New Year, New Places: Off to Kyoto

For the first time in my life (this blog is documenting a lot of firsts), I’ll be ringing in the new year not with friends or family, but in a new country. New Year’s is the biggest celebration of the year here in Japan, and I was excited to experience it first hand. 

My last week before my holiday break was spent in the office working over Christmas. I didn’t have any classes, so it was mostly spent doing lesson prep, working on articles for the blog, and trying not to stare blankly out the window. 

I did go out for lunch with some co-workers one day though, it was a nice way to get to know a few fellow teachers in a slightly more relaxed atmosphere.

I had a pretty traditional Japanese lunch; fish, rice, miso soup, a side salad and some vegetables. I also tried a Japanese delicacy, Basashi, raw horse meat sashimi. 

Apparently that’s quite the controversial food, even though I didn’t really think twice about trying it. It was the hometown specialty of another co-worker, and I assumed we were all going to share it. At most I’d probably only need to eat a slice or two. 

I’ll probably dive into this topic more when I get around to talking about food here in Japan, but it was pretty good. I doubt I’d order it for myself, but it was tasty enough. Though I absolutely dunked it in soy sauce.

The texture and taste was more gamey than chicken, not nearly as tender as fish sashimi. The flavor is hard to recall as I mostly just got the taste of the soy sauce.

While we were on our way back to the school, my co-workers showed me some decorations I hadn’t really noticed before, called Kadomatsu, roughly meaning “gate pine”. It’s typically 3 bamboo shoots, pine branches, neatly woven straw rope, and bound with a straw mat.

It’s placed in pairs at the entrance to buildings after Christmas until January 7th. It’s meant to invite or welcome spirits and the god of the new year to bless that location.

I finished up my last week at work, and started to seriously think about how I was going to spend New Years. In the back of my mind I was hoping to go to Tokyo with a friend and celebrate there.

We could maybe hang out by a temple and hear the 108 bell rings to chase away our worldly desires. Or find an event to celebrate the new year at a bar somewhere. 

In the end, my friend was pretty worried about the crowds in Tokyo, and whether things would be open. Lots of places closed between the 29th and the 3rd.

I might end up staying for another year in Japan, but my friend hasn’t decided yet. So we ended up staying in and hanging out, watching movies together. I can always celebrate in Tokyo next year. 

I’d also been trying to decide if I wanted to take a trip with my time off. I had until January 4th off, then would spend two days in the office before having a 3 day weekend.

I thought that was kind of silly, so I took the 4th and the 5th off. Giving me almost 10 days of vacation time, far too much to just hang around the house. 

With spending New Years in Tokyo off the table, this meant I had no excuse not to book a trip. Unlike my Tokyo trip, I wanted to go in with accommodations already booked.

Kyoto was the only other place in Japan I knew I wanted to go see, so after researching good areas to stay and a couple ideas of what to do, I booked 3 nights at a hotel. 

I may have missed out on some of the New Year’s traditions here in Japan, but I was determined to do a Hatsumōde, my first shrine visit of the new year.

I figured there was nowhere better than Kyoto to do this, since it’s considered the cultural capital of Japan. As long as you visit before January 3rd, any shrine visit can still be considered Hatsumōde. 

I planned to leave my house on January 2nd, and travel to Kyoto by train. It was much faster to take the train than it was to drive, and would probably be cheaper than paying for all that gas.

I’m also really not a fan of long drives, I tend to cap out around 3 hours, and Kyoto was about 7 hours from my place in Ibaraki. 

For whatever reason, I was a lot more nervous about taking this trip than I was about my Tokyo trip. It might have been because it was farther, or that I knew a lot less about Kyoto than I did Tokyo. Or it could have been the daunting task that lay ahead of taking a bus, and 3 trains to get to Kyoto. 

After a rough sleep and a late start, I finally set out for Kyoto. I took just a small suitcase I brought to Japan as a carry on and my messenger bag. I took enough for about 6 days, since I was considering going to Osaka after Kyoto if the trip was going well. 

Unlike my Tokyo trip, I decided to take a bus to a nearby train station. Paying for parking for 6 days would rack up a hefty bill. I was pretty nervous since I hadn’t taken a bus yet in Japan.

After the bus google maps insisted that I should take never showed, I decided to chance it and get on the next bus to appear. 

I entered from the back door, grabbed a small ticket, and found a seat, wedging my suitcase beside me. The bus seats were way too small, if I sat in my seat properly my legs wouldn’t fit.

My suitcase was taking up a seat by itself so I awkwardly sat in the middle of the rows with my knees to the side. Not the most comfortable ride in the world. 

After about 30 minutes I got close to a nearby train station. When it’s your stop, you take your little ticket and exit out the front of the bus.

Based on which station you got on at it would display the fare required on a screen above the driver. You needed exact change, and the fare increased every 3 stops or so. 

I was so nervous to do this correctly and quickly I had been counting out the coins needed almost 10 minutes before my stop. I was a bundle of nerves that morning, and just wanted this trip to go well. 

I was able to get off without a hitch, at least once I figured out where to drop the coins at the front of the bus. Finally my shoulders relaxed away from my ears. I’d taken the train before, this should be a breeze. 

Indeed it was, I grabbed a ticket, found the right platform and boarded my first train. After a short ride I switched lines and headed to Tokyo station.

I’m sure there’s a better way to change lines, but I always just exit the station, buy a new ticket, then pass through the gates again. Probably not the most efficient way, but it works. 

Once I got to Tokyo station, I could feel my shoulders beginning to tense up again. I didn’t like this station. I’d been here once back when I arrived in Japan, when all the arrivals came to Tokyo station and scattered across Japan. 

Back then I had someone from the prefectural office to guide me to the right train, now I was all on my own. Exiting the gates, I looked for the Shinkansen ticket booth. These are the bullet trains here in Japan, and have their own ticket system. 

The train I took to Ibaraki when I arrived had a similar system, but I was still flying blind. I assumed I wanted a non-reserved ticket, since I was trying to take the train day off. I had expected to pick a time, or a seat, but instead I was simply given a ticket. 

Slightly confused, I grabbed my ticket and tried to find my way to the Shinkansen platforms. It felt like it was my first time taking the train all over again. There were different names for each train alongside the different destinations. I couldn’t tell which train I wanted. 

Finding my way to a waiting area, I tried to regroup. With some google-fu I learned the names were the type of train. With Nozomi being the fastest train with the fewest stops. With the next two trains having more frequent stops, resulting in a longer travel time. 

The Nozmi trains were reserved tickets only over New Years, so I figured out the next non-nozomi train, got to the platform, found the non-reserved cars and looked for a seat.

I wasn’t sure if I was heading to Kyoto, if I was sitting in the right area, or if this was even the right train. There was only one way to find out. 

When I was little I was a huge train kid, with bins full of toy trains that I apparently knew all the names off. I hadn’t really cared about trains since I was 5, but this train was rad.

The bullet trains here can reach speeds of 300 MPH, and it was so cool to see the scenery whipping by, though it didn’t feel much different than riding in a car. 

As it turns out, I was on a train headed to Kyoto, and seemed to be sitting in the right spot. The only catch was I picked the slowest train with the most stops. So my travel time was around 3 and a half hours, about an hour slower than if I had taken the fastest line. 

I didn’t mind all that much as the experience of the bullet train was so cool, and I could relax and enjoy the scenery. Finally, around 5PM I pulled into Kyoto station. 

My hotel was a little far from the station, and my phone was telling me to hop on yet another train to get there quickly. I didn’t think I could stomach yet another train, so I decided to walk. 

It was about a 20 minute walk to my hotel, which felt longer listening to the droning roll of my suitcase on the concrete. The area around my hotel was as cool as I could have hoped, it really felt like “downtown Kyoto”. It was bright with plenty of crowds, with traditional music playing over nearby speakers. 

I was able to check in without any issues, and after a brief rest in my room, headed out to find some dinner. After striking out at some fully booked restaurants I found a neat looking Katsudon (deep-fried breaded pork cutlet) restaurant. 

After a long wait in a crowded entry way, I was directed to a table, given a laminated info sheet, some tea, and a mortar and pestle filled with sesame seeds.

I’d had Katsudon back home, but this was new to me. After consulting the info sheet, I was directed to grind up the sesame seeds before adding my sauce of choice to the bowl. 

I followed the directions as best I could, finding it a neat distraction while I waited for my food. I was seated at a large table with plastic barriers breaking up each group. The restaurant was fairly dim, creating a nice ambiance that helped relax me after all those trains.  

Once my food arrived, I was eager to put my freshly ground sesame seeds coated with Katsudon sauce to the test. It was delicious.

I’m not a huge fan of the Katsudon sauce normally, it’s similar to Worcestershire sauce which I’ve never cared for, but this nearly made me reconsider. 

With some delicious food in my belly, I was getting excited for tomorrow, when I could really start exploring Kyoto. I finished off the night by getting a few drinks at a small bar, chatting with the other patrons before returning to my room. 

Overall it had been a stressful, exciting first leg of my trip. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow when I would explore the Fushimi Inari Shrine and do my Hatsumōde, my first shrine visit of the year.

It was also going to be my first shrine visit ever, but the spirits of Japan didn’t need to know that. My New Year here in Japan would be full of new places and experiences that I can’t wait to tell you about.