Breakfast still came with meat, but no fish. The bread, yogurt and quiche were very nice though and just enough.

Unfortunately there was no opportunity to slip in a black egg for Brigitte. She really doesn’t want to eat it🤢

It’s a bit like trying to get a child to take it’s medicine. I can’t ever bribe her with sweets as she doesn’t eat them.

I wasn’t feeling 100% myself this morning so I decided to take the plunge and eat an egg to top me up for another seven years. I’d have kicked myself if today was my day to leave this world and I left with an unused seven-year eggy extension in my bag.

I tentatively peeled it not knowing what to expect. Would it be black inside as well? Would it stink of sulphur? Would a small but perfectly formed Japanese dragon burst from the shell, bow respectfully and politely ask how I would like my egg cooking?

I gently peeled back the ebony shell. Piece by piece the small calcified shards fell away to reveal…

…an egg. Just an ordinary egg. So disappointing 😩, yet so edible for breakfast.

I’m not sure if I should eat another one straight away to gain 14 years? Maybe they work in series rather than in parallel? It’s only now that I’m regretting all the questions that I should have asked at the point of sale.

It was an early start today to get to the bamboo forest in order to we miss the crowds

Unfortunately we got the wrong train, had to detour and, of course, hit the crowds.

Everywhere we have been has been extremely crowded which may not be obvious from the photos. Of course, there’s nothing we can do about it. Everywhere is just so popular, but it must’ve been an even more amazing experience before all us tourists arrived.

We finally arrived at the the bamboo forest which is a forest made entirely from……..well, you’ve guessed it already haven’t you?

It’s a strange sight as the bamboo has no foliage until 10 metres up so it’s like looking through wooden stakes which I suppose it is. Bamboo is a major produce and raw material here and so many things you see here are made of raw bamboo. Gates, fences, it’s so versatile they even use it instead of wood to make their forest. So clever 🤷🏽‍♂️

It’s also the fastest-growing plant on the planet, up to 80cm per day – that’s 150mm per hour so you can sit and watch it growing!!

While we were in the forest we visited the Tenru ji Temple. We’ve been here a week and I have no adjectives or superlatives left to describe the beauty of the things we see here every day. The whole country is just aesthetically pleasing. Here’s some pix of the temple and its gardens.

Here’s a random cute dog picture for those who like that sort of thing.

We then took a trip across town to have lunch in Nishiki market. Again, just incredible (and strange) food displays..

Although the Japanese invented Jenga they keep the more complex variations for their home market.

We had street food in the market for lunch then stopped at a dumpling bar for main course. The only reason I’m mentioning it was to show you their toilet…

It has mood lighting!!

More things you only find in Japan…

Then it was on to the Samurai and Ninja museum where we learned the history of the Samurai and Ninjas, saw some ancient armour and weapons, and became fully trained in the use of Ninja throwing stars and Katana (Samurai swords)

On the way out we needed to use the bathroom so in we went, only to find a toilet with a built-in sink on top of the cistern.

This place is ridiculous!

And just when I’d convinced myself it just couldn’t get any more ridiculous, we came across this….

Then it was a zigzag across town to see the Golden pavilion, a giant pavilion which is….golden – of course.

It’s a stunning building in equally stunning grounds. It is adorned with 400kg of gold leaf. If only they’d planned ahead and bought 600kg they could have covered the whole thing but hindsight is always a wonderful thing.

I think Brigitte and I have probably reached peak temple.

After the pavilion we zag-zigged to the the Camelia house where we were instructed by Norie in the art of the Japanese tea ceremony. A Zen tradition in Japan dating back hundreds of years. The ceremony is an hour long and it takes 15 minutes just to brew the tea, as her intricate ceremonies dictate so many movements and nuances. For example, each tea bowl has a side where the painted pattern is especially ornate and this is to be placed facing you so you enjoy its beauty. Before you drink, however, you rotate the bowl two quarter turns anticlockwise, so as not to dirty the ornate side of the cup. Once you finish the tea, you rotate it back two quarter turns clockwise and enjoy the beauty of the craftsman’s work again.

There’s so many rituals involved that Norie has been learning thee ceremony for 20 years and is still perfecting it.

To be fair, I still have trouble with some teabags.

Toilet talk…

Last night at the restaurant we met a family of clean-bottomed Americans. I say this because we soon got talking about Japanese toilets and they were not only extremely well-versed in all aspects of Nippon toilet-tech, but it turned out that they had them installed throughout their home in California.

Even more exciting is the fact that we learned that you don’t have to change your whole toilet, it’s just the seat, and they are readily available. I’m sure that many of you, having been following this blog, will be desperate for your own, so that you too can have bottoms as clean as ours.

Well, now you can, no more spotless bottom envy, just go to Amazon and search for ‘Toto Washlet toilet’. It will definitely be my first purchase when we get home. We’re here for another week so you could have yours before we even get back!

Must remember # 3.

Never pass food between one persons chopsticks to anothers. It is a huge no-no. It’s possibly the worst transgression you can do when using chopsticks in Japan.

At Japanese funerals, the deceased person’s bones are passed between people with chopsticks. When you pass food between chopsticks, it reminds people of this.  

Very early morning start tomorrow as we head off for a long day in Hiroshima.

21:25 – 13th May – Kyoto

“Turning Japanese I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so.”- The Vapors, 1980

Which is quite an apt song as the strangest metamorphosis is happening. Brigitte, having been raised in traditional French ways, must almost always have wine with a meal. Not just any wine of course, it has to be the correct wine for the food being served. To not have wine with her evening meal is a bit like me not having custard with my apple crumble, or brown sauce with my sausage sandwich. It’s unthinkable.

However, she is now embracing the way of the Samurai. She has had no grape wine since arriving in Japan, and is getting a real taste for Sake. I’ve been monitoring the situation for a few days now but, as today is the day of our sake brewery tour, more of which later, it seems a good point to mention it.

We were so happy last night, a comfy bed – with legs! It’s amazing how a little perceived hardship makes you appreciate the simple things in life.

Breakfast was welcome and surprisingly edible.

The trick is to request neither fish nor meat. We just need to get the pickled lettuce bowl sorted out and it’s all edible.

Brigitte has steadfastly refused to eat the sulphur egg so aI thought I could slip it in this morning by substituting it fir her real egg.

She didn’t even notice but she only had coffee for breakfast. – Don’t worry, there’s another opportunity tomorrow , sshhh!

Our guide , Akemi, arrived at 09.00 and we set off for the day. First stop the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Fushimi Inari is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates. There are over 10,000 of them placed around, but mainly over, the walking and hiking trails in the mountain shrine. What I didn’t realise is that they are all donated and of you look at the photos, one side is plain and the other has the donors name. Just over £1,000 is the answer to your question so not a bad investment if you want a personal shrine gate I suppose. The trails lead into the woodland forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

Whenever walking through a gate it is important to remember to bow and walk through the gate at one side, not in centre. Only the deities can walk through the centre.

We only walked through 1,000 gates having decided that once you’d seen a thousand, you’d seen them all. Very impressive though. The shrine has ancient origins from 794 AD.

It was incredibly interesting and also incredibly busy but it is one of the most visited sights in Japan.

We then went for our tour of the Matsui sake brewery which was fascinating. The Kagura brewery is over 300 years old and is still owned by the same family. It’s the 17th generation of ownership. Sake brewing is completely different to wine. It is not seasonal as rice, unlike grapes, is now available all year round.

The quality of the sake is all about the polishing of the rice to remove the outer husk. The more polished the rice, the more complex and robust the flavour. 33% polished is a lighter sake more suitable for fish, 66% is a more full bodied suitable for red meat. However, this is very simplistic and there are many more complexities around ageing and pasteurisation but far too complex to describe here. However, I am now a sake snob and happy to answer questions and bore you all later.

After today I think Brigitte may never drink wine again!

Postscript: this was written many hours after the sake brewery visit. Brigitte wanted to sample more varieties than those included on the tour, including blended and vintage sake so, of course, I supported her in her quest and it is only now, many hours later, that I am able to articulate it. Sorry that there is not as much information as a normal day.

The rest of today’s blog is written after referring to my photos to see wh were we went and what happened as it’s all a bit hazy otherwise 🥴

After the brewery it was time for lunch. Apparently, we ate here…..

After lunch, more temple time… This one is called Kiyomizu Dera temple. This is a Buddhist temple, over 1200 years old and a UNESCO world heritage site.

It’s a tradition for both Japanese men and women (and foreignets) to hire traditional Japanese komono for their day at is at all shrines and you see many walking around like this….

We continued our walk through Kyoto old town to the Yasaka Pagoda which is a five story Hōkanji temple which has existed since at least 794AD. It is a huge imposing structure rising out from the old town’s buildings.

And so to dinner and more of the absolutely amazing Kobe beef. I’m really not a big fan of red meat or steak. I can take it or leave it, but to this is out of this world!

Things you only see in Japan…

Things you only see in Japan #2

Must remember # 2.

Never leave your chopsticks sticking up in the rice bowl. Chopsticks are left standing upright in a bowl of rice as an offering to the deceased. If you stand your chopsticks upright in your food, it can remind people of death and is seen as disrespectful.

Tomorrow we visit the Samurai and Ninja museum which includes Ninja training so you will never see me coming again!

We’ve been here a week! Sayonara.

23:05 – 12th May – Kyoto

(Philosophical )Thought for the day.

I assume that the Japanese, like most civilisations, at some point independently came up with the idea of tables, chairs and beds, due to a basic need to eat, sleep and rest. How can it be then, that such a clever race completely overlooked inventing the leg. It seems to me an obvious requirement as we both have really sore knees after just two days of crawling around on the floor. You’d have thought they’d have figured it out by now. Which brings me to my philisophical question:

Do you think that they have always been more supple than westerners and so inventing the leg was never necessary, or is it the fact that they never invented the leg that has made them evolve with more suppleness?

Breakfast arrived – fish free – yey!

The fruit was artistically arranged with three anti-gravity grapes standing on end…so clever.

Upon investigation they just cut the bottoms off to make them stand up – cheats!

There was also some strange looking ham and runny scrambled eggs so we ended up just eating fruit and toast, which was actually a welcome and delicious breakfast.

Our car arrived at 9.00 to take us to the station and as we left our room Dave and her helper suddenly popped out of nowhere to frantically kneel and bow to us and wish us farewell, It was so nice and respectful. I’ve never experienced that at a Travelodge.

Soon we were bullet-training to Kyoto.

With our coffee on the train we were presented with this to stir our coffee. It’s s lovely translation of ‘stirrer’.

The journey was uneventful for once, the subway negotiated with ease (much less complex than Tokyo) and we arrived at our hotel to find our suitcases in our room.

Tradition now dictates that we rush back out quickly, totally unprepared, and go get lost. So that’s exactly what we did.

In Tokyo, Hakone and now here, we keep seeing shops and restaurants with curtains draped halfway down so you can’t see in. We presumed it meant they were closed….

It turns out that it’s actually a sign they are open! – So many missed opportunities to shop!

Although we found Tokyo an experience and great to see, I don’t think we’d ever want to return. It’s just a huge bustling, fast paced, crowded city.

However, as soon as we arrived in Kyoto the difference was obvious. It has such a great vibe. It seems trendy and relaxed. Although it’s not a small city it has a small town feel so first impressions are good and a long walk confirmed this. We have a full day tour tomorrow so we will report more on Kyoto itself. Also, it was 24 degrees so really pleasant to walk.

Our excellent tour operator had provided tickets to the Kamogowa Odori Geisha dance.

I said to Brigitte on the way in not to get too comfy as we’ll probably want to leave at the first break – it’s just Geisha’s dancing to traditional Japanese music with fans, as you can see from the poster 😩

I couldn’t have been more wrong, it was captivating and charming and although I thought it would not be my sort of thing at all, we both loved it. Unfortunately, Netflix has given us unrealistic expectations and so there were no subtitles. Luckily I had bought an ‘English’ programme and although only three of its 50 pages were actually in English it narrated the story so we could follow what was going on. Same process as going to an Italian Opera really. It was a wonderful experience. No photos were allowed, sorry. Look it up on Youtube if you’re interested.

Kyoto is only an hour away from Kobe, which is famous for having the best beef in the world. Apparently they massage the cows to keep them happy. The fame is well deserved. The meat is very rich and fatty with so much marbling it’s probably more fat than meat but it’s absolutely delicious. You often hear people say that ‘the meat just melted in their mouth’ – well this really, really does! Whatever they do to their cows we should do to ours.

There’s many ways of preparing it and the restaurant we went to was a Yakiniku where you grill the meat yourself at the table.

As the American’s at the next table said – “It’s Awesome!”

Then it was back to the hotel and so to bed to rest for tomorrow’s tour.

Important to remembers # 1. – When tying your kimono, make sure that you pull the left side over the right. The only time right is pulled over the left is when dressing a corpse and should never be done when you are still alive.

Strange things seen in Kyoto…..

OMG – I just got a message from the blog stat counter-

So many people with so little to do! 😂 – Thank you for reading.

21:03 – 11th May – Kyoto