Kyoto Markets & Food

As a foodie, one of my favourite spots to visit whenever I travel are the markets, be it indoor or street markets.

Nishiki market, also known as "Kyoto's Kitchen" in downtown Kyoto is a fascinating place to spend a few hours.

You can find all kinds of food here in this long narrow indoor market - from fresh seafood to black bean tea...




...traditional snacks to cute cafes.




Enterprising shopkeepers call out for you to try samples of their offerings with the hope of making a sale. Let's just say it's a very successful tactic. We could not resist the yummy goodies once we've had a taste. It's a great place to buy gifts for family and friends back home.

The other place I highly recommend is the street market at Chawan-zaka or Teapot Lane in Southern Higashimaya for more shopping and eating.


Walk along the charming cobbled pathway and pop into any shop that catches your fancy. Fancy a hand-painted T-shirt from a sidewalk artist?
Or maybe some Japanese green tea Kit Kat for folks at home?


If you're lucky (which we were), you might even catch a glimpse of a Geisha at work.


When your feet aches, pop by a cafe for a green tea soft serve ice cream or a cup of Japanese coffee, or if you prefer, Yebisu beer.


At the top of Chawan-zaka, you can visit one of the oldest temples in Kyoto, the Kiyomuzi-dera. So, you get food, shopping and heritage at one convenient location!

If you fancy some street-style food, try the Kyoto style Okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) called Issen-Yoshoku. We stumbled upon this restaurant at Gion and was first attracted by this cute figurine of a young man whose pants was being bitten by a dog.

Then we were hooked by the tantalizing smells as the chef cooked at the front of the shop. How could we resist?


What goes into Issen-Yosho? Thankfully, the restaurant had it written down in the menu.


This is what the Kyoto-style Okonomiyaki looks like...Delicious!


I think the restaurant is at Yamatooji-dori (Nawate-dori)...but if it helps, here is a picture of the restaurant. Happy hunting!

Kyoto's Gion - The Fine Arts of Japan

Kyoto is more than just temples and shrines. For a taste of Japan's fine arts, we visited Gion. Here, we walked the old part of Gion, Shijo-dori in the early evening, hoping to catch a glimpse of a geisha on the way to work.

At Hanami-koji we saw three ladies in kimonos but soon realized that they were "tourist geishas", tourists who have paid to be made up as a geisha, or in this case, just dressed in a kimono.


However, we later spotted a real geisha hurrying to work. Notice how beautiful and intricate her kimono is compared to the tourist geishas' kimonos. We could not resist taking a photograph of the geisha, from a respectful distance. After all, who would want to be mobbed by tourist paparazis on the way to work? So, if you do go to Gion, please respect the geishas and do not hound them for photographs. Just observe and photograph from a distance.

We even saw a male geisha...Actually, we saw a poster advertising a performance (we think...the words were all in Japanese...). Next to the picture of the geisha was a head-shot of a dashing young man. So we figured it must be a male impersonating a geisha performance???

Later that night, we went to Gion Corner Theatre at Yasaka Hall in Shijo Sagaru to catch a one-hour performance of seven traditional arts of Kyoto. These include:
1)Japanese harp (Koto)


2) Tea ceremony


3) Floral arrangement


4) Gagaku Imperial Court music


5) Kyogen classical comedy


6) Kyomai dance


7)Bunraku puppet show


Whilst we may not have understood the finer nuances of all the performances, we definitely appreciated the glimpse to a tradition that is not our own.

Kyoto - The Best of Japan's Cultural Heritage

Kyoto is undoubtedly the place to go to experience the best of Japan's rich cultural heritage With 17 Unesco World Heritage sites, hundreds of Shinto shrines and thousands of Buddhist temples, you'll never be able to see them all in one trip. Here are the highlights that we picked.

1)Kingaku-ji (Northwest Kyoto)
The Kinkaku-ji or the Golden Pavilion is really golden in colour - it's covered by gold foil. The current temple built in 1955 is a reconstruction of the original temple after it was burnt down by a monk. The original temple was built in the 13th century by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.


2)Gingaku-ji (Unesco World Heritage) (Nothern Higashiyama)
The Gingaku, or the Silver Pavillion was built in the 14th century by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Originally, the Shogun had intended to coat the building with silver but that never happened. The temple grounds has beautifully sculptured white sand gardens.


Despite the light drizzle when we visited, it's still very pleasant to meander and enjoy the beautiful garden. In this peaceful environment, you'll find that your worries will melt away...


After the walk, we worked up an appetite and indulged in a delicious green tea cream puff in a sidewalk store just outside the temple. The creamy puff tasted as good as it looks!


3)Heian-Jingu Shrine (Northern Higashiyama)
The Shrine was built in the late 18th century to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto. It's not difficult to spot the Shrine as it is painted bright orange.

Before entering the Shrine, visitors should wash their hands first.


4) Sanjunsangen-do (Southern Higashiyama)
The original Sanjunsangen-do was built in the 11th century. The temple was rebuilt in the 12th century after it was burnt down. The temple hall is long and narrow. At 120 metres, it is Japan's longest wooden structure. In the temple (photography not allowed), there are 1001 statues of the 1000-armed Kannon (Buddhist Goddess of Mercy).


5) Kiyomizu-dera(Southern Higashiyama)
Kiyomizu-dera is located at the top of Teapot Lane(Chawan-zaka), so be prepared for an uphill walk! One of the oldest temples in Kyoto, the orignal temple was built in 798. The existing temple itself was built in the first century. There are lovely views of Kyoto from the temple.

The Best of Takayama - Hida Folk Village (Hida no Sato)

It's been nearly a year since my trip to Japan. The earthquake, tsunami followed by the nuclear plant disaster has changed the landscape of Japan. I considered if I should continue to post about my trip and came to the conclusion that in the midst of the horror and tragedy, I want to remember the beauty of this nation.

One of the highlights of our visit to Takayama is the Hida Folk Village - a large open-air museum with a collection of antique houses from the region. We bought a bus and entrance pass from the Takayama bus station for 900 Yen.

Make sure you have on good walking shoes as the village is quite large, featuring over 30 farmhouses and traditional houses. Slip-on shoes would be preferred because you have to take your shoes off before you enter each traditional house.

Before I talk about the traditional houses, I have to talk about the view. We were blessed with a beautiful weather that day. This is what we saw...

...a breathtaking view of the peaks of the Japan Alps. This more than made up for not being able to see Mount Fuji when we were in Tokyo!

The village itself was no slouch either. The houses surround a lake and has rolling hills as backdrop.


The Japanese have such a keen appreciation for their culture and have taken great steps to preserve it. A lot of these houses were dismantled from their original sites and rebuilt in the village. I had originally wanted to visit Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO world heritage site to see the famed gassho-zukuri, the thatched A-frame style farmhouses. However, due to lack of time, we had to scratch that off our list. I was very happy to have gotten the opportunity to see an original gassho-zukuri at the Hida Folk Village.

The gassho-zukuri has steep thatched roof, designed to withstand the heavy snowfall in the region. Apparently, the name means "constructed like hands in prayer", as the roofs resemble the hands of Buddhist monks pressed together in prayer. The steep roof provides a large attic space to culivate silkworms.


Each house will display a sign to tell visitors a little bit about the history and time period of the house.


In some of the houses, you will get to see traditional crafts taking place, like weaving.


Most of the houses will have a traditional fireplace near the front of the home...


Some larger than others...


The Taguchi's house (village headman) is beautifully furnished with multiple rooms.


Others are much simpler...and used to display artefacts, such as this sledge.

The Hida Folk Village gets a thumbs up for showcasing Japanese culture and history, in a beautiful surrounding.

The Best Of Takayama, Japan - On the Trail of Food and Markets

Takayama is a foodies' paradise. A compact town, the main sights of the old town are located within walking distance, which is a good thing as we really appreciated the walk to set-off our non-stop eating.


We started off the day with a visit to the Miyagawa morning market. This small market which caters to both the locals and visitors is located by the river with a row of shops on 1 side and make-shift stalls on the other side.

At one of the shops, we bought some Hida beef bun for breakfast - hot, steamed fluffy bun with minced beef filling. It was delicious. The bun was incredibly soft, and the beef, succulent. The Hida beef bun rivals the best char siu pau (barbeque pork bun) in Hong Kong.


For dessert, I tried a Sukune Kabocha pudding, a pumpkin pudding topped with a rich brown sugar syrup. It had a smooth velvety texture and was full of flavour. Yum!


Energized after a delicous breakfast, we wandered around the shops, sampling the various local offerings from the Hida district region. We came away with black bean tea, Hida beef granules and wasabi granules (both are wonderful condiments to add to cooking).


We also did some people-watching...


Next, we headed to Sanmachi Suji, the centre of the old Takayama. The three main streets - Ichi-no-Machi, Ni-no-Machi and San-no-Machi are lined with aged-dark wood traditional buildings which houses shops, sake breweries and museums. It really is quite pleasant wandering in and out of the various shops, admiring the traditional wares, sampling some sake and local food.



The exterior shop front of a sake brewery


The sake brewery at the back of the shop


Pretty sake bottles on display


A pleasant discovery - a serene indoor garden located within a souvenier shop.


Not surprisingly, we walked away with bags of Takayama goodies, ranging from Propolis essence to doggie figurines!

Later that day, we had one of our best meals of our Japan trip at Maruaki Restaurant (look out for the large cow display at the front of the shop). We splurged on a Hida beef lunch (knowing that we won't have an opportunity to taste such high quality beef for a long, long while. In any case, most restaurants have cheaper lunch sets, so if you want to enjoy a nice meal in a restaurant, it's best to eat during lunch).

We ordered the grill beef set - check out the lovely marbling on the beef.


We also tried the Sukiyaki beef set. Seeing our puzzled faces, the waitress showed us how to cook the Sukiyaki. First, she took the huge chunk of pork lard to season the shallow iron pot. She then took out the lard, poured some sauce (soy sauce, sugar and mirin) and gestured to us to start cooking the meat and vegetables. She then cracked the raw eggs into a small bowl and made dipping gestures to tell us to dip the cooked food into the raw egg before eating. It was amazing that despite the language barriers, the waitress was able communicate to us the right way to eat sukiyaki.


The Maruaki Restaurant in Takayama gets a double thumbs up!


After such a heavy meaty lunch, for dinner we opted for a simple roast pork ramen noodle at what I would call the "Red Dragon" Restaurant since I couldn't read the Japanese sign. Fortunately, they had an English menu with pictures so we had no issues ordering our meal.


This simple but delicious noodle dish was just what we needed to finish off our trail of food and markets at Takayama.