Travel Guide: Kyoto — Janda's Kitchen

Greetings from Japan! We promise this is a cooking blog but it just so happens we’re on holiday and thought it’d be fun to bring you along for the ride. After all, our cooking is largely influenced by Japanese culture and cuisine. This is actually our FOURTH trip here in four years. It always ends up trumping other potential travel destinations because there are plenty of allergy-friendly food options for me, we can visit Allan’s grandparents, and quite frankly, it’s just a fun place to visit. The Japanese way of life is different from the American one in so many ways. Everyone is extremely courteous and polite. There is no litter anywhere and the public wash closets are cleaner than the average American home bathroom. There’s an understanding that everyone ought to clean up after themselves so they don’t inconvenience anyone else. It’s incredibly refreshing.

Before this trip, we had only ever been to Kyoto in the summer which, like the rest of Japan in July, is hot and humid. Winter, on the other hand, can get pretty chilly—meaning it’s in the 30s and 40s. If you’re an Ohio boy, like Allan, you’d scoff at the thermometer...however, if you've spent most of your life living on the California Coast, you'll quickly learn that you are ill-equipped for actual winter. But fear not! They sell these nifty heat pouches at all the convenience stores that you can stick in your shoes and gloves that work wonders. And convenience stores are literally everywhere in Japan and there are so many to choose from: Family Mart, Lawson, Circle K, Seven-Eleven, etc. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency and there were three within a five-minute-walking radius. We would walk to one every night before bed to stock up on coffee, vitamin C drinks, and onigiri (rice balls) for the next morning. Of all the convenience stores, Seven-Eleven is easily our favorite. The nori (seaweed) in their onigiri is seasoned and they typically have the most generous portions of goodies inside. We always eat the grilled salmon ones. They make for a tasty and economical breakfast before a day of adventure.

Other convenience store favorites include vitamin C drinks, senbei, and edamame.

Like anywhere else, eating out for most meals in Japan can add up quickly. Another great innovation special to Japan is its department store food basements. They're like nothing you've ever seen before. Imagine the rows of counters filled with makeup and jewelry at stores like Bloomingdales and Macy's, only overflowing with piping hot delicious food instead. Yakitori sticks in dozens of variations, katsu and karage in stacks that would make the pickiest of eaters salivate, inari pockets filled with all of your favorites plus things you've never heard of...I could go on. It's one of the best sensory overloads you can experience— like when Harry walked into Diagon Alley for the first time! We typically hit a dozen counters in the basement before quickly heading back to our hotel to devour everything while it's still hot.

We will splurge on a handful of meals in Japan including shabu-shabu. This tabletop cooking experience is interactive and super delicious as you braise your own dinner in the middle of the table. You can put all sorts of meat and veggies in the pot, however, we've learned not to waste our time with anything other than prime cuts of beef and sometimes pork at the all-you-can-eat places. However, veggies are essential to break up all the meat-eating. The meat is sliced thinly and will cook ultra quickly so don't take your eyes off of it once you stick it in—five seconds is usually enough. We went to an all-you-can-eat (*in 60 minutes*) place this time, as we had walked 18k steps that day and could justify the calories/cost.

If you haven't experienced this style of cooking before and are in Japan, you should really add it to your list. You'll thank us later! We bought our own Zojirushi hotpot a few years ago and it delights all of our dinner guests—we do live in Arizona, so any Asian food we make can typically wow the Zonies.

You can find freshly made senbei (rice crackers) almost anywhere there are tourist attractions. Allan likes the savory soy sauce ones but I prefer the sweet ones.

Dango are another must-try street food treat! These little mochiko (rice flour) dumplings make for sweet or savory dessert snacks.

Kyoto is well known for its Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, along with several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The design, craftsmanship, and upkeep of these places over the years is truly remarkable. We suppose that's why they're crawling with tourists year-round. Of the Top Ten Things to Do in Kyoto according to Trip Advisor, we only visited the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine and the bamboo forrest in Arashiyama on this trip. We covered most of that list a few summers ago, but thought these two were worth visiting again. Surprisingly, we found that places a little further down on the Trip Advisor lists for any Japanese city (i.e., #15 or #20) were hardly ever crowded.

Fushimi Inari-taisha is open 24-hours, unlike most Shrines, so we went first thing in the morning before the crowds picked up.

Using my arms to block the hundreds of tourists right behind me. Feel free to copy this pose/trick :)

If you're going to visit Arashiyama for the bamboo forest, you should also check out the monkey park. We we went a few summers ago and it was a lot of fun. You walk alongside them in their exhibit—which would never happen in the U.S.— and can feed them snacks they sell there. The views atop the mountain are worth the trip too. The trek up the mountain can be a bit steep, so we wouldn't recommend it for young children or the elderly. Also if it's raining, it will get super muddy so if you wear white Keds you can expect them to get totally thrashed. The next day, on a quest for new shoes, we learned that Japanese women don't typically wear an 8.5 or above, so shoe stores don't carry those sizes. Allan had himself a good chuckle when I had to try on sneakers alongside a bunch of Japanese men...