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. 

Tanabata continued

We found some more photos from Tanabata that we didn't publish originally! If you are unfamiliar with Tanabata, check out our previous blog post.

kodai-ji Temple: A beautiful and spooky evening

One of the really great things about Kyoto is there is always something going on (check our "events and things to do in kyoto" page if you don't believe us). It is also really nice here as the events happen all throughout the day and into the late evening. So for a city that generally closes around 9pm (restaurants, shopping, some bars, etc.), it can be really nice to find activities to do later in the evening. A really fun, summertime event that happens at night is the lighting of Kodai-ji Temple.

Yokai lanterns

For three days in August, the temple opens its doors to the public at night. The gardens are lit up, and there are beautiful art displays in some of the buildings. Part of why this event is really fun, is its connection to Yokai (ghosts/spirit creatures). The Japanese believe that the summer time is when you are most likely to encounter ghosts (or similar other-worldly creatures). So ghost stories, haunted houses, etc. generally occur during the hotter months of the year. Much of the art on display at Kodai-ji was ghost-related.

Although we couldn't take photos of the artwork, here are some shots of the temple, gardens, and lighting.

Tombstone (I know right?) of a woman. Inside the building there are two statues, one of her and one of her husband. The interior is beautifully painted withy clouds, gold, and samurai (I believe). 

details of the tombstone-building's outside

An immense bamboo garden housed within the temple grounds. 

A small tea house offered traditional unsweetened matcha and mochi/adzuki bean pastries. 

Although we couldn't get a great shot of the two gray, stone statues on our next visit we will be sure to get some photos of the cute couple!

Part of the art exhibit is an outdoor projection on the temple walls of flying yokai and music. A really neat art-piece, that allowed you to just sit and relax in the summer night's heat. 

View of the trees from the water's edge.

Tip for living in Japan: Be sure to find night time activities to beat the summer heat!