Best Parts of Christmas in Japan

A very popular part of Christmas (at least in Kyoto) is Christmas cake. Many of the hotels, bakeries, and small shops sell a variety of cakes. As you can see in the photos, they sort of look like what was once a traditional style cake (the two above being a yule log and cheesecake), but with their own Japanese twist. 

Christmas is also the Valentine's day of Japan, so it was common to see hearts and romance marketed through the seaon. 

A little service gift from the bakery. A petite, gingerbread cookie, complete with rock hard icing. 

The other equally tasty, best thing of Christmas in Kyoto was our amazing dinner with H-san. He brought an amazing bottle of 2002 Robert Mondavi wine (this is generally a no-no in restaurants, they do not usually allow outside wines, plan to offer to pay a corkage fee to get a yes)

 A small Italian restaurant in Nishiki market, Nishiki Matsumura was excellent and willing to adapt the menu to non-mammal eaters! They request a day or two notice, but happy to oblige. 

New Year's Day in Kyoto

As was the case with New Year's Eve, New Year's Day was relatively quiet. The big shebang all took place at Heian Shrine. We were told almost a million people go through the Shrine around New Year's, so it was no surprise when we found the streets lined with food stalls.

A popular New Year's tradition is to eat like a gluten on New Year's Day. If you, like us, love Japanese junk food, then this is your day! Okonomiyaki the size of your head, take-what-you-want yakisoba, and so much more!

Veggie okonomiyaki! 

Halloween in Japan (continued)

The never ending topic, we know. Halloween was a lot of fun in Japan, and we found some extra shots of the holiday. 

Although yummy, this is not like the pumpkin ice cream you get at home. There is a swirl of what tastes like actual pumpkin puree. It's pretty tasty, just not what you would expect from pumpkin ice cream. 

Porta in Kyoto station had a free photo station set up, complete with staff to take your photo with your cell phone! 

We went as a Korean couple, obvious isn't it? Korean couples are notorious for their twin-like dress. Unfotunately in Japan people just thought we were twins or not dressed up at all...

The Hub was a Halloween central! Well decorated and populated by many costume-clad Japanese people. For once it was actually a great place to be. Also to be noted was the awesome waiter who came to my (Meg) rescue when while Kev was in the bathroom, a drunk guy sat down at our table and wouldn't leave! Thank you to the Hub and their awesome staff (even if you are a chain)

Yes, it's totally fine to bring your precious baby to the bar...and yes it's totally fine to let them wander the bar. 

Black face DJ at Butterfly! Because it's totally fine to be racist here...(just kidding...sort of)

Our tiny little pumpkins...Sharpie pen decorated as they were too small to actually carve...

Halloween in kyoto

Like many things in kyoto Halloween is just a little funny. As October progresses more and more festive things appear. The other day we went out to buy groceries and came across this little gem...eat your heart out americans!

Pumpkins for Halloween

As October started a few days ago, Halloween began to appear in Kyoto. We went to Loft (a Target-esque store) to pick up pens and an envelope and the downstairs floor had been turned into a Disney-dia-de-los-muertos Wonderland. Unsure what we are going to do to celebrate the holiday, we held off on costumes. This did get us thinking though, as every year we carve pumpkins for Halloween. No matter how far apart we are, we've figured out a way to always do pumpkins. Unwilling to let this go, we began the hunt for a good non-Japanese pumpkin (native Japanese pumpkins are green and very different in shape). Check out our past blog post about the Anraku-ji pumpkin festival to see native Japanese/Kyoto pumpkins

A couple days later, we found a flower shop that had a beautiful, perfect globe-shaped pumpkin. We asked the shop girl, "kore wa ikura desu ka?" which means "how much does this cost?" The woman replied that it was 4000 yen (i.e. $40!!!). Floored we thanked her and left, sans the pumpkin.

Two days ago we made our way to pick up bagels and decided to go by the botanical garden on our way home. Even from the outside the buildings and lush green, bush fences are worth passing. Right in front of the Tadao Ando building that borders the garden was a small pumpkin patch.
In a rush to get home we made plans to return later. Finally this afternoon, we made our way back. The pumpkins were 300 yen per kilo, and with a variety of sizes everyone can find the perfect pumpkin.

After a long debate in the "patch" over the safety of carving with full-size kitchen knives (they don't sell the kids carving-safety packs here), we decided on instead getting small pumpkins for decoration and possibly to carve (TBD on this part). We chose our favorites, and made our way home.