Day with Hiromi in Kyoto

A long but good day.

Today we went to Kyoto to meet up with Hiromi.  She graciously accepted to come to Kyoto to shorten our travel time to see her.  We got the 8.30 train from Tokyo to Kyoto, it was surprisingly empty so we spread out.  Tom and I did scrapbooking whilst Matt did some work on the laptop.

Unfortunately this wasn’t to be Tom’s best day.  He can’t still be tired, he’s had a couple of quiet days and been in bed early, but today he was in one of those moods.  It didn’t really matter what we did, what we said to him, he continued to be aggravating.  Not great when you are meeting with a dear friend for a limited time!  The scrapbooking was the first part of this, he asked me to get it all out which I did, but then he was just silly the whole time, writing letters back to front, missing out lines, not cutting things out properly etc etc.  We did get it done, but it was hard work and quite frustrating!  I asked him if he was tired, he said yes so I gave him the opportunity for a cuddle and a sleep, but he just fidgeted.  Not a great start!

Oishii

Tom and Hiromi

We got to Kyoto dead on time (of course), it is much hotter here than in Tokyo – an extra 5 degrees or so.  We then got the bus to our meeting place – just outside the posh department store Takashimaya.  Obviously a popular meeting point as there were lots of people hanging around.  Within a minute or two Hiromi arrived.  Tom gave her a big hug – she was looking well and as stylish as ever.  Tell me why: Hiromi has 2 shopping bags and looks very very stylish wearing a t-shirt, a hat and a scarf with some converse boots and a flaring skirt.  I make an effort with flowery big top and leggings and look very very scruffy.  I guess she has ‘it’ (as in style) and I don’t!!!!  She asked us if we had made any plans for lunch – we hadn’t, so she recommended us a negi restaurant nearby (negi is something between a leek and a spring onion).  The restaurant was proper Japanese – ie sliding doors and wood, the food was amazing.  The menu was all in Japanese and there were no pictures on the menu or models of food, so I let Matt order for me.  He ordered chicken karage for himself and mixed tempura for me.  All this with brown rice, miso soup, pickles etc etc.   I ended up with the tempura – it was amazing: 2 big ebi, white fish, mushroom, sweet potato, pumpkin, aubergine, okra, seaweed and of course negi.  It was very very fresh – a taste sensation.  Matt’s karage was pretty good too.  Hiromi had pork tonkatsu with egg which looked lovely too.  Tom, of course got a bit of everything – not a shred was left, so I figure he enjoyed it too.

Learning to wash with temple water

What's down there?

We then went for a walk around Kyoto, taking in some of the sights.  First on the list was Yasaka Jinja Shrine (Shrine = Shinto), a big complex which got us out of the heaving throngs of people in Kyoto (even more foreigners here than in Tokyo!)  I quite like the temples of Kyoto, I enjoyed coming here 14 years ago by myself (once I had found the YHA which was a bit of a trauma).  

Shaking a prayer rattle

With Hiromi with us we were able to move from one sight to another without meeting the crowds again.  We then headed to Chion’in Temple (Temple=Buddhist) – this is famous for its large wooden entrance gate which you can climb to view Kyoto below you.  Unfortunately it was closed for maintainance.  In fact the main temple building was also closed, it had had another building built around it (as per Himeji Castle last time we came) so that it could be worked on regardless of weather.  We had a much needed sit down (it was very very humid meaning we were constantly thirsty).  A local man came up to practice his English on us – we all sat down in an air conditioned rest room to drink and recover.

Beautiful covered bridge

Shrine Gate

Japanese Garden

On the bridge

Next stop was the Heian Jingu Shrine.  Now this one I remember from 14 years ago as having lovely gardens.  By now Hiromi’s legs were tired, so she had a sit down whilst we went for a look around the gardens.  

14 years ago it was raining hard and I had a film camera so I didn’t take many photos.  I made up for it this time.  The gardens were as lovely as I remember (even more so).  Tom perked up here, went running off by himself and went splat over a protruding root.  We had tears and crying – spoiling the tranquility of the gardens for a while, a sweet put him back on track and soon he was skipping around again.  There were lots of ponds, lots of lily pads, we saw a heron and the irises were in bloom making the place look lovely.  There were also some stepping stones (Tom did the first set with his Dad, but was brave enough to do the second set by himself), a beautiful covered bridge, a tea ceremony tea room and just lots of beautiful plants and trees making for a beautiful garden.  I could quite easily have spent a couple of hours in there, however, Hiromi was waiting for us and anyway we were getting thirsty and tired again.

Carefully stepping stones

We found Hiromi on the shrine’s steps when we exited the garden (she had made friends with a school child) and decided to find a café to refresh ourselves.  It was just a short walk before we found one (expensive but then we are in Kyoto!)  We then got the bus back into the city and decided to walk around the basement of Takashimaya.  It was a foodie’s heaven – if we were staying in Japan a little longer I would have bought lots – the ebis and scallops especially took my fancy.  In the end we bought a selection of buns from a bakery to munch on the train – we were still full from lunch – I thought that more rice and stuff that you get in a bento box would be too much.  We ended up with 2x edamame and cheese batons, a bun with curry in it, a bun with pork stew in it, a cheese, spinach and ham roll, a bun with a sausage in it and a slice of pizza.  All very nice.  Very strange though, when Matt paid for it he got given a free half slice of bread.  Not sure why? 

We then said goodbye to Hiromi and then got a very crowded bus to Kyoto station.  Then the shinkansen back home.  I thought that Tom would be asleep in minutes on the train as he had been showing signs of tiredness all day, but no, he fidgeted and fidgeted driving me mad, but no sleep came.  We gave up, had our buns, tried again, but still no.  As I said he is having a difficult day today.

Anyway, thanks to Hiromi we had a lovely day, she didn’t seem to mind that Tom wasn’t at his best, she played with him and defended him against our curt words when he was doing wrong.  He almost got tickled to death at one point.  In Hiromi’s eyes Tom can do no wrong – very cute!