Japan

I never thought I’d write so much about bathrooms; but I never knew how awesome bathrooms could be until Japan.   Japanese toilets usually have a “sound” feature.  Sometimes this feature automatically turns on when you sit down.  The toilet plays loud water fountain white noise so that no one can hear you make bodily noises, like peeing and farting!  Genius.  And I saw this gem of a PSA in a stall: No toilet for long time!

We played the drum game at least three times to this AWEsome J-Pop song.  I love it and it’s the theme of the trip.  https://youtu.be/PLgYflfgq0M Honorable mention goes to C’mon Baby America.   We first heard this gem at the Kanazawa marathon relay that threw a wrench in our plans (C’mon Japan, aren’t you skinny and fit enough).  Then we found the song on the drum game!  I was glad to see in the video that there is a special dance for the song, which is really named USA.  https://youtu.be/sr--GVIoluU

Eating things when you have no idea what it is... ah, one of my favorite pastimes.  I like that Kyoto has lots of sweets shops that are open late.  I usually don’t like Asian sweets but I have to say that I love Japanese sweets. They are totally my jam.  Much better than Vietnamese sweets, which are an awful genre of their own.  So tonight’s edition of “what the heck am I eating” is a sweets episode. First: I figured if it’s good enough for a geisha to eat..   I was attracted to what looked like mochi, a sort of gooey rice flour thing.   Verdict:  Deelish!!!  And totally me.  It’s like a mochi dumpling with gooey cinnamon flavored paste.  Eric hates it = Tracey loves it (when it comes to sweets).  Next up: I honestly had no idea if this would be savory or sweet but it looked like glazed rice crackers.   Verdict: sweet and fried deliciousness.  It’s like sugary crunchy fried flour.  The label translated to ginger, but I didn’t taste much ginger.  Next up, I actually knew what this was a

Japan has the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever been in.  And I’ve been in a lot.  Japan loves clean and they let you know it: They hate dirty bathrooms as demonstrated by angry emojis and “X” marks.   I love that every toilet either has seat covers or this cool cleaning spray that you put on toilet paper to clean the seat: Some toilets even have a place to put your kid while you pee: I’ve visited bathrooms in train stations, bus stations, temples and forests.   The forest was the worst but it still beat any US National Park restroom! And then there’s this on literally every toilet: I can’t figure out if it’s safe to use in a public restroom because it doesn’t feel right to clean yourself with the same receptacle where so much grossness happens.  I finally got up the nerve to try it once in the hotel room and it’s just okay.   But everything else in Japan’s restrooms is great!

Let’s start with dinner last night in Kanazawa. We hit the Taito arcade afterwards and played some more drum game!  They didn’t have Flip the table game.   We played a new game that resembles my favorite coin game at Dave and Busters where you have to knock the coins off the ledge.  Only with this game, you had to knock candy off the ledge and after about $10 we scored this booty: Eric claims the ones above were gum but I thought they were marshmallows so I swallowed them.  At noon we arrived in Kyoto and munched on squid, scallops, crab and chestnut mochi at Nishiki Market.  Even though we have been to about 4 markets already, this one was still different and fascinating. Lots of “no photo” signs though.  Then we went to Tofuku-ji Buddhist temple Then the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine with the famous orange gates you see in every pic of Kyoto.  What you don’t see in every pic is the massive crowd there.  And of course everyone is trying to take a picture which is even more annoying.  To

I had been wanting to visit Kanazawa since we first started planning this trip. It is known for its seafood.  It also has a very fancy bus station.   The morning started off a little rough.  We were unable to conquer the walls of the Kanazawa castle: Because of this nonsense: But then we found the fish market, ate some incredible sushi and the angels sang.  Then onto one of the three best gardens in all of Japan, Kenrouken: It is spider season Then onto some Buddhist edumacation at the DJ Suzuki Museum. Very zen I thought this was interesting for anyone interested in architecture: Another prayer at a Shinto temple because we can use all the help we can get: Then we went to a sweets festival which was like Sweet Hut in a bunch of tents.  They had the greatest bouncy castle I’ve ever seen (or scariest?): I had been worried about smokers in Japan because I had read there’s lots of smoking.  But it hasn’t been a problem, thanks to the Smorking tents: I would like to come back to Kanazawa a

Today started with a trip to the morning markets where you can sample the goodies!  We had Hida beef nigiri.  We bought an apple and a pear.    Then we headed to the Hida Folk Village.  Super views.  Then we visited what was described by our travel agency, Inside Japan, as a cult headquarters: The place is massive and they are building an even bigger shrine next door.  I don’t know where this place gets all it’s money.  There were only 2 other visitors there.  A huge koi aquarium inside and lots of red velvet and chandeliers.  I couldn’t take pics inside.  But outside there was a replica Mexican fountain They were very nice there and did not try to make us join their cult.  And they gave us a couple sips of sake on our way out.   Then we did a Shinto shrine and cemetery  And we visited a museum that had “retro” Japanese goodies from the 60s.  highlight:  playing vintage pachinko games!!!   Here are some more Takayama pictures.  I know this is a pretty lame post but Takayama was a favor