What was most interesting to me about breakfast though, was that we saw more than one young Asian American couple, meaning they looked Asian, but spoke English like Americans. I wonder if this is a popular romantic destination for Japanese Americans.
After a leisurely breakfast, we took the hotel shuttle to the bus station, and then took the bus back to Tokyo. We needed to get from the bus station to the main Tokyo train station. Luckily, our JR pass worked for that. We were in the first car, so we could see out the front, and Jeff took a picture.
It was our first train of the day. Our big train adventure was taking the bullet train or shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. The fastest shinkansen is the Nozomi train, but it's not included in the JR Pass. Coming in, just 20 minutes slower is the Hikari train that runs every 30 minutes, so that was what we opted for. I had the time tables ready, since I wasn't sure when exactly we would arrive in Tokyo. Once we got to the Tokyo station, we easily found the reservation office and booked seats for the next train.
We got to the platform early enough to see the train pull in. Tokyo is also the end of the line, so the bullet train cleaning service went on to clean and flip the seats. The difference is that the bullet train cleaners get cool pink jumpsuits.
There were tons of places to buy lunch at the Tokyo station. It was mostly bento boxes, and while some of the food in them looked good, we couldn't find a box that we really liked, so we stuck with sandwiches. It was about a two and a half hour ride, and when we got up to speed, I could feel my ears pop. It's definitely an efficient way to get between the two cities.
I was so excited when we finally got to Kyoto, and as soon as we walked out we saw women in full kimono gear.
Over our time in Kyoto we learned that while some locals do wear kimonos, most of the people in kimonos are Japanese tourists who rent them for their stay. It's still a lot of fun spotting beautiful kimonos around the city.
Our Airbnb host had given us very detailed directions on how to take the bus to the apartment. The bus system in Kyoto is pretty easy to use. You get on the bus in the back and pay at the front when you get off. There's a flat rate, no matter where you're going, but you need to have exact change. We ended up hoarding our coins for bus fare.
We got to our apartment pretty easily, met up with our host, and got settled. The apartment was about the same size as our room at the ryokan, but it had a table with real chairs and the bed was on a bed frame, raised off the floor, so Jeff was happy. The location was great too. We were at one of the main intersections in Kyoto, so there were tons of shops and restaurants everywhere.
I really wanted sushi for dinner, so Jeff and I set out, phone in hand, to try and find a sushi place. We stopped on the sidewalk at one point to consult our phone, and two very well dressed Japanese ladies offered to help us figure out where we were going. We explained we were trying to find a good sushi restaurant. While the ladies clearly wanted to be helpful, their English was a little rocky. The one asked if we wanted sushi "Ritz" with her hand up high or "not" with her hand way down. We said "middle" and waved our hands kind of between the two levels. With that much established, they had a recommendation, but weren't sure how to clearly give us directions. After some consultation, the one lady said, "I show you." Apparently, it was close by, and they figured that was the easiest solution. We were really impressed, but also not entirely surprised when she asked if we were Christians and gave us a Jehovah's Witness brochure. We took the brochure and the help and ended up at a hole in the wall sushi place called Chojiro. Apparently, it was well known, because even though there wasn't a wait when showed up, when we left, there was a long line up the stairs (it was underground) and down the street. Thank you nice Japanese Jehovah's Witnesses!
The ordering was really easy. There were touch screens with all the menu options in multiple languages.
We made our selections, and within a few minutes sushi started arriving, yum!
After going sushi crazy, we figured we should go for a walk. By then it was dark. We walked towards the river that was close by.
There were lots of restaurants along the water. On the other side of the river was the beginning of the more historic district.
Our plan was to explore that more on the next night, so we headed back towards our apartment. On the way, we found a place that we decided we would have to eat at the next day. It was a self-grill restaurant that served Kobe beef.
It was a day full of buses and trains, but also a lot of fun new experiences.
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