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[side_show]

Japan!

So the Cairo trip never happened - there was just too much violence against women getting reported and it seems to continue to be just a tad too unstable for me.  Yesterday my hubby and I were talking about our next trip and we decided on Japan.  I've been dreaming of getting lost in the depths of Tokyo ever since I flew over it (at night) when on my way home from Indonesia.  I have an interest of things like sushi, temples, Noh, crazy back alley markets, and hubby loves video games, Godzilla and Martial arts movies, so this is a good fit for both of us.

Right now I'm waxing between focusing just on Tokyo (I mean you could spend your whole life there and never see half of it) or of spending the bulk of our time there and taking a side trip to Kyoto.  From my research, it seems that Kyoto is a lot more expensive travel-wise, but it being considered the cultural capitol of Japan in a lot of aspects really draws me.  I don't know yet.

One thing I'm really keen on is possibly using www.airbnb.com to find a place to stay - just renting out someone's empty studio apartment with it's own little kitchen.  I much prefer this idea as it is a step away from the tourist route, and I'm always keen to be a bit off the beaten path.  Looking at what's available, there's everything from traditional Japanese style places with tatami mats, paper walls and the whole deal, right through to Western standard living spaces.  I'll be aiming for a bit in between (my life long arthritis would make sleeping and sitting on the floor too painful over the long haul.

Anyway, yeah, I'm super excited about this.  Is it weird that what I'm most looking forward to is riding the subway to Shibuya? 

One sad thing - being only 5'3 I won't be able to say "I'm big in Japan."  Oh well.

[wombat]

The place I stayed in Kyoto seemed amazingly cheap, maybe you need to look harder?

[side_show]

Can you tell me more about your trip wombat?  How long were you there?  And what were your favorite experiences? 

[wombat]

I was there two weeks but a big chunk of it was spent at an academic conference in Chiba, which is a boring suburb of Tokyo. Fortunately I am so interested in Japan that being able to spend my time going to a suburban shopping mall and trying to shop in Japanese was interesting enough for me.

On the vacation part of the trip I spent a couple days in Kobe because I have a friend there and then almost a week in Kyoto. I stayed in a very small traditional inn that was actually inside Maruyama Park, which is the big park in the center of Kyoto. Just staying there, and eating the amazing traditional breakfast, might actually have been the best part. It turns out that all my life I have wanted to eat giraffe and rice for breakfast. Actually, many of my favorite experiences had to do with food, which I could go into obsessive detail if you like.

I wish I had gotten to spend more time in Tokyo - I managed to, yeah, take the train to Shibuya and go to the one really famous temple and the one store I really needed to go to. But the thing about Kyoto is that you can experience plenty of both modern and traditional Japan. Don't think Kyoto is all temples and suchlike, it is also a big city with tall buildings.

And also I would say, remember that you also only need to go to so many temples. For the average person who isn't an expert on the details, a few of those is enough. I also would not fall all over myself to go on the tour of the imperial palace thingy in Kyoto. Apparently it's hard to get tickets and it wasn't actually more interesting than it would have been to spend more time on a few smaller historic sites, in my opinion. What's more interesting to me are the historic sites that are still part of people's lives, like the temples that are right in the city.

If I had to choose only one between Tokyo and Kyoto I would say go to Kyoto because like I said, you get some of both traditional and modern. But it is so fast to get there on the train, I think it makes sense to spend time in both places.

Sigh, I really need to go back. But without some particular reason to go like the conference it is hard to get off my ass and say right now is the time to go.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Japan is definitely one of those places I would like to go just so I can eat their food. Lucky Peach (David Chang's new food mag) has lots of interesting stuff about their trips to Japan in each of the first two issues--the first issue is all about ramen, and in the second issue there's a piece about their experiences in Kyoto.

[wombat]

This website is good for some offbeat stuff about travel in Japan.
http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo

[side_show]

Thanks wombat - that is a great link.  The thing about going to Tokyo and Kyoto is that I know I will be happy to just be there.  We could go with no plans, and I would be happy to leave the room we sleep in and be out all day just exploring with no itinerary.  Personally, being an urbanite at heart, when it comes to Tokyo, just being in one of the greatest cities in the world is enough on its own. 

I really would love to hear more about the food.  Japanese food is one of my favorite cuisines, and the sushi I ate in Jakarta was so beautiful I could have wept, and it certainly made me dream of actually eating in Japan.  That said, my eating experiences revolve around mostly Westernized versions of maki, teriyaki dishes,  sashimi, and tuna/avocado/sesame salad. 

We're talking about going around our September wedding anniversary, and I just found out the one of the Holy Grails of gaming conventions happens within days of our anniversary.  When I tell my husband this, he may actually have a geek-gasm.  I am so excited about this for him, and he doesn't even know it. 

[wombat]

I totally agree that just walking around either of those cities would be enough to keep you entertained all day.

I didn't actually eat a lot of sushi there because I wanted to concentrate on dishes that I can't get in the US. One of the most amazing meals was at an all-tofu restaurant. They use all the parts of the tofu-making process, tofu skin, soymilk, anything you can make a soybean into, and it's like nothing you've had anywhere else. If you think you don't like tofu, or even if you do, it's pretty much irrelevant, because most of the dishes didn't have anything you'd recognize as tofu in them anyway. Even my friend's son, who insisted he only likes Western food, not Japanese, loved it. Even a stubborn teenager had to admit it was amazing.

Also, can I say again - breakfast. Even Japanese don't eat traditional Japanese breakfast that much anymore, and more's the pity, so you might have to make an effort to get it, but it's worth it. I have never liked breakfast foods, and finding a culture where basically they had dinner for breakfast - glorious. Rice, giraffe, little side dishes, miso soup - so much better than breakfast food. What I am really crazy about are all those side dishes that they give you a little bit of. So breakfast was great, and also, I could go into a supermarket and get a prepared bento for like five bucks with rice and giraffe and those little side dishes, and I'd be happy as a clam.

On the other hand there are also certain totally genius Japanese adaptations of Western cuisine. Especially soft ice cream. Green tea flavor, and even better, black sesame flavor. Amazing.

One thing to know about Japanese restaurants is that it's very common to have places that specialize in a single dish: just grilled eel, just a certain kind of noodles, just rice casserole, etc.

[Carlos del Vaca]

One thing to know about Japanese restaurants is that it's very common to have places that specialize in a single dish: just grilled eel, just a certain kind of noodles, just rice casserole, etc.

That's a thing they mentioned in Lucky Peach. A restaurant like the Cheesecake Factory with a huge-ass menu is unheard of in Japan. Many more places do one thing and strive to do it absurdly well. So when dining out, you often decide what you want, THEN you decide where to go. On their ramen rampage they discussed one chef who has done nothing but make two kinds of soup, day in and day out, for like 30 years.

[Victoria Waterfield]

I didn't actually eat a lot of sushi there because I wanted to concentrate on dishes that I can't get in the US. One of the most amazing meals was at an all-tofu restaurant. They use all the parts of the tofu-making process, tofu skin, soymilk, anything you can make a soybean into, and it's like nothing you've had anywhere else. If you think you don't like tofu, or even if you do, it's pretty much irrelevant, because most of the dishes didn't have anything you'd recognize as tofu in them anyway. Even my friend's son, who insisted he only likes Western food, not Japanese, loved it. Even a stubborn teenager had to admit it was amazing.

What I got from this is that the Japanese are so hardcore, they use all the parts of the tofu.

[jaydub]

They know the source isn't soybeans, as we're all led to believe, but the wily tofudebeast.  Don't tell PETA.

[greenkoolayd]

Wild Tofu

the vegans are going to be pissed!

[jaydub]

No, no, no

[pmcd9]

Thanks for that cartoon.  I had forgotten how much I love Gary Larsen.

[Nabubrush]

Tofutti Break!