Japan Highlights
We are back from Japan! We had an amazing adventure to commemorate Cynthia’s birthday with a fantastic group of friends. Our trip was anchored by an 8 day multi-adventure Backroads trip with a few days in the “Art Islands” at the end (which we will write about in a later post.) All in all, we LOVED Japan and highly recommend the Backroads approach to seeing this country.
Highlights of Nikko:
Visiting the beautiful Toshogu Shrine .
Our hotel, The Ritz Nikko, was our favorite of the trip. It was stunning, with spacious comfortable rooms, the service was great and the onsen gorgeous.
Back to the onsen, soaking naked with friends in natural spring waters, was a highlight of this trip! Who knew we would love the onsen so much?!
We walked a 1/4 mile into “town” one night for a traditional sushi dinner, seated cross legged on the tatami mats. It was the real deal and both fun and delicious.
From Nikko we traveled to the Izu Peninsula along the coast. Here highlights included:
Traveling by bullet train to get there. So fast and so efficient. But be warned, just whisper (vs. talking) on the trains!
A beautiful bike ride along the sea to the Old Bus, a restaurant where we literally ate in a very old bus parked along the beach.
Staying in a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese house/ hotel where we slept close to the floor and ate Kaseki style meals (traditional multi-course). This was not a luxurious experience and we did question some of the food in front of us, but it gave us a deeper understanding of the culture and simultaneously provided a lot of laughs.
Again, the onsen. There were two “public” onsens in our Ryokan both gorgeous and unique— one in a giant tree and one in a rock. We also had private onsens in our rooms.
One evening we were treated to a traditional drum performance by a group of about eight performers which blew our minds. We were allowed to try it ourselves at the end which proved to be a test of both strength and endurance. Another night featured traditional song and dance from Geishas.
From the Izu Peninsula we boarded another bullet train to Kyoto where highlights included:
Nishiki Market was a true experience, blocks and blocks long with vendors selling everything from knives, matcha, raw fish to hamburgers and sake. The sights and smells will not be forgotten.
Vintage shopping along the streets surrounding the Nishiki Market— found some real treasures including a pair of “party” pants, a vintage Levi’s belt and fun t-shirts for the kids at home. We also found a cool Japanese denim store, Kapital denim, where we got in line to buy their gorgeous bandanas, scarves…and denim.
We will never forget the hospitality or the food at Stars and Cacio where we ate lunch after shopping. It is very hard to seat a group of 10 in Japan, especially when a sudden thunderstorm strikes, but Stars and Cacio took us in and served us pasta, wine and other Italian treats. Not only was this a welcome break from the endless shopping but a break from the endless Japanese food that we were starting to tire of.
Hiking the Kyoto trail, the Fushimi Inari shrine to the Tofukuji Temple, up many stairs and passing under Torrii to views of Kyoto and beyond and then ending at the massive and massively beautiful Tofukuji temple, will be a lasting memory. It was worth every stair!
And then there were the constants that really made the trip— daily mahjong in our Yukatas, salads for breakfast, miso (and endless courses) at every meal, endless sake and endless laughter. Arigato Japan!!!