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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Cedceg on 2024-10-29 09:14:05+00:00.
This post is a continuation of my Trip Report Part I.
DAY 10: Koyasan (steps: 20.000)
Luggage transfered, we took the multiple trains to Koyasan. Ate some lovely soba noodles from Tsukumo, a quaint little shop run by two old ladies. Saw the huge Daimon Gate and went for a stroll through Garan. There's a bunch of temples bunched together here, and while not a single one is really that impressive, it is nice to have this much variation in such close proximity. You can see quite a lot of different sorts and styles of architecture and decoration in under an hour.
But the main reason to go to Koyasan is staying at a Shukubo, we opted for the Shojoshin-In. Overall I'm a bit mixed on the experience. We got a guided tour by a lovely monk who spoke surprisingly good English, he showed us around coming across really gentle and with a good sense of humor. The fully vegan dinner was also very tasty. But besides that, I really didn't feel it was that much of an experience per se. The environment is peaceful, but not uniquely so. And for what is a pretty steep price, you don't really seem to get that much in return. Maybe if you're super into buddhism it's a bit different, but I expected it to be a bit more of a holistic experience. As it turns out you basically get a tour and dinner, and after that you're just free to hang out like it's any other hotelroom.
We spent the rest of our evening walking around the Okunoin cemetery, which was admittedly very peaceful.
DAY 11: Nara (steps: 26.000)
The highlight of the Shokubo-stay was the morning prayer. I've always had an interest in the usage of mantra in music, so it was great to see how full a sonic experience just 2 monks can create. Though your mileage may vary, and I can imagine some people finding it a bit longwinded and boring (as I think it lasted about an hour). After an interesting, but tasty breakfast (and an umeboshi that almost made my cheeks cramp up), we took the train to Nara.
One of the big, unexpected highlights of our entire trip: Sakura Burger. I'm not the biggest hamburger-guy, but the wagyu-burger here was absolutely exceptional. Not in a fancy way, but every single element was simply presented at such a high standard, which made for a phenomenal eating experience. Easily the best burger I've ever had. Afterwards we went to Harishuka to do their sake tasting. We got ample explanation from a lovely lady, and got to taste 5 very different, very tasty cups of sake. It's a very quick experience - probaby around 15 minutes - but arguably the best 500 yen you could spend on your trip. We liked their sake so much, we bought two bottles to take to our hotel room, so their system definitely works.
But when you say Nara, you say deer. And Nara Park really is the main attraction here. It's very fun to see the deer bow to receive their crackers. But it's even more fun to see other tourists who get scared and let the animals boss them around. We also went to see Todai-Ji which is absolutely enormous. We wanted to grab the sunset at Mount Wakakusa, only to find out the only walkable part is fenced off, and closes at 17u00. Everyone who is inside before 17u00 can stay as long as they want, people who arrive too late are out of luck, which feels like a really lame way to treat a mountainside. So we walked through Kasuga Taisha instead, which is nice, but felt a bit too similar to the Okunoin cemetery we'd done the previous day.
We grabbed a box of sushi pressed in persimmon leaf from Kakinohazushi Hiraso Todaiji, which was an amazing little treat. We managed to grab the final box just before they closed, and it was absolutely delicious and still tasted superfresh. Ate some sort of unremarkable hotpot meal in a random restaurant and took the train to Kyoto to the Meldia Shijo Kawaramachi Annex, to enjoy our bottle of sake in the most spacious hotelroom we'd come across in all of Japan.
DAY 12: Kyoto, Higashiyama (steps: 31.000)
This will upset some people, but Kyoto was our least favorite city we visited in Japan. I know, I know. Maybe it's because we'd already seen quite a lot of what the city has to offer in Kanazawa and Nara, but it all felt a bit... dare I say, touristy? This is also the location where the lack of trashcans was by far the most annoying. And even more damning, unlike Tokyo and Osaka, the vending machines here don't even offer Dr Pepper. Disgraceful!
Kyoto reminded me a lot of Firenze: there's obviously a lot of history and culture, and it's objectively beautiful. But it kind of gets lost in the crowds, and loses some of its character because it caters to tourists so heavy-handedly.
Our Kyoto-days were probably the hottest of our entire trip, simply too hot to enjoy our customary konbini coffee. On the upside, this started my love affair with the Classic Gold Boss Coffee, an absolutely marvelous chilled can of coffee which I couldn't stop downing for the remainder of our trip.
We started our day off at Sajusangen-do, which was fairly interesting, and the 1000-armed Kannon are quite a sight. Afterwards we went to the Kennin-Ji, which was hosting an exhibition on the dragon painter Koizumi, which was a fun surprise. All in all, I was perplexed that we'd seen this many temples, and they still managed to keep our interest. I won't say there wasn't eventually some degree of temple-fatigue (especially in Kyoto), but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd anticipated.
Had lunch at Nishiki Market which was a bit of a bust. Too crowded, didn't feel like there was a huge variety of foods, and what we did try was pretty average. But mostly it just felt flooded with tourists, which ofcourse isn't a big deal (we'd be part of the problem ourselves), but it just takes away from that specific Japan-magic when every couple of steps you're hearing an American shouting to his friends how great his scallops are (no offence to Americans, but I'm pretty sure most of them can relate).
Took a jam-packed bus to Kiyomizu-Dera, which I'd say was the one and only time where things simply felt too crowded. We were packed like sardines in the streets running up to the temple, and inside the grounds there were simply too many visitors to really appreciate your surroundings. And maybe we're biased because of these circumstances, but we felt it to probably be the least remarkable of all temples we visited. Nice views though. We went through an equally crammed Gion, grabbed a matcha at the starbucks and some jelly-like mochi (not a fan), saw some great Hokan-Ji views, and decided we'd had enough.
So where do you go when you feel templegrounds are overflooding with tourists? That's right, Fushimi Inari! But in all honesty, this turned out to be a big positive surprise. The sun was going down as we went there, all the shops were closed, but this also meant that the crowd had mostly dissipated. We took some wonderful photos from the base of the temple at sunset, took a comfortable walk upwards, and watched the sun completely disappear over the Kyoto skyline from the halfway point. Honestly, a really pleasant experience, and no need to get up at 6u00 just to beat the crowds. On our way back down we came across a baby boar, while we could hear its parent rustling in the bushes next to us. Easily the biggest adrenaline-rush of the entire trip.
For dinner we went to Kyoto Tonkatsu Katsuta Shijo Kawaramachi Store (quite a mouthful). We had an amazing tonkatsu dinner with deepfried oysters, eggs, vegetables, and a perfectly medium rare deepfried steak, which felt like a bit of magic. One of the few places where we queued up for more than 15 minutes, and absolutely worth it.
DAY 13: Kyoto, Arashiyama (steps: 24.000)
Took the bus to Otagi Nenbutsu-ji, which was our favourite temple of the entire trip. It's refreshing to see some form of humor in a holy place like this, and we had an absolute blast watching the little stone guys. Easily our favourite place in Kyoto. Stepped into Adashino Nenbutsu-ji afterwards, which was pretty unremarkable (or maybe this was temple-fatigue finally kicking in). Working our way down Arashiyama, we went to the Gio-ji and Okochi Sanso Villa, which felt thematically connected somehow. Lot of emphasis on nature and gardens, which made for a refreshing change of pace. Also had a quick walk through the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove; wasn't all that crowded, but it doesn't feel all that special either. I think I preferred both the bamboo forests in Adashino Nenbutsu-Ji and in Kanazawa over the big one. Had some sort of iced ramen (pretty weird, but tasty!) from a superfriendly lady at Ramen嵐山竹林亭 .
Having had over a week in nothing but 35° heat had made us cocky. We stopped really taking notice of the weather reports. We stopped bringing our umbrellas with us. Which meant we were caught completely unaware when all hell broke loose over Kinkaku-Ji. Just massive, massive downpours, and the limited places to take shelter were already filled up with the other visitors. We tried our best to stay dry, but after about 15 minutes we were completely drenched from head to toe. Admittedly, when it finally stopped raining and the sun hit the golden pavillion, it was a really pretty sight. Which ultimately makes Kinkaku-Ji kind of worth yo...
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