Gojo Zaka Pottery Festival

Another fun, Kyoto event is the Gojo Dori (Gojo street) pottery festival. The festival spans three or four days and includes pottery from numerous vendors and pottery studios. If you are familiar with Kyoto you know that Gojo Dori is a very busy and industrial street, so when we heard there was going to be a pottery festival we were a little skeptical about the logistics.

The festival starts basically at the intersection of Gojo Dori and the Kamogawa (Kamo River). Walking east you will be quickly enveloped into stall after stall chalk full of pottery. There are two or three food vendors as well, serving giant burgers, dried fruit, and nuts. The festival did not seem to drop their prices as the weekend went on, so you are unlikely to get any deal by waiting until the last day. We went the first and second day, and both were insanely hot. It is best to plan to bring water or run into the conbini/convini to get a bottle and washcloth.

Here are a few photos of some of the neat pottery we saw at the festival (this is not even a fraction of what they had)

Popular festival food -giant burgers with all kinds of toppings (cabbage, tomato, cheese are all pretty typical) 

(We took a set of these home! The bottom row is the perfect size for Umeshu)

Smoking is really popular

Although you can smoke anywhere in Kyoto, there does appear to be some concern for the health consequences of smoking. On a recent trip to fushimi, I cam across this sign in a mall.
Notice the heart around the smoking sign.

Japanese Baseball - Nihon no Yakyu

After several failed attempts at buying Orix Buffaloes or Hanshin Tigers tickets at our local conbini, we finally got a set for a fine Friday evening game at the Osaka Dome to watch the Buffaloes take on the Hokaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.  This worked out perfect, because our friend Steve was in town for his first trip to Japan and Asia.  I'm not sure what you've heard about baseball in Japan, but people go pretty crazy at the games.  Some major differences we noticed: soccer-like cheering sections complete with drums/horns/songs/drunkeness, cheerleaders, a first pitch ritual that involved a live batter trying to hit the pitch, crazy cramped seats even in the lower infield areas.

























After getting a serious buzz started at the Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery earlier in the day, we headed further on south into Osaka for a Friday evening game.  Upon arrival at the stadium, we noticed several people entering the stadium with bags full of food and beverages in paper cartons (like half gallon milk cartons).  Nobody seemed to have bottles or cans, just paper drink boxes- this got us thinking about our strategy prior to entering the game; perhaps we too should participate in the practice of bringing in outside beverages in an effort to keep the drink bill a bit lower.  A little background- in Japan, sake (rice wine), shochu (distilled rice spirits), and umeshu (plum wine) are all served in paper cartons and all are available at very reasonable prices at any conbini.



After loading up on umeshu and beer at the conbini, we cracked a few cans of beer (open container laws are non-existent) and walked toward the entrance of the Osaka Dome.  Upon closer inspection, we noticed people were also bringing cans into the stadium with the exception that they had to pour the cans into paper cups (provided by Osaka Dome).  Taking it one step further, some people had so much beer that they filled multiple paper cups and were provided by Osaka Dome crews with a cardboard cup carrier to transport the liquid goodness safely to their seats.  I don't know if we've discussed the high level of customer service in Japan, but this typifies the respect given to customers.  Anyways, we had a few extra beers unopened in addition to our boxed umeshu, so we poured our beer into the provided cups and took to our seats.

At the Osaka Dome, the seats we had were between home and first, about 12 rows up.  By US standards, these would be $100+ seats.  In Japan, we paid about $40 each, which seemed like a screaming deal.  Unfortunately, like most things in Japan, the seats were tiny and offered up almost no legroom.  Regardless, we settled in for the singing of the national anthem and the start of the game.

About half way through the game, we decided to head to the cheering section (right field).  People openly welcomed us into this section and started to teach us the dances and songs almost immediately.  I think they were just excited to have new people rooting for their otherwise terrible baseball team.

Overall, we had a great time at the game despite the Buffaloes poor performance.  Next up is a trip to Koshien Stadium to see the Hanshin Tigers play.

Tempura Yourself!

You have probably heard that Japan has a lot of unique restaurants. Although we have not done any of the really obscure places yet, a fun lunch or dinner outing can be had at one of the many do-it-yourself Tempura restaurants. The one we tried was in Yodobashi on the top floor. If you are from the states you will likely be floored by this dining experience. You are actually sitting at a table with a mini-deep fryer built into your table (hoping to god not to have an earthquake!). 

These restaurants are generally all you can eat, so be prepared to leave quite full.

Costco: the Japanese love it more than Americans

On a recent trip to Osaka (bad choice, we know) we decided to bail on Osaka and make our way over to Costco. We had heard that Costco membership cards were universal, so we thought what the heck, worse case scenario we just hop back on a train and head home.

A glimmer of Costco from the bus. 

To get to Costco from Kyoto or Osaka, you have to take a series of trains. It's pretty easy to get there, just be sure you have a bit of time and a planned out method to bring goodies back.
Thankfully for us, when we finally got to Costco and showed the two guys standing at the door (just like Costco back home) our membership card, they welcomed us and we walked in.

Just like back home, to get inside you grab a cart and have your card checked at the door. 

Both of us did a jaw drop the minute we walked in. It was just like walking into Costco in the states. Food court after you check out, pharmacy in the corner, and a vision center -just like back home. In addition, and sort of odd, all the major signs are in English. This was one thing we thought for sure would be different.

After doing a lap around the store, debating on what was most important for us to buy (we don't have a car so we can only buy what we can carry or put in a backpack). We decided it was probably best to eat at the Costco cafeteria -you know to really get the full Costco experience. This is one thing that is sort of a US/Japan blend. Many of the items are identical to back home (hotdogs, pizza, churros) and then some things are a little different. For instance, the soft serve was called "Hokaido soft cream", but looked just like soft serve. They also had bulgogi bakes instead of chicken/cheese bakes, but otherwise it was just like America. It was a lot of fun to watch people learn to use the soda fountain machine -from what we can tell, these are not very common in Japan, where most soda comes in bottles.

Seating was also insane. Families will take whole tables and stay for 30-40+ minutes eating everything on the menu. We have literally never seen anyone eat as much as we did at Costco Japan. We each ate a slice of cheese pizza and thought we would die (biggest meal in a while), while Japanese women half Meg's size would finish off a slice, a bulgogi bake (same giant size as in America) and then go for soft cream. People also park their carts as if parking a car to eat.

In actuality we really shouldn't be that surprised at home many people stayed to eat at Costco, as we learned on our way out to Osaka, "eating on the go" is about as bad as murdering someone on the street. You will receive looks of shame and disgust (literally, disgust) if you eat while standing, walking, or in public (and by public we mean anywhere that isn't your home or a restaurant). The best thing to do if you have to eat on the go is squat in an alley or at the very least as out of the way as possible.

Anyway, Costco was amazing. We ended up buying a huge Costco freezer bag to carry everything home. Including 4 pounds of grapes, Amy's bean burritos, guacamole, blueberries, raspberries, 4 giant pillows and two US-sized towels (and that wasn't even the whole list of things we carried home). As our temporary apartment came with the world's worst pillows (aka normal Japanese pillows) and two child-size towels, these were by far the best win from the trip. The whole way home, we received humorous laughs from Japanese adults who (I assume) thought we were crazy, and their children pointed and laughed likely thinking we were pillow-loving tourists. With shit eating grins plastered on our faces as we ran through the subway trying not to miss the train, who could blame them.

Here are a few more photos of a Costco adventure:

Take away pizza -really similar, but with seafood added (normal topping in Japan)

5+lb tiramisu 

Sampling is a little different in Japan. Well, different for people not Japanese. It's feels so normal now, but you line up and the sample woman will put your little sample in a cup or paper dish and hand it to you. There is no taking one from the try as you walk by, so you will see lines of people in the isles waiting for samples. This woman was giving samples of sparkling wine -also might be weird for some Costco visitors to see alcohol being sampled freely, but in Japan there are really lose restrictions on drinking (age limit is 20, on the streets drinking is totally ok, vending machines all over selling beer and shochu)  

Costco Christmas -in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas or have much in the way of religion this is just really silly to see. People still had giant wreaths in their carts, and others were eyeing the tree lights and ornaments, possibly debating what they were for. Please note the giant nutcracker to the left -it's larger than most Japanese people. 

Cheese is really expensive in Japan, so to see full-size blocks was like hitting the jackpot. We couldn't help but bring home lots of cheese. 

I swear this is in Japan. 

Hiking to Enryakuji

We recently decided to hike to Enryakuji in preparation to hike Mr. Fuji. We had read online that a nice, quick trail it would be pretty easy. Although a beautiful hike that at the end was well worth it, if you are not Japanese or an experienced hiker this trail will kick you butt in the summer's heat.

Although there are several routes to hike, we hiked frrom the Lake Biwa side. Similar to the Kyoto side, you will walk a short distance through town, and then walk up into the trail head. The trail head is a little confusing so be sure to look for the big set of stairs, this is your hike marker.

Tips for Enryakuji:

• The "trail" is all but non-existent, you will really feel like you are lost in the woods for the first 45 minutes. 
• The trail looks like a washed out riverbed 
• Many people take the tram up, leaving the trail pretty isolated (we hiked at 12pm and ran across maybe 4-5 other people/families)
• We would recommend hiking up and then tramming down, parts of the hike were difficult going up and seemed a little dicey to try and travel down. 
• Bring your camera, there are several great look outs, and some really cool things to see on the trail

Once at Enryakuji be sure to check out every building. Each one has something that makes it unique. In the large building dedicated to world peace you can walk up to the wooden wall where the Buddha is behind (there are no signs saying this is ok, but it is. Just be respectful of tour groups and people meditating/praying). From this "wall" you will be able to peek into where the buddhists sit, write, and meditate. You can also enter into a pagoda, which we have never seen anywhere else (at least not yet). 

Here are some photos of our hike and of Enryakuji: 

what we guessed to be a small cemetery 

Really old stone statues (possibly headstones?) with the characters barely visible

A small temple/shrine just south of the Enrakuji Temple Complex. There was no one else around, so it had this really amazing, yet eery feel to it. 

Someone had left their shoes

Many of the buildings had protective dogs outside

Tram station -really worth taking if you are not up for a good hike, or if you only want to hike one way.