Japan Part 9 - food

One of the best things about Japan was the food. I've already mentioned that everything was delicious and that we had what was definitely the best, freshest fish of our lives on this trip, but there were plenty of other wonderful foods that we had the opportunity to sample as well.

The above image is from OVE, a design gallery, specialty bike shop and cafe in Aoyama, Tokyo. We had been trying to find a place where where we could get salads for lunch, as a break from the many noodle, rice and fish dishes we'd been eating for almost a week straight, when we stumbled upon this little gem of a shop. At first we thought that OVE was just a gallery, but when we found out that they were a cafe as well, serving fresh, vegetable-centric meals, we knew we had gotten very lucky indeed.

Never have I had such a tasty veggie plate. My lunch came with some sides of soup and bread, but it was the vegetables, and especially the creamy, bright yellow dish that they were meant to be dipped in, that really stole the show. I have no idea what was in this dish and no one spoke sufficient English to be able to tell us, but it was unbelievably good.

And while we waited for our food, we got to browse through the store, which was filled with pretty design objects, furniture and bicycles.

During our visit to Nara, we had the opportunity to try kamameshi (kettle rice), which is a rice dish cooked in an iron pot, at Kouen-ten. The best part of a kamameshi meal is the okoge, or burnt rice. The wooden lid helps hold in the moisture and makes it so that you can scoop out the okoge - which gives the whole dish a nice nutty flavor - from inside the iron pot. Like many of the meals we ate in Japan, this was served on a tray with a cup of tea, a bowl of soup and a small plate of mixed pickles. Oh man do I love Japanese pickle plates.

Our last night in Kyoto was spent at the Hiiragiya Bekkan, a very luxurious, traditional ryokan (Japanese inn). We only spent one night there, in a beautiful room overlooking a garden, but it was an all-around amazing experience. Not only did we have the chance to enjoy the ryokan's traditional baths, but we were also served a wonderful kaiseki dinner in our room, and got the chance to try a very traditional Japanese breakfast, which you can see above.

And this is the part of the room where a table was set up for our meals. The table was cleared away at night and replaced with futons for us to sleep on, and then replaced once more with the table in the morning, for breakfast.

All Japanese department stores contain large food courts in their basements. Generally, the fancier the department store, the most luxurious the food stalls. But if you're looking for a place to purchase an assortment of different types of food, these were great places to visit, especially as many of the stalls would give out free samples. One of our favorite food courts, which we passed through a few times, was actually in the main train station in Tokyo. It not only offered choices of beautiful boxed lunches and perfect little sandwiches, which were great for long train rides, but also featured many lovely, exquisitely packaged cakes and candies. I could have spent hours just admiring the packaging on some of these items. The above image is of a baumkuchen, a type of traditional German layered cake that the Japanese also happen to love. It's a bit of an odd thing to bring back from Japan, but that has never stopped us before, and certainly didn't here.

And then there were these beautiful candies, which I am kicking myself for not having bought more of. In addition to the requisite green tea, these also came in sesame (my personal favorite), chrysanthemum, acorn, buckwheat, strawberry, and dairy flavors.

Designer of the Month: I.M. Pei / Japan Part 8

Week 4: the Miho Museum

Image courtesy of the Miho Museum.

I'm very excited because this week is really 2 posts in 1. It's not only the culmination of I.M. Pei as August's Designer of the Month, but also Part 8 in a series that is almost complete, of pictures and stories from my recent trip to Japan. So let's get to it!

Image courtesy of the Miho Museum.

The above image is an aerial view of the Miho Museum. Are you still surprised by Pei's use of pyramids, or is it all just as expected at this point? Although Pei did incorporate one of his favorite shapes into the design of this museum, other than this characteristic of Pei's architecture, the Miho Museum really is incredibly unique. For starters, it's located in a nature preserve, on a mountainside. Getting to it involves taking a 20 minute train ride from Kyoto and then transferring to a bus that takes nearly an hour to wind its way over tiny little two-way roads that somehow manage to be barely big enough to live up to the claim, before reaching the spectacular museum itself. Luckily, it's more than worth the trip, both for the architecture of the museum itself and for its world-class collection.

Before even reaching the museum, there's the building that houses the ticket office and restaurant. From there, visitors can chose to either take a 5-minute walk or wait for a tram to take you through a tunnel,

and over a bridge, conveniently allowing you to cross two mountaintops,

Image courtesy of the Miho Museum.

and to the museum itself. And what a museum it is. Built to house the private collection of Mihoko Koyama, the Miho Museum does an amazing job of displaying these extraordinary works of both Asian and Western art. My favorite thing about the displays was related to the Asian art, particularly the collection of ceramics. Koyama believed in surrounding herself with beautiful objects, and that these decorative objects should be used for their intended purpose. As a result, many of the ceramic vases in the permanent collection, plus some additional objects, have beautiful flower arrangements incorporated into their display.

Continuing with this idea of utilizing objects for their intended purpose was the book Appetizing Beauty: Kenzan and Seasonal Dishes, which I came across in the museum's gift shop. Winner of the 2005 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in the photography category, this book features the most delicious looking dishes, categorized by season and displayed on objects from the museum's collection. Needless to say, even though most of the book is in Japanese, it ended up coming home with us anyway.


Approximately 80% of the Miho Museum's structure was built underground as a method of preserving the landscape and harmonizing with nature, a concept that has been beautifully executed.[1] As Pei remarked about the museum, "I think you can see a very conscious attempt on my part to make the silhouette of the building comfortable in the natural landscape."[2] The use of glass roofs and limestone walls brings a very warm, spacious and light quality to the museum's interior which, combined with the panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, makes for a very dramatic setting. If you ever find yourself in the Kyoto area, the Miho Museum is not to be missed.


[1] Miho Museum online, "Architecture: Assimilation into Nature," http://www.miho.or.jp/english/inform/inform.htm (accessed August 26, 2010).

[2] Ibid.

Japan Part 7 - Day Trips: Nara

Welcome to Nara, a city that was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784, and which is currently enjoying its 1300th anniversary. Can you even imagine anything being 1300 years old? The happy looking antlered fellow on all of the signs around the city has to do with the legend of the deer in Nara. The mythical god Takemikazuchi-no-Mikoto was supposed to have been carried to the city on a white deer, and as such, the deer are considered heavenly, protected animals. When I first started reading about the history of Nara, I kept coming across descriptions of how many deer are in the city, and how they are free to roam around, especially in Nara Park. I didn't quite understand the extent of this statement though, until I saw it for myself.

The deer truly are everywhere. Since our trip to Nara coincided with what was the brightest, sunniest day of our trip, they were mostly just lounging in the shade.

That is, when they weren't wandering around looking for someone to feed them. These deer are no fools. They know that people = food, as well as that pockets and bags often contain food and other edible items.

While the worst thing we saw was a deer taking a big bite out someone's map, it's true that the deer are, in fact, still wild animals, and these signs were all over the place as a reminder of this.

Besides the deer, Nara is home to some very old, very beautiful buildings and art. The above image is of Todai-ji, also known as the Great Eastern Temple. In addition to being the largest wooden building in the world, it is also the home of Daibutsu, the largest bronze statue of the Buddha in the world.

Here's another view of Todai-ji, from the front.

Like all temples, it is customary to wash your hands before visiting.

And then you meet the beautiful, incredibly impressive, 49.1 ft. tall Daibutsu. It's difficult to really get a sense of the scale of this Buddha from a photograph, but you certainly can see why it would need to be housed in such a massive temple. Daibutsu's ears alone measure 8.3 ft. And not only is the Buddha himself worth visiting, but like most temple complexes, it contains a lovely garden as well.

Just can't get enough? Check out some more pictures on flickr.

Japan Part 6 - more from Kyoto

Oh, Kyoto in the rain. We certainly saw quite a bit of you during our last two days in the city. This is Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Can you guess why?

It's pretty stunning, even in the rain.

The complex where the Pavilion is located is called Rokuon-ji, or Deer Garden Temple, and even in its damp state, it was one of the lushest gardens we visited. Just look at all that green...

This same rainy day, we made a visit to Nijo Castle, which was completed in 1626 to be the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

Inside the castle walls is Ninomaru Palace, which is open to visitors. Definitely built to impress, the entire building is covered in elaborate wood carvings, gold leaf, beautiful paintings, and various other decorations. Of course, in addition to showing off their wealth and power, the Shoguns were also a notoriously paranoid bunch. Not only is the castle heavily fortified, with many of the rooms in the palace containing secret panels for bodyguards, but my personal favorite feature are the so-called "nightingale floors." Created as a sort of early-warning system for intruders, the floors in the palace are intentionally noisy, making a birdlike sound as you walk on them. Wandering shoeless through the dimly-lit halls of the palace, accompanied by the sounds of a softly squeaking floor, it's not so difficult to imagine yourself back to when Nijo was used for defensive purposes.

I didn't catch this fellow's name, but he was Kyoto's blood-drive mascot.

And of course, no visit to Kyoto is complete without a kimono fashion show.

In addition to sightseeing, we also had a great time browsing through many of the old shops in Kyoto. And when I say that the shops are old, I'm talking about some of them being in the same family for generations. Just like Saiun-do, the painting supply store shown above. This one-room shop was built in 1863 by Tsukio Fujimoto, a painter whose friends urged him to sell the special pigments and other necessary supplies that he used in his own work. Today, Tsukio Fujimoto's great-grandson continues his family's legacy. Even though the light was off in the shop when we stopped by, Fujimoto-san was happy to re-open and show off his store for us, and Patrick was happy to purchase some handmade brushes and sumi ink. Other interesting, old stores that we wandered into were Naito, a broom store that has been run by the same family since 1869, Okutan, a tofu restaurant that has served its special recipe for yudafu for 13 generations, and many of the traditional ceramic shops of Gojozaka.

A few more on flickr.

Japan Part 5 - Kyoto

After a week in Tokyo, we hopped on the Shinkansen, the bullet train, down to Kyoto. And yes, everything you've ever heard about the Shinkansen is true: it runs frequently, it's an incredibly smooth ride and it travels so quickly it feels more like an airplane than a train.

Kyoto is a very different city than Tokyo, and it was nice to be able to experience such contrasting areas of the country. While Tokyo is a sprawling metropolis that feels very much like a big city, Kyoto is smaller, older and more touristy. Because it was spared so much of the bombing that destroyed large areas of Japan during WWII, Kyoto still boasts many of its original structures. Not only that, but it's a very low, flat city surrounded by mountains. We traveled around to the different sections of Tokyo almost entirely by train, but Kyoto was all about the buses. The above image is from the Philosopher's Walk, a pretty path in Northern Higashiyama, the mountainous area in the eastern part of Kyoto. The real time of year to take this tree-lined walk is in the spring, when the cherry trees along the canal are in bloom. Of course, instead of getting cherry blossoms, we had shady trees and the place pretty much to ourselves, which is nice as well.

The above area is the entrance to Ginkaku-ji, a lovely Zen Buddhist temple in Northern Higashiyama that we spent quite a bit of time exploring one sunny afternoon. The combination of stone, fence and hedge is one of the defensive strategies for the complex, as well as a very beautiful feature.

And once inside, one of the things that Ginkaku-ji is known for its sand garden, with the big mound off in the distance symbolizing Mount Fuji.

Admittedly, the rainy season is not the best time of year to visit Japan, but we were fairly lucky with the weather. Other than our last two days in Kyoto, when it rained fairly steadily, the weather was mainly overcast with just a few showers each day, usually in the afternoon. Some days we got lucky and had some nice moments like the one above, with sun shining through the trees, while other days required umbrellas and a lot of ducking in and out of stores and restaurants in an attempt to wait out a storm.

Here's a view of Ginkaku-ji, looking down on the complex. In addition to its main structures, this temple also boasts some lovely mossy gardens and walkways, including some great views looking out over the city.

Traveling down to the southern part of Higashiyama, we also visited the impressive Kiyomizu-dera. While it takes its name from a waterfall within the temple complex, it's really known for its main hall with its distinctive veranda jutting out over the hillside. Normally, this spot offers great views of the city, but since we were there in the rain, we had to settle for great views of the fog.
Oh hey! Here we are again, at Kiyomizu-dera.

Almost all statues and shrines in temple complexes have little boxes in front of them for people to offer tribute and pay their respects. As usual, we couldn't read the Japanese text associated with this beautiful little statue at Kiyomizu-dera, but that didn't stop us from liking it all the same.

One of the most interesting places to spend an evening is Kyoto is Pontocho, the long, narrow, cobbled street shown above, known both for its Geisha and dining along the Kamo-gawa river. Many of the buildings on this street - composed almost exclusively of restaurants, tea houses, bars and other entertainment venues - are very old and well-preserved. If you don't want to spend the money to eat on this famous street (and yes, river views can be quite pricey), its still an interesting enough experience just to walk around at night, taking in the neon and colored lights, hoping to catch a glimpse of a Geisha.

As usual, more on flickr.

Japan Part 4 - Day Trips: Kamakura

Another one of our favorite day trips was to Kamakura, which was temporarily the capital of Japan from 1192-1333. Only an hour from Tokyo, Kamakura has one of the largest densities of temples and shrines in the country, which means lots of tourists, although no one place ever felt especially crowded. While we ran into a good amount of foreign tourists as we wandered around Japan, Kamaura almost exclusively seemed to have Japanese tourists who had just come out escape the city and and enjoy this pretty area for the day. Most of the sights were within walking distance between Kamakura's two train stations, and it was just as much fun to wander along the residential roads of Kamakura as it was to visit the temples and shrines themselves.

The great thing about visiting temples and shrines in Japan is that many of them, with their carefully landscaped gardens, courtyards and buildings, are like being transported to another place. The outside world really does seem to disappear for a time, especially in some of the older structures that have been there seemingly forever, where cities and towns have grown up around them.

Meigetsu-in is known for its many varieties of hydrangea (its nickname is the hydrangea temple), and lucky for us, we were there during the peak season for these beautiful flowers. Many of the varieties were familiar, bet there were definitely a few colors and shapes that I never knew were possible for this flower.

More statues in their fancy dress, this one from the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine. As I've mentioned in already, the Japanese like to dress up their statues, and I recently learned some of the reasons behind this. This fox statue (Kitsune), is the messenger of Oinari, the deity of food, farmers and the rice harvest, and dressing them is one way to show one's devotion and hope for a good harvest. Other statues get similar treatment as well. In the case jizo statues, like the one from last week, these are not only given the requisite red bib, but are often dressed up and offered toys and clothing as well. This is done by mothers whose children have died before their parents, as offerings for helping these children negotiate the underworld. You can read more about this practice here.

Its hard to tell from this picture, but these caves, called yagura, were used during the 13th century or so as tombs. This particular yagura, at Meigetsu-in, is the largest of the group, and you can see sculptures and drawings all along the cave walls.

A sign pointing out the nearby temple bell (Bonsho), in Kencho-ji, is a National Treasure. We saw a ton of National Treasures in Japan. If something was old and important but wasn't a National Treasure, it was probably Important Cultural Property. I'm not exactly sure about what distinguishes these two categories, but there was always a helpful English sign pointing them out. The rest of the text was usually then in Japanese, but at least we knew that whatever we were looking at was a) old, and b) really, really important.

Have you ever seen a tree with this sort of coloring before? Isn't it beautiful? It was in Kencho-ji, the first and grandest of Kamakura's Zen temples. These cypress tress are said to have grown from seeds brought from China 700 years ago by Lah-hsi Tao-lung, the founding priest.

Karesansui, a beautiful garden of raked sand, rocks and moss, at Meigetsu-in.

Meigetsu-in is also known for this sight, in the temple itself, which has something to do with the legend of the Moon Rabbit. From what I could gather, instead of the man-in-the-moon, the Japanese have the rabbit-in-the-moon. We didn't get the full story of how the Moon Rabbit is realted to this particular temple, but it's a beautiful sight, regardless. And for those of you who are curious, here's the story of the Moon Rabbit.

This is the sign that greeted us when we went to take a look at the temple's rabbit hutches. There go those crazy rabbits, up the to moon!

We also managed to run into a wedding ceremony in the courtyard at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, the most important Shinto shrine in the city, which was established by the Genji family, founders of the Kamakura shogunate.

More to see on flickr!