Rain and a bamboo forest

NB. Photos and edits in purple added 31/05/07

OSAKA with a day trip to KYOTO: It was all about food today. Of course it was :)

Breakfast was a salmon and natto set at Yayoiken. My second encounter with natto was somewhat less offensive to the senses, but the sticky tendrils that stretched between the fermented soy beans as I stirred the soy sauce in with my chopsticks were still somewhat disconcerting. The Japanese love their natto. It's the Japanese equivalent of Australian Vegemite, and in fact it tasted a little like fishy vegemite with an extra sock or two. Yes, it really is that good.


Yayoiken restaurant, Umeda


Diners inside Yayokien


Fried egg and sausage set 420 yen


Sausages, fried egg and cabbage close-up


Hamburger, sausage and chicken steak set 890 yen


Salmon and natto breakfast set 490 yen


Salmon

This was a little salty as though it had been salted and preserved.


Natto fermented soy beans


Stirring natto with soy sauce and mustard

The lady next to our table at breakfast did demonstrate a neat little trick to us though. Open your packet of seasoned nori sheets, then slick one side with soy sauce and then use your chopsticks to wrap it around a mouthful of rice and some natto beans. Instant natto sushi roll! And the rice and seaweed really does make the natto more palatable.


Natto sushi


Chilli flakes and toothpicks


Bench seating at Yayoiken

We did a day trip from Osaka to Kyoto today, a flying 15 minute journey on the shinkansen.


Traffic police in wet weather suits at Umeda, Osaka

His hat is covered with a special shower cap!


Newspapers at Shin-Osaka train station

We had a small wait for the train so I got a little snap-happy at the shops on the station platform.


Magazines (they're really thick but on thin paper)


Bags of four mandarins 400 yen

The Japanese love healthy snacks!


Takoyan octopus snacks


Hello Kitty keyrings

I particularly like the middle one where she's wearing a giant Dotombori-style crab.


Instant curry


Magazines


Our shinkansen to Kyoto (how sexy does it look?)


Seats inside the shinkansen

The seats are super roomy with space for a cabin-sized rolling suitcase in front of you.


Snack trolley

Three of us had been to Kyoto before so we skipped the temple tour and headed east to Arashiyama on the local train, a picturesque town with temples, shrines and a bamboo forest --just like the one from House of Flying Daggers! It rained unrelentingly for much of the day (the traffic cops in Osaka were all dressed in crisp white raincoats with shower caps to protect their navy-like hats), but we still managed to check out Tenryuji Temple and Nonomiya-jinja shrine.


Arashiyama


Japanese tourists


Japanese maple leaves


Tenryuji Temple


Tanuki raccoon dog

Tanukis are often found outside temples and restaurants, and are known for distracting and tricking travellers. They are also gluttonous and supposed to have magic powers that enable them to creating illusions.


Lunch at Arashiyama

All the restaurants at Arashiyama seemed pricey. The pitfalls of being in a tourist area, we presumed.


Torinanba boiled chicken set 800 yen


Katsudon 800 yen


Yuba udon set 1300 yen

I splashed out on the yuba udon set which was quite a feast (the other meals were fairly small).


Yuba udon (soy bean curd skins)


L-R: Smoked gammon, eggplant, siu mai and mushroom

The eggplant was particularly sweet and tasty.


Strawberry sponge cake (giant strawbs! and check out the cream!)

We were the only table eating mains. Everyone else couldn't resist the towering slices of strawberry sponge cake. The strawberries on top were giant, although the cream looked very fake and sickly.

The bamboo forest was amazing. Thousands of giant bamboo stalks rose majestically above us, and with plenty of wind accompanying the driving rain, they swayed in rhythm, knocking each other like wooden xylophones creating a melodic echoing chorus.


Bamboo forest


Jizo statues


Hello Kitties in kimonoes at a souvenir shop

Back in downtown Kyoto we drooled over the counters of French cakes, pastries, sushi, tempura, mochi, seafood, pickles and fruit at the Daimaru department store food hall. The strawberries here are particularly amazing, such perfect forms that you could easily mistake them for being plastic. The stalks are a crisp green, the leaves are unfurled, and each seed is clearly visible with barely a bruise to be found. They're not cheap of course, at about 380-800 yen per punnet (AU$4-AU$8.20) but they smell so delicious and intensely of strawberry.


Giant strawberries at Daimaru 788 yen


A box of perfection (they smelt incredible too!)


Sushi boxes

Japanese food is definitely cheap here, but anything Western seems to come at a (happily paid for) price. Cakes, biscuits and pastries are showy creations of magnificence. They become artworks that cost a small fortune.


Berry Cafe at Kyoto station


Fig cake