Coffee and toast with strawberry jam
Typhoon 6 roaring away outside
By this time I am sure everyone has had quite enough of the tales of our journey from California to Kyoto. It is now time to sink our pointy little teeth into Japan itself.
The previous two times we lived in Japan, we lived in Nagoya, a 40 minute train ride Northeast from Kyoto. Nagoya has plenty of foreigners, but not nearly at the level we are finding them here in Kyoto. While Nagoya has twice the population of Kyoto, Kyoto has perhaps, at a guess, 2 to 3 times more foreign visitors. Both cities have plenty of street signs translated into both Japanese and Romaji (Japanese written out phonetically in English), as well as English-language printed and announced instructions for trains and buses. Here in Kyoto, all this translation is spread out across much of the city, but does not go into too much depth. The foreign language assistance seems to be designed for a tourist population; I would suppose that tourists staying a week or two would not need to know the best place to get tortillas, or how to network with other foreigners for kids' play dates. This type of information exchange was readily available in Nagoya, but seems to be a bit harder to come by here in Kyoto.
What this all boils down to, I suppose, is that Kyoto is going to be a very interesting new chapter in our Japanese lives. Visually, I probably appear to most of the Japanese people I run across here as just another tourist. Un-amazing considering the waves of tourists that I have seen wandering the streets, fanning themselves at bus stops or poking at menus in restaurants. However I am not a tourist, so I'll have to work a bit harder to get to know this beautiful, historic city.
Case in point, our neighborhood of Murasakino. Our house is tucked away on a side-alley between a long, narrow winding street of neighborhood stores on one side, and Daitokuji, a sprawling temple complex on the other. Daitokuji, founded in 1319, is the head temple of one of the Japanese sects of Zen Buddhism, a beautiful destination for anyone seeking to know more about Zen Buddhism, Zen gardens or tea ceremony. With Daitokuji as our neighbor, we find a consistent trickle of visiting foreigners wandering surrounding streets, boarding nearby buses.
The nearby street of neighborhood stores is tremendously quaint and ideal for strolling (at least, when there isn't a typhoon blowing us to bits). Most of the stores have shady awnings overhead, with potted plants festooning the entrances. The older buildings have microscopic storefronts with sliding glass doors blocking off the family living quarters behind. Plant stores are wedged next to tiny shops selling pickled vegetables, green tea or stationery supplies. Tucked here and there are small organic bakeries, drug stores, noodle restaurants, late-night bars and tiny bookstores with piles of manga tied into bundles and stacked to the ceiling. The street itself is so narrow that it can only accomodate one-way traffic, with cargo vans elbowing their way between family cars, scooters, bicycles and pedestrians, all of it coming together to create a mystifyingly quiet and polite mishmash of activity.
A 15 to 20 minute walk away (or a 10 minute bike ride) is our nearest large department store, Vivre (pronounced "Bi--boo-ray", since the "v" sound in Japanese most closely resembles "b", with a sort of "bwee" sound to it). The main department store of Vivre is ringed with a strange combination of shops, including LL Bean (jaw-droppingly expensive, by the way), several stores of groovy, floaty, lacy women's fashions, and a few restaurants. I have not yet fully explored Vivre and its environs. So far I have been to the grocery store portion of Vivre, however, and have found it terribly addictive.
I am, I admit, a sucker for large Japanese grocery stores. I can't help it. Every Japanese grocery store has its hidden secrets, the tucked away foreign goodies or especially tasty treats. The grocery store at Vivre is satisfyingly large. Once the typhoon winds and rain leave, I have big plans to go there alone, where my enjoyment of it all won't be tainted by family members eager to simply finish as quickly as possible in order to leave.
It is very important not to go to a Japanese grocery store while hungry. If you do so, you will not make it out alive. Or at least, with any money left.
The larger grocery stores have not only the basic ingredients--bins of huge apples, picture-perfect gift melons wrapped in tissue paper, each costing upwards of $60, trays of paper-thin sliced beef and pork, bins of udon and ramen noodles and aisles of sauces, marinades, vinegars and different types of shoyu--but also deli-like sections devoted to a wide variety of goodies. One corner features freshly prepared tempura vegetables and shrimp, crisp tonkatsu cutlets and trays of potato and corn croquettes. Another section is filled with sashimi and sushi, side by side with onigiri (rice balls with various flavorings wrapped in crispy squares of seaweed). Yet another section has obento, or prepared lunches in sectioned plastic boxes.
Some "foodies" feel the need to rove across the earth searching for new, weird foods to try; I am content just to hang out in a Japanese supermarket, periodically wiping the drool from the corner of my mouth.
Mmm....I'd love to continue, but frankly, there is a puddle of drool on my keyboard now. I better go nibble on something before I decide to brave the typhoon and head off to Vivre.
Until next time....
2 comments:
I am so glad you agreed to write this blog! I hope you're having as much fun writing as we all are in reading it! Miss you!
Oh, very fun reading! My husband and I are Californians who've come to Kyoto for a month, and we're staying in Murasakino (right under Funaoka-yama). I've enjoyed reading your posts about settling into the neighborhood.
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