Kyoto, Japan - Day 3

What we did:
- Woke up and grabbed another American adjacent breakfast. Coffee shops are all that’s open as breakfast isnt a big thing here. Nothing really opens until 11am besides these cafe’s.
- We caught the subway down to the big Fushimi Inari shrine, the head shrine of all others for Inari the god of rice. With 12,000 steps to the top, it’s a winding rock staircase through the woods with ornate red gates overhead all the way. Super crowded but pretty cool walk! We got to the main lookout halfway up and opted to descend from there as there aren’t any good views further up.
- From there, we walked 20 minutes over to the Tofukuji temple. Another massive set of temples with expansive gardens. We enjoyed the calm and space away from the Fushimi Inari crowds. Doesn’t matter how many of these temples/gardens we see, we’ll keep enjoying them all.
- From there we took the subway back to our favorite area, Gion, for some more noodles! This time we tried another ramen spot and were equally as impressed. They don’t seem to eat much green stuff here, but we would happily trade our daily subpar salads at home (and health) for these incredible noodles and broths. Just sprinkle some matcha in our waters and we’d live forever anyway.
- After lunch, we walked the streets of Gion before popping into a legit tea bar for a flight of different tea varieties! We decided that we’re going to become those ppl who get way too into Japanese culture and make an entire wing of our house in the style of this place - bamboo walls, wood beamed ceilings and tranquil music. The zen is pumping through our veins - we’re loving the Far East man 🤘
- Sufficiently buzzing off macha and zen, we grabbed a cab across town to the Arashiyama bamboo forest. We enjoyed walking the path through thick groves of bamboo trees. Catching it later in the day we were able to avoid most the tourists as well.
- Our cab driver was so nice, it made us reflect on how truly friendly and welcoming all of the Japanese have been. Similar to our thoughts in Germany and Vietnam, it’s so hard to reconcile the atrocities experienced by our grandparents generation, relatively not too many years ago, with the warm hospitality and mutual respect we’ve experienced.
- Putting history and geopolitics aside, we then took the scenic “Romantic train” (their translation not ours) through the Hozu ravine. About a 20 minute ride, we got to enjoy sweeping views of the early fall foliage in the valleys along the river.
- We caught the subway back across town and regrouped to head out for the night. We hit a popular Izakaya for a variety of Japanese staple bites as we wanted to get a feel for this type of dining. Bar + small varied bites = Izakaya = Happy Steph & Trent
- Sufficiently fed, we headed to another divey bar in the Gion district. While not as intimidating or special as the bar from the night before, we enjoyed the warmth and approachability of this one. Great bartender and superb matcha old fashioneds.
- Got back home around 9 exhausted from another big day so we watched 30 minutes of Tom Cruise’s “Last Samurai” before calling it a night.

What we ate:
- Ogawa Coffee Kyoto Sanjo- quick breakfast of eggs, salad, lemon bread, and flat whites.
- Musoshin Ramen: Small ramen shop with a total of 10 seats. Ordered at the kiosk and served at the table. Started with an appetizer of fried chicken- nice and crispy and not greasy. We then both ordered their signature ramen, broth was much thicker than the first ramen we had and the noodles were definitely better. Had spicy sauce on the table which we generously added to our bowls. Another great ramen experience!
- Gion Kitagawa Hanbee: We were eager to have a traditional tea experience, so found a tea house in gion where we could try multiple teas by ordering a tea flight. They were all delicious! Each tea had a sweet treat pairing. We had matcha, green tea, roasted green tea, oolong, and black tea. Trent’s favorite was the roasted green tea and Steph’s was the oolong. The last sweet treat was a Japanese version of a cheesecake and it was wonderful!
- Komefuku: After passing this place a few times, it seemed like it was an approachable izakaya that we could give a try! We ordered 2 Asahi beers, gyoza, a tuna wasabi roll, salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri, fried Camembert, fried wagyu that you dip into a raw egg, and some white rice! Everything was tasty but didn’t blow us away. Luckily the sheer quantity of food we ordered left us feeling sufficiently full at the end of the meal!

Fun facts:
- Fushimi Inari Taisha had around 10,000 Torii gates. The gates are maintained through donations from individuals and businesses, and each torii gate is engraved with the name of the business/individual who made the donation.
- Oolong tea contains more antioxidants than a green tea.Les mer