Reflections of Japan

Every journey yields its own epiphany and Japan is no different.   

It was my first visit but I've fallen completely in love with the Land of the Rising Sun.  There is so much to admire in her people, culture and cuisine.  

Perfection in every action and incredible attention to detail

The gardens are set out in pristine order.  The shinkansen (bullet trains) arrive and depart on the dot.  Plastic bags are used to cover shopping bags made of paper.  Cushions are discreetly re-arranged whenever a guest leaves the lobby.  Excess umbrellas are removed from the stand so that nothing juts out.  Purchases are gift-wrapped in pretty paper.

Every meal is served to please the senses: arranged in dainty dishes, cooked to perfection.  Every egg is boiled with the orange yolk still slightly runny.

How do they do it?

Interesting practices and sense of humour

Cooking shows that feature only one ingredient.  Females made up to look like dolls - no such thing as the au naturale look here.  Everything kawaii (cute) is cool.  Even adults wear Hello Kitty boots and raincoats. Drugstores every 10 meters feature every type of cosmetics and row upon row of fake eyelashes.  In every colour.  Kinda creepy.

Beautiful travel companions

I have to say a big THANK YOU to my two travel companions, Julina and Li Ki, for the endless hours of shopping, mad scrambles for trains, sharing of desserts, testing of cosmetics, sampling of strange foods, sipping of coffees, silly conversations, giggles and laughter.  It was indeed a pleasure to be your mama san.  Sorry my business development skills fell a little short of expectations :P

  

4th generation innkeepers

It's not often that a traveller can set foot into an inn and feel as if they've stepped into their grandma's home.  That's exactly the sense I got when we arrived at Kikokuso Ryokan (Inn) in Kyoto.  The all-embracing warmth and genuine hospitality of the Yoshimura family is what really made the stay so special.  It has to be personally experienced to be believed.

The ryokan has been in the family for four generations and the current owners are preserving the 140-year tradition of caring for their guests with great pride.  Every meal served, every bed made,  every bath drawn, every slipper laid out is done with the guest's sole comfort in mind.  And every act is accompanied with a gentle smile and respectful bow.  It tells a tale of timeless grace.

Mrs Yoshimura is a very special lady.  Her demeanour and manners are from a bygone era and she is always immaculately dressed and groomed.  Her friendliness more than compensated for the halting English conversations we had.  Here she is showing us the book where she is featured as one of the leading lady innkeepers in Kyoto.  

Here is Mayu Yoshimura, the daughter-in-law, preparing green tea for us on our arrival at the inn.  She was very friendly and chatty, eager to find out about our lives in Singapore.  For some reason, she thought I was a nurse!

Entrance to the ryokan

Lovely Japanese garden viewed from the dining room

Kaiseki

"Kaiseki" is a traditional Japanese multi-course dinner, which Kyoto is well-known for.  This is the highest form of food art, with perfection on every plate - both in terms of sight and taste. Words will add nothing to this highly sensory experience, so please just sit back and enjoy the pictures.

Our beautiful hostess and ryokan owner, Mrs Yoshimura, dressed in a traditional kimono, presented each kaiseki dish.  She explained the use of seasonal ingredients as well as the sequence in which the dishes were to be eaten.  I was (and still am) in total awe of her grace, feminine manners and ability to kneel and bow with perfect precision!

Dish 1 (Clockwise): Radish in sesame sauce, anchovy, fish jelly, fish paste, snail

Dish 2: Sashimi

Dish 3:  Grilled prawn with yuba (Japanese yam)

Dish 4: Sawara (Spanish mackerel) with pickled ginger shoot

Dish 5: Tempura of fish, lotus root, okra and shitake mushroom

Dish 6: Sliced conger eel and pickled cucumber salad

Dish 7: Rice & miso soup 

Dish 8: Dessert of peeled Kyoto grapes and kiwi fruit

Kyoto

Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan for over a thousand years and history is evident on every street corner. The city is dotted with palaces, castles, temples and shrines and is often considered the cultural seat of Japan.

We arrived in Kyoto just ahead of tropical storm Lipi and it rained the entire time we were there.  Although we didn't do justice to all the historical sights, we bravely battled the elements to visit a few special spots.

Here we are at Nijo Castle, the home of the Tokugawa Shogunate.  The most fascinating feature of this castle are the "nightingale" floorboards, which "whistle" every time anyone steps on it. Frankly, I thought is just sounded like regular creaking. Just think of it as the earliest known form of a burglar alarm system :)

We spent quite a lot of time at Nishiki Market, the Kitchen of Kyoto, because there were so many interesting ingredients, cooked food and tempting desserts. And also plenty of shade to keep us dry!  I ended up buying two special Japanese kitchen knives for my sister and I to try out our Iron Chef skills.

The Gion district is a historical area dating back from the Middle Ages, which is now more well known as the home of the geisha.  In spite of the inclement weather, we were very fortunate to spot a geisha leaving her home on the way to work.  While she was protective of her privacy, I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity.  Happy to have witnessed yet another cultural icon of Japan.

Bento Heaven

After just 2 days in the seaside town of Atami, we city girls decided we'd had enough of the countryside and took the first Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo.  After wandering around Shinjuku and Harajuku for half a day while filling up on Starbucks coffee and green tea lattes in between, we headed back to Tokyo Station where this lovely photo was taken.

Once inside the station, we were looking for somewhere to eat when we stumbled into basement 1 of the Daimaru store and discovered BENTO HEAVEN!

..

From appetisers...

...to sushi bentos

From salads...

...to croquettes and all manner of fried meatballs

Not forgetting the sashimi bentos....

...and tempting tempura

This dizzying display of delicious delights left us speechless and it took several rounds of surveying and sampling before we finally decided on what to pack for dinner.  All three of us agreed that it was definitely the highlight of the day and worth making a day trip into Tokyo for.

Atami

The seaside town of Atami, in Shizuoka prefecture is situated 70 miles away from Tokyo.  This quiet little town gave me my first experience of Japan.  The town is famous for its onsen (hot springs), seafood delicacies and Museum of Art.

View of the bay from Atami Castle, which was more like a viewing platform than a real castle

If there is one thing that stands out in Atami, its the proliferation of "kiam hoo" (salted fish) shops.  Everywhere we turned, there stood yet another dried seafood shop.  However, I must give credit to the high standards of cleanliness in Japan.  While we saw them often, we didn't smell them at all.  In fact, I was often awed by the creative displays and packaging for dried fish.  

This beautiful dish on my first night in Atami led me to conclude that "you ain't had sushi until you've had sushi in Japan".  It's incomparable to any sushi I'd ever eaten.  Each mouthful is just bursting with fresh fish goodness and the rice is only a vehicle to transport the heavenly morsels.  The hint of wasabi (horseradish paste) is just enough to add the requisite bite.  Simply divine!

I will never forget this meal as long as I live.  Fresh tuna belly over a bed of rice and miso soup.  Clean, fresh, melt-in-your-mouth tuna is to die for.  I kid you not.  Unbelievably delicious! And it only cost USD9 in a delightful little "mom & pop" eatery called Treasures of the Sea.

No meal is ever complete without dessert and we girls were very fortunate to stumble upon a lovely shop that served the best creme brule custard (green tea flavour of course!), mochi with red beans and yuzu (a cross between orange & lemon) jelly.  They served free green tea so we kept returning every day for the sweet treats.

And last but not least, allow me to introduce you to my two lovely travel companions, Julina Halim (in green) and Li Ki (in red).  This photo was taken at the tranquil tea garden of the Atami Museum of Art.