As I sit in front of my laptop to process hundreds of photos and eat a supper of hot Wakayama shoyu ramen from a styrofoam bowl, I recall many fond memories from our recent trip to Japan in February, some less spectacular than others, but an experience to remember nonetheless: Squeezing under an umbrella large enough for one person with Koi in Kyoto, our shoulders overlapping as we braved cold winds and torrential rains during our visits to Arashiyama and the Kiyomizu-dera temple; witnessing a rare occurrence of snowfall in Kyoto and trekking through endless knee-deep powder in Niseko; eating some of the best meals of our lives and; sharing the sushi counter with a surprise diner (and his lovely wife), whose words were not only integral to our exploration of Japan’s food culture, but the journeys we wanted to mold for ourselves.
Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing highlights from our journeys across Osaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido and Tokyo through a series of photos on Foodume, as well as thoughts and reviews on some of the restaurants we visited. It will be difficult to bid farewell to Japan each time, but there is boundless joy and revelry in revisiting memories forged there.
KYOTO, KIYOMIZU-DERA
KYOTO, KINKAKU-JI (GOLDEN PAVILION)
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