Today was our last day staying at the hotel Granvia at Kyoto Station.  We decided to try the hotel’s western breakfast buffet to celebrate.  Overpriced and not spectacular, the breakfast did include more pastries which I love to eat in Japan, at least.  Sarah started to feel sick half way through.  Overall going out for breakfast in Japan isn’t really the thing to do.  Most Japanese eat breakfast at home and it’s mostly homemade stuff like soup and fish, etc.  The only other option is a cafe or coffee shop… expensive coffee, juice and pastry or a light sandwich are common breakfast type things to eat.

We checked out and decided to explore the area surrounding the station before getting a cab to Kurama Onsen where we would be staying for the next two nights.  Kurama is a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and onsen (hot springs) located in the mountains north of Kyoto.  We’d stay there for a couple of nights and then go to Tokyo via the shinkansen bullet train.

Last Walk Around Kyoto Station

After walking around a bit, we picked up some pastries and I got this bottle of cold coffee.  There are many, many variations of cold coffee to be found in Japan.  Most of them taste good.  This one was no exception.  I love Japan’s bottled and canned drinks.

Georgia MAX Coffee

We stopped at a department store called Avanti which also had a Uniqlo inside.  Uniqlo sells  some really neat clothing.  I picked up a street fighter themed shirt and one which features the donut varieties and branding / logo of Mister Donut, a popular snack in Japan.  Teresa and Sarah bought some shirts with Pac-Man characters on them.

Saying Goodbye to Hotel Granvia (Sarah in her Design T-Shirts Graniph t-shirt)

We took a taxi from the hotel to Kurama Onsen after this shopping trip.  Taxis in Japan are quite nice.  The ride is always comfortable and efficient and the drivers have always been nice in my experience.  Once we arrived, I asked him to pick us up in two days to go back to Kyoto Station (so we could catch the shinkansen up to Tokyo).  After a bit of back and forth with the language barriers he understood what date and time we would be checking out of the ryokan and agreed to be there in two days.  I didn’t worry- I’ve always found people to be reliable when traveling in Japan.

Arriving at Kurama Onsen

Everything is different in the mountains.  Japanese mountains are really quite beautiful and unique.  There is a real sense of nature everywhere around you and the air feels fresh.  We arrived at the ryokan and they helped us unload our baggage and take it up to our room.  Upon checking in, we are given an introduction to our room.  The room consists of tatami mat floors (shoes are left near the entrance to the ryokan) and sliding panels.  A small TV is in a little alcove and a table sits in the center of the room with cushions to sit on the tatami floor around it.  We are offered sweets (Japanese sweets almost always feature bean paste) and green tea in our room which is  delicious.  Teresa and Sarah don’t eat bean paste.  More for me!  These traditional Japanese rooms are incredibly simple and very relaxing.  It’s nothing like a western hotel at all.  Our luggage has been placed on some papers to protect the tatami flooring.  We are given some socks to wear around the building.

For all of the zen-like simplicity of the room, the toilet here is like something out of a science fiction movie.  By far the most advanced toilet we encountered on the whole trip, this one featured a wall control panel with motorized seat lifting action, seat warming, bidet, deodorizer and even a hand washing station on the top/back of the toilet.

At a ryokan you are expected to wear traditional Japanese garb.  These were provided to each of us.  You can wear them inside or outside when going to the Onsen or to the restaurant area.  The girls had a laugh at me wearing it.

Looking Good

After relaxing in the room for a bit and watching some Japanese TV, it’s time for dinner.  Meals at these ryokans are already paid for as part of your stay.  You are given a time when dinner will be ready, and you go.  If you aren’t there, they look for you.  The idea is that you are taken care of completely and can relax in the atmosphere of the ryokan.  We go down at the time we had set up and are escorted to the riverside restaurant where dinner will be served tonight.

Going to Dinner

We had chosen the traditional Japanese cuisine for the first night’s meal (you get a few options when you check in).  I know this meal will be interesting- I remember my last stay at a ryokan in 2002 was fairly ornate and included raw horse meat among other delicacies.  It turns out this time to be quite complex and intricate.  We are served many small dishes with elaborate presentations.  We don’t know what much of it is.  Some items include grilled meat and vegetables, soup with some translucent, beautiful mushrooms that look like ghosts, fish eggs, sashimi (sliced raw fish), a whole river fish and fresh melon.  A little trivia about me- I love raw fish and hate cooked fish.  Fresh, quality sashimi or sushi with sashimi pieces is like heaven!  If you don’t care for cooked fish, try it raw.  I’ve been eating raw fish for a long time now.  Probably since 1998 or so when I first got interested in Japan in high school.

The restaurant was located literally on (above) a river flowing down the mountain.

Japanese Formal Cuisine

After dinner, we visit the onsen (hot spring) located outdoors, up the mountainside a bit.  When you visit a hot spring in Japan you have to remember two key things.  Be clean, and be naked.  This is an old tradition.  There are separate men’s and women’s baths.  You have to shower first until you are completely cleansed and then go into the hot spring water.  You should not taint the water with dirt, soap or a bathing suit.  For me this was no big deal.  Japanese guys go to the onsen together and it’s no big deal.  It’s like a time to relax and be social.  Americans (and from what I hear from my friends, Koreans and others) often find this weird I guess because everyone’s naked.  There is a beer vending machine nearby for pre- or post-soaking enjoyment it seems.  Fans of this activity in Japan are called soakers and it’s quite popular.  Teresa and Sarah were a bit nervous but got over it.  The view is relaxing and beautiful.  I am sitting in natural hot springs, completely relaxed and looking out at the mountainside as the sun slips behind it.

After the soaking, we come back to our room.  The futon beds have been brought out and made up by the staff.  These beds are like large cushions that are used to sleep on the floor.  Each one has a small, stiff pillow (traditional for futons).  We watch some more TV before bed, including Japanese MTV and a game show about people falling through trap doors.  It seems the wackier the TV show is, the better.  We settle into our futons and drift off.

Ryokan (before bed)

Tomorrow we will explore the town of Kurama, Kurama-dera (mountain temple), Kibune town and learn about long-nosed goblins (not real) and spiders (real) in Japan.

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