Kyoto: Return to the Masses

Derek and I hit the ground running in Kyoto. We immediately hunted down a gyoza place from Instagram Reels. There was, of course, a line but it was all Japanese people which we figured was a good sign. It was only after waiting for ten minutes, sitting down, and receiving the menu that we realized we were at a completely different restaurant. Alas. We made the most of it with some skewers and whole fried fish.

After our first failed attempt, we correctly navigated to the gyoza place, which also had a line. This time of all foreigners. Welcome back to the Japan tourist highway. That being said, every popular spot we've been to has justified the line. This place was no different. There was a mandatory minimum of one beer and two orders of gyoza per person. Fine by us. They served draft beer in frosted glasses.

The gyoza was handmade to order and fried to perfection. They were fantastic. The Kyoto food scene was starting strong.

We wandered for a bit and then decided to have dinner number 3. This time at the smallest restaurant of the trip. This ramen shop opens at 10pm and seats four diners at a time. Apparently the chef only serves 30 bowls per day. The ramen was great, but the vibe was even better. The chef was an incredibly kind and energetic old man. Love that.

Each bowl was of course made to order from scratch.

We opened up day two of eating all gas no brakes. Four donuts. We were getting gluttonous.

Then it was time for some Michelin ramen. Also extraordinary. Did not beat the vibes of the small shop the night before though.

We walked along Kyoto's river in search of our first temple. Kyoto is famous for their ample shrines and temples. Overwhelmed by the options we decided to start by seeing the two featured in the movie Lost in Translation.

We took a wrong turn, almost certainly passed a few Do Not Enter signs in Japanese, and ended up in a Budo training center. Budo is a Japanese martial art focused on self-discipline and spiritual development. To us it looked like a Samurai training ground.

We slowly backed out the way we came before the archers set their sights on us. Next up was our intended destination: Heian-jingu shrine. Our first Lost in Translation stop.

We paid to explore the attached garden. We mostly entered so we could see the same stepping stones Scarlett Johansson walks across in her montage of solo time in Kyoto. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Lost in Translation if only so you appreciate what Derek and I produced next.

I decided to film Derek hopping from stone to stone, imitating Scarlett Johansson. Then a thought occurred to us - Why don't we recreate the whole movie sequence? This is what happens when we are left to our own devices. We are either going to send ourselves off of a cliff or recreate scenes from Sofia Coppola's 2003 Oscar-winner. Pick your poison. If you have the time, I would highly recommend watching the three minute original "Alone in Kyoto" sequence from the movie. It will make you appreciate our creation much more.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNVfp5Y9e9c

Ok back to the main show. Hopefully you just watched three minutes of Scarlett Johansson. It turns out the garden was gorgeous beyond the stepping stones. Japanese gardens are always an immaculate vibe. They do a lot of things really well here: steak, salmon, sushi, skiing, gardens, onsens, toilets, you name it. This country is kind of awesome.

This is how the sausage gets made.

Hungry (always), we decided to swing by a nearby burger place for some much needed calories. Holy sh*t. We decided this is the best burger we've ever had. Wagyu patty. Wasabi and other Japanese flavors packed in between two wonderful steamed pieces of bread. I want to amend the above list: steak, salmon, sushi, skiing, gardens, onsens, toilets, and burgers. Who would have guessed.

Our next wander spot was the second Lost in Translation filming location. We first checked out this aqueduct.

Then the main attraction: the Nanzen-ji temple.

We did some filming in the dwindling sunlight. Even at night, the walk back to our hotel was wonderful. I see why Kyoto is on every Japan itinerary.

For dinner we had some unagi (eel). I had never had eel before and decided to choose this as my birthday meal. Shoutout Mom and Dad for treating Derek and me to dinner. This meal was so fun. There was a whole ritual to enjoying unagi which we learned from a combination of broken English instructions from our waitress supplemented by some AI queries. The eel was fantastic - incredibly buttery with a crispy skin. Kept warm on hot lava stones.

We topped our first full day in Kyoto off with some more crepes.

Since the second bite of eel I had felt a slight bone stuck in the back of my throat. It was one of those things where I kind of just did nothing about it and hoped it would go away. But it did not and my discomfort grew. After I gagged myself a few times with some failed toothbrush extraction attempts I recruited resident medical expert Derek Lacy. He put me on my back, turned on his iPhone flashlight, and extracted an inch long bone out of my right tonsil. In his first attempt. Let's go. That is Derek's second blog hall of fame moment in one week. Well done.

The next morning we decided to work off some of our triple dinner, quadruple donut calories and went on an early morning run through Kyoto's large imperial palace area. I am in visibly more pain than Derek, the high school decathlete and captain of the UMass club track team. I need to stop traveling with endurance athletes.

The wonderful thing about running is you can use it to justify past and future meals. So I did indeed help myself to chocolate cheesecake for breakfast. I've really been letting myself go recently ...

We took an hour long bus and explored the streets of Western Kyoto.

We saw some more beautiful temples.

The highlight was a small temple area I found on Instagram Reels for its bamboo forest. Before we got to the forest we were both enthralled by the moss and flowers.

This place was a vibe.

Then we made it to the bamboo forest.

Hungry, Derek took to Google Maps and found an udon place for us. We immediately hopped on the bus and made a beeline for the restaurant. Jesus this place was good. No line. We were one of two parties eating there. This was definitely one of the best dishes I've had in my entire life and beat out the famous udon place we went to in Tokyo. I mean look at that bowl. Fresh udon, egg yolk, butter, onions, salt, pepper, and shaved marinated beef. There is no world where that is not incredible.

For our last meal before heading to Osaka, Derek and I decided to have more wagyu burgers for breakfast. Because we are 23 year olds with no adult supervision. And we got two each.