the train back to Manami’s stop and stopped at the supermarket so I could get more pastry for tomorrow, and Manami could get salads and side dishes for dinner. We came back to the condo and had something to drink, and I tried my “cheese fondue” pastry. I think the cheese inside, though, was cream cheese. That made it even better. Koichi showed me pictures from their trip to Nara and Kyoto, which helped me get a sense of where I’d be going next.

Manami said I should rest while Koichi made dinner. He made okonomiyaki, a traditional Japanese pancake. I had had okonomiyaki before in Japan Town in San Francisco, but Manami said there are many styles of okonomiyaki. This variety contained lots of cabbage and noodles. It was still topped with the traditional greens, smoked squid shavings, a special kind of brown sauce, and mayonnaise. Yum!

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