Old town Kyoto is the place to see Japanese people wearing traditional garb in a traditional setting. There is a great Japanese garden there which would have been serene except it was filled with temporary food stands that were all closed that day. Plus it rained almost continuously.
grey and rainy day
long trip, lots of steps
Kyoto in the rain
It wasn’t easy to get to but the Kyoto railway museum is great. There a lot of exhibits with a little bit of english at many of them.
A full sized round house with turn table at the Museum. There was a running steam engine too.
Family Market Lunch
Corn dogs, dumplings, fried chicken
locals scowling
Japanese people don’t normally eat on the street but our choices were expensive and not that appetizing meals or family mart which is like 7-11. We choose family mart.
Sushi restaurant with the conveyor belt of food. Delicious.
I wanted to go somewhere out of they way, so I chose a hotel in what is known as the Japanese Alps. To get there we took high speed and local trains to get to Takayama then a local bus to Fukujionsen. On the way we saw ski hills and wild mountainous Japan.
In Fukujionsen we had snow, the first we had seen in 4 years, since we left the Denali at the airport after Christmas in Hawaii in 2013 on the way to Viatori in Florida. Check that off the list for a while! The town itself is famous for Onsens which are naturally fed hot springs. Each hotel had a onsen. Our hotel had male, female and family onsens which are private and mixed gender. By this time nude bathing was old hat for the boys and they jumped in.
follow the river
wild land steep snowy hills
warm onsen water
A brand new type of train going from Nagoya to Takayama.
The view from our hotel room. This hotel was completely traditional with the host setting up beds on the tatami (floor) while we ate dinner.
This produces about 250 watts, 6 light bulbs worth.
Ethan getting a leg massage in the lobby.
Out hotel served us breakfast and dinner however we were “required” to wear traditional clothing and we sat on the floor to eat. The food was traditional Japanese fare and I think probably relatively high end preparation and presentation. For us it was an exploration of cuisine we had never tried before. I ate my first minnow complete with head but Mike was the only one will to trying what we called “hair soup”.
fish at breakfast time
fish at the end of the day
too much fish for me
For meal times we were told we “must” dress in traditional clothing. The clothes matched the food.
The hot pot on the left cooked to perfect temperature some beef and veg right on your tray.
Breakfast… nothing more to say
The kids ate a lot of rice during our time at Fukujionsen.
How cool!!! I didnt think Japan as having snow! I would love to experience thier culture especially the food , looks amazing! to dress for dinner too! Leah I cant beleive youre 40!! Happy belated birthday!!
Thank you for the birthday wishes! Japan was great. We tried everything we were offered. Some of it was absolutely delicious and some made us gag. The snow in the Alps was beautiful and the kids loved it!