Kyoto, Japan - Day 1

What we did:
- 5am wakeup to catch our flight. Smooth travels and checked in by 2pm. Ayyyooo we made it to Japan!
- Drizzling day and officially in the land of Ramen - we set off to get Steph her fix! Japan is full of these ramen shops with rows of little one person cubbies, library style, where you sit down to eat. This is serious business, there’s no messing around with pleasantries and conversation. Order your food, slurp some ramen and GTFO. It was delicious! Slurping is not just okay, it’s actually encouraged as a sign of respect - Ha! take that Mom!
- After lunch, we wandered around the large Nishiki market! 5 square blocks of shops and food stands - a bit more structured and less chaotic than the market in Seoul. We did pop into a few shoe stores for Trent as the almost 35 miles of walking in Seoul, on the remnants of his sabbatical shoes, wreaked havoc on the arch of his right foot. Some cushiony Nike’s later we were back in business.
- We took a nap and then headed out for dinner. Such a cool town! All the houses are very traditional with a few meandering streams along brick paved walkways. Little red Japanese lanterns lead the way to rows and rows of small 6-8 table restaurants.
- We finally landed on sitting at the counter of an incredible sushi restaurant. We were in awe at the chef’s meticulous preparation and even more at awe of the more adventurous westerners downing god-knows-what raw fish. After our raw conch debacle in Honduras, we’re a bit more tepid than we used to be. We successfully ordered and declared it the best sushi we’ve ever had! (With a specific caveat for the Norway salmon sashimi pieces).
- We then found a cozy whiskey bar for some Japanese whiskey on the rocks. There had to have been hundreds of bottles of Japanese whiskeys on the shelves. Definitely closer to a skotch than a bourbon, but very enjoyable night cap. Off to bed afterwards.

Where we ate:
- Ichiran Ramen: Basically Japan's version of McDonald’s - fast ramen where you order from a machine, sit in individual stalls, and people serve you from behind a curtain. We both got the specialty tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen, which was absolutely delicious! If this “chain style” ramen is lower tier ramen we can’t imagine what the good stuff will taste like!! We enjoyed the novelty of sitting on the ramen stalls, especially considering we didn’t need to interface with servers, so definitely a low pressure first meal in Japan!
- Sushi Sei: When in Japan, sushi is a must! After some very thorough research, we opted for a safer option (no omakase) at a local joint that served both tourists and locals alike. We sat at the sushi bar and ordered some of our typical sushi choices - salmon sashimi, salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri, and a tuna roll. All so so fresh, arguably the best sushi we have ever had! Trent was still hungry and tried ordering several more pieces including a mackerel nigiri! We will definitely be seeking out more sushi throughout our time here!
- Japanese candy: after getting our fix in Korea, Steph’s sweet tooth was looking for more. Stopped at a quick mart to pick up some caramels and hi-chews. Safe to say we will be trying many more sweet treats here!

Fun facts:
⁃ The Japanese drive on the left hand side. Also, they religiously follow walk signals and there is no jaywalking which really tested our patience.
- In 2011 there were $6M visitors travelling to Japan, now there are $25M a year! You can really see the tourist influx in Kyoto and the locals are protesting it similar to Hallstatt, Venice, and many other global tourist hotspots.Read more