Spending One Day in Kyoto, Japan
The train ride from Ichinami to Kyoto was much easier than some of the other long train journeys we were on in Japan. It was only one transfer, we road the JR line to Fukui, then took the Thunderbird express train to Kyoto. Honestly, anyone who ever tells you that traveling by train in Japan is “easy” is lying. Well, okay, so traveling in Japan by train is easy if you’re only going to major cities. The second you decide to travel out to the countryside you’re working with local trains and if you don’t speak Japanese, it can be rough to figure out where to go.
Seeing Japan’s countryside was amazing but it was refreshing to go back to the city. We usually prefer the countryside in any country, but if you don’t eat meat or fish you’re fucked. Yes, fucked. Japanese cuisine is delicious but relies heavily on fish and meat bases. By that point, John and I were having plain rice, vegetables and tofu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I lost 5lbs in Japan – and not because I wanted to. I usually look at vacation as an excuse to gain weight. Eat everything. No calories spared! I did love when I found agadashi tofu and inari sushi. But girl, there’s only so much fucking tofu I can eat.
It was dark by the time we arrived in Kyoto. We set our stuff down at the hotel and explored our options for food. We ended up at an Indian Restaurant called Kerala for the next two nights. It was amazing. There were no pictures because we were so hungry that we just attacked our food the second it landed on the table. Kerala offers authentic and traditional south Indian cuisine. I seriously love Indian food and could eat it every night. Indian food is also very vegetarian friendly
The next day, we woke up fresh and set off to eat breakfast and visit the Manga Museum.
We ate breakfast at Smart Coffee in Kyoto. It’s super popular and got rave reviews for the French toast. We ordered French toast, pancakes, and the egg sandwiches. The egg sandwiches were divine. The ingredients were so simple, but it tasted like heaven. The cold bread in combination with the warm fluffy omelet felt like a meal that my mom would make me in the morning before school. What gave this sandwich a zinger was I think they put a very thin layer of wasabi mayo on it. Don’t knock it ’til you try it. It was amazing. The French toast? It was aight. If you’re going to give Smart Coffee a try, I would get the egg sandwich!
We decided to walk to the Manga Museum. It was about a 40 minute walk, but we didn’t have much planned and didn’t mind the stroll. We stumbled upon a funky modern art exhibit on our way there.
The Kyoto International Manga Museum fueled my inner nerd with fire. It was exciting to see manga displayed not just in the back of a Barnes&Nobles but in it’s own big museum! I used to have my parents drop my off at a book store and sit in the back and read manga for hours. I was definitely excited to learn more about it.
The museum itself was a little light on the actual history portion of manga. I wish that there were more dedicated exhibits discussing the birth of manga and it’s evolution over time and why certain styles and story lines resonated with different generations. I was disappointed in that part of it, but I guess it’s nothing that I can’t just Google.
What I did find interesting was that they had a manga library that spanned from 1945 until today. It’s interesting to pick up different books and flip through the pages and see the different illustration styles of that time period.
Overall all, if you grew up a manga/anime fan, the International Manga Museum is worth a quick visit!
PS. Beware of the very angry caterpillars….
