Okonomiyaki (Part 1 of 2)

Photos of our Okonomiyaki lunch in Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan.  Photos taken with our Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens are here.  

All photos in this post taken with: Sony NEX-5R

 English Menu

 Before

The chef actually cooks all the food on her stove in the back first.  She then brings it to your heated table top.

Restaurant Front

Westin Miyako's Bird Trail

Photos from our trek around Westin Miyako's Bird Watching Trail in Kyoto, Japan.  Before heading out to Arashiyama, we decided to look for birds along this bird trail.  I didn't take any bird photos but David got a few and he found a poisonous snake.  Those pics will be posted in a separate post soon.

 Stone Marker

Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Walking Sticks

We saw several like this are the various hiking trails we visited.   Honor system, love it! 

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Funny Sign

I thought it was funny.

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 Obstructed View of Kyoto

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Kasui-en Garden

When you arrive at the Westin Miyako Hotel in Kyoto, which is a short walk from the Keage Subway station, go to the 7th floor and follow the signs to the Kasui-en Garden to get to the Bird Watching Trail.  

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Lone Momiji

A lone Japanese Maple leaf.

Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Hirobun

Photos from our Hirobun nagashi somen experience in Kibune, Kyoto, Japan.  Kibune is about an hour train ride from Central Kyoto.  It is a beautiful rural mountain area.  

Here's the skinny on this place.  It is almost at the end of the road.  Seems like we walked forever, but it wasn't really that long.  It was probably around 4PM and we were the last people served somen around 5PM...then the workers cleaned up and started prepping for dinner.  The cost is still $12 per person -- it's not a lot of food, but delicious and a fun experience.

Unfortunately and fortunately we arrived a few seconds after a large Chinese tour group.  The unfortunate part, we waited over 30 minutes to be seated as the group took turns at the table.  There is only one long table for somen, it sat maybe 8 people across.  The fortunate part, after the tour group left, it was just the two of us.

If you're here on a rainy, overcast day, you may want to bring a jacket.  It was pretty cold at 4PM up there for us anyway.  

Hirobun

Hirobun doesn't have any signs in roman characters.  Luckily we saved a similar photo to this one on our iPad.
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Waterfall

Just above the somen bench area.
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Leaves

Just above the somen bench area...waiting for our turn.
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Chinese Tour Group

Part of the Chinese tour group.  Some of them waited up at the top with us.
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Still Waiting

HDR shot of the waterfall.
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 Instructions

A few minutes before we were seated we were handed these instructions.
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 Finally

Finally seated.  The waitresses started to set up our place settings so we took advantage of the "photo time".
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Mochi

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Somen Water Channel

Small batches of somen come flowing down these channels in increments.  It's enough time for you to pick up your noodles, let them drain for a couple seconds, dip and eat.  
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Dipping Sauce

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 Multi-Tasking

Here I am trying to take photos with two different cameras and pick up my noodles.  I lost a couple pieces of noodles in my last batch and ditched the DSLR camera after a couple of somen bundles.
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 More Somen

We were concentrating on the noodles, I couldn't even tell you how many bundles came to us.  
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The End

The last bundle is this pinkish color, signifying the end of your meal.  Then you gobble up your mochi, take more pics, then hike back down the mountain.  We had every intention of walking all the way to the train station but it started to rain again, so we took cover at a bus stop and ended up catching the bus back.
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Kibune

Photos from our late afternoon stroll in Kibune, Kyoto, Japan.  Kibune is about an hour train ride from Central Kyoto.  It is a beautiful rural mountain area.  

We first made our way up to Kurama-dera, the hiked over the mountain and down to Kibune.  It was raining off and on, so not a whole lot of photos taken this day.    

 Kibune

I was in a rush to take this photo, didn't really adjust my camera settings, ugh.  We were trying to make it up to a restaurant called, Hirobun for some flowing somen noodles before they closed.
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Kawadoko

River dining is one of the things Kibune is known for.  There were a lot of restaurants and a couple of ryokans on the way up to Hirobun -- a lot of them have these river dining platforms set up over the river during the summer.  Most platforms were empty but this group perhaps scheduled afternoon tea?  Not a very clear photo.

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Poking Around

When we first arrived in Kibune, most of the platforms were empty so we did a bit of poking around near the platforms.  

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More Platforms

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Lantern

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Kurama-dera

Photos from our trek up to Kurama-dera in Kurama, Kyoto, Japan.  Kurama is about an hour train ride from Central Kyoto.  It is a beautiful rural mountain area.  It rained when we got up to the temple, so not a whole lot of pics in this post -- plus we wanted to hike across the mountain to Kibune in time for nagashi somen!  Those will be posted soon!

All photos in this post taken with: Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Lanterns

Lining the entrance and hiking trail up to Kurama-Dera.

 Kurama-yama Tram

It costs 100 yen per person to ride this tram up and since we hiked and walked a lot for days already, we decided to splurge for a tram ride.  The tram takes you about a third of the way to the temple and they really cram people in.  

 Looking Down

Looking back down to the building you enter the tram from.  It is then a long, steep walk to the temple, but once you get there the temple and views from the temple overlook are beautiful.

 Purification Fountain

There were several temples before and after Kurama-dera along the trail with purification fountains like this one.  

Another Purification Fountain

This one was after the temple on our way over to Kibune.  

Bridge

F-stop too low, ugh.  

Lunch in Kurama

Photos from our lunch in Kurama, Kyoto, Japan.  Kurama is about an hour train ride from Central Kyoto.  It is a beautiful rural mountain area.  It rained pretty heavily when we first arrived at Kurama Station, so we don't have a lot of landscape photos of our arrival.  Found this restaurant open just outside the station.  

All photos in this post taken with: Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Store Front

The soba/udon place is a souvenir shop too.

 Soba

 Kitsune Udon

Shichimi Togarashi

Japanese chili flakes.

  

 Bamboo Hashi (Chopsticks)

Lunchtime Flowers 

Musashi Sushi - Kaiten Zushi in Kyoto (Part 2 of 2)

Photos at Musashi Sushi in Kyoto, Japan will be done in two posts.  To view the first post, click here.  

What a deal!  We ate here twice - the current price is 137 yen per plate.  Fresh sushi, fast service, lots to choose from.  They have an English menu too.   We originally saw this restaurant listed in the Kyoto - Lonely Planet book - the book is probably 10 years old and the sushi was 100 yen per plate back then.  The prices increased but it's still a great deal.  Some items come with only one piece of sushi on the plate, like the fatty tuna.

All photos in this post taken with: Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 The Marlboro Sushi Man

I'm just calling him the Marlboro Sushi Man because he had a pack of Marlboro cigarettes in his pocket.    The first night we were at Musashi, it was very crowded and I only snapped a few shots of our sushi but the second night it wasn't as crowded.

The Torch Sushi Man

This chef made some seared tuna sushi -- with tons of mayonnaise on it.

  

Unagi Basting

Musashi Sushi - Kaiten Zushi in Kyoto (Part 1 of 2)

Photos of sushi dinner at Musashi Sushi in Kyoto, Japan.  Musashi photos will be posted in two posts.   The second post is here.

What a deal!  We ate here twice - the current price is 137 yen per plate.  Fresh sushi, fast service, lots to choose from.  They have an English menu too.   We originally saw this restaurant listed in the Kyoto - Lonely Planet book - the book is probably 10 years old and the sushi was 100 yen per plate back then.  The prices increased but it's still a great deal.  Some items come with only one piece of sushi on the plate, like the fatty tuna.

All photos in this post taken with: Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Tuna Of Some Sort

There were a couple different tuna sushi available and the funny thing is the English menu  called them things like "Special Tuna" and "Choice Tuna".  

 David's Favorite -- Natto Hosomaki

Conveyor Belt

These sushi chefs don't mess around when adding sushi plates to the conveyor belt.  They stop plates from moving while the conveyor belt is moving to place 3-5 plates of sushi -- the stop plates start to back up.  We worried a bit the first time they did this as the plastic plates started to hit each other.  

 Hungry

We were hungry after our trip from Hikone, getting settled into B&B Keiko in Kyoto and walking a few LONG blocks to find this place.

Sushi

Window Display

If you want to try Musashi Sushi, it's at the corner of Sanjo-dori and Kawaramachi-dori close to the Gion and Teramachi shopping areas.  Look for this display in the window.  Most of the younger staff speak enough English and there are a lot of foreigners.  One night we were seated on the top floor where it seemed like all the foreigners were seated.

Musashi Sign

You can look for this sign too, but it's higher up on the building and the window display is right in your face.

 Kirin

I think this beer was about $3.50.  Shot this photo using the Hand-Held Twilight feature.

Tekka Maki

Another of David's favorite -- tuna hosomaki.  It used to be my favorite but a lot of places in the U.S. use fish that isn't so fresh but wow, these were good!