Japan Trip (Spring 2008) - Part 3
Part 3: Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara
While waiting for our bullet train at Nagoya station we had some time to check out a department store called JR Nagoya Takashimaya. This was a pretty typical Japanese department store. Located within the station, it offered 15 floors of shopping and food! The floor plan went something like this:
Starting from the 13th floor and going down…
13 - Restaurants
12 - Restaurants
11 - Books, Music, DVDs
10 - Kimonos, Jewelry, Clocks, Watches
9 - Household Goods, Beds & Linen
8 - Men’s Wear, Babies, Children
7 - Men’s Wear
6 - Ladies’ Wear
5 - Ladies’ Wear
4 - Ladies’ Wear
3 - Cosmetics, Handbags
2 - High End Ladies’ Wear/Accesories
1 - Ladies’ Accessories
B1 - Food: Sushi, Bentos, Japanese & Western Confections, Tea, Local Specialties
B2 - Food: Meat, Fish, Produce, Drinks, Groceries
Every time we went to a department store we would basically ride the escalators from the first floor all the way up to the top, getting a feel for every floor on the way. If there was anything interesting we’d stop for a bit to browse but continue on as we usually didn’t have very much time. At the top we’d then catch an elevator all the way down to the basement food level for me to check out.
The picture up top is from the Basement 1 level of the JR Nagoya Takashimaya Department Store. Here are a couple others shots from that floor:
This floor goes on and on with cases full of delicious looking foods like these. Anyways, checking the clock it was time to go and meet back with our group to catch the shinkansen (bullet train).
On board we were served this very nice bento box.
Our trip wasn’t very long and we had just enough time to eat and sit back a little.
Here’s what it looked like inside the bullet train. Reminds me of a nice airplane, but cleaner and a little more spacious.
We got off at Kyoto, an area of many beautiful temples and shrines. One of the first we went to was the very popular (and crowded) Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion. Very beautiful!
Later in the afternoon we made it back to our hotel for check in. I haven’t shown any of our hotel rooms yet so here’s a pic of our room at the Kyoto Rhiga Royal Hotel.
We had the night free so after a quick rest we decided to walk over to the train station for some shopping and dinner. The Kyoto Tower was very handy in showing us the way toward the station.
There was a lot of shopping at this place. So much so that it was a little confusing for me. There was an underground shopping area, then an attached - I don’t know - some kind of other shopping area, then an attached large department store. I forget how big this department store was…I want to say around 12 floors. Dinner was on the restaurant level of the department store and I had a simple sashimi and tempura dinner.
The next morning we woke up and went to breakfast in our hotel. The restaurant that we chose was located on the top floor so we got to have a pretty nice view of Kyoto from up there.
This is kind of random, but the toast was really good. You can’t tell from the photo but this was that really thick cut bread…inch to inch and a half thick.
I tried half of it with plain Hokkaido butter and the other with both butter and jam. Both sides were excellent!
This day we took our bus to Nara to visit some temples and shrines. I had no idea there would be so many deer there! I’m glad they were friendly.
Lunch was at a shopping arcade…
At the very end of this arcade there was a stand selling fresh, and I mean FRESH, mochi. This was the best, softest, kinako mochi I’ve ever had in my life!
Next up was Heian-Jingu, a shinto shrine.
Many of these temples and shrines had large and impressive gardens. This one also had a neat looking bridge.
Just outside of this shrine we saw a Japanese dog walking around. Throughout the trip, whenever we saw other dogs we always started to miss our dog who was at home with my dad.
But as we do with all our trips, we take a picture of our dog before we go so that we can look at him on our camera while we’re away. Here’s the picture we had to remind us of him while in Japan.
Dinner time! These were my favorites from the buffet at the Kyoto Rhiga Royal Hotel.
I had about 2 or 3 plates of that sushi and sashimi.
Coming up in Part 4, we will continue to head south nearing the end of our adventure!
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19 comments
did you make the deer bow? if not, next time try this. buy the deer senbei(crackers) that they sell all over the place, the deer crowd around you. hold the cracker up above their heads and then the deer bow before snatching it out of your hands.
i remember feeding the deer in Nara and getting bombarded, so i just threw the biscuits at them and ran away screaming. hahahha.
Look at all of that freshly prepared food at the department store. That last desert looks good. It looks like a green tea and azuki bean sweet.
Hi kat,
Actually my mom first bought the senbei to feed them. She gave me a couple which I fed to them. But then when they didn’t seem to get that I was out, I ran away like kaman did. Not too far, but out of their circle. Then my other half thought it was really cool so he bought some. He had heard of the bowing thing so he took his senbei and went off to the side where there were just two of the deer. He held it above their head and they totally did the bowing thing!
Hi kaman,
I know exactly how you felt. If you’re in a big crowd of the deer they just keep nudging you for more until you run away!
Hi Kevin,
You’re right, that was a very light green tea cake topped with azuki. And there were even more desserts that I didn’t take pictures of. Which reminds me, I better go walking or something.
Mmmmmm! The pics look so yummy. It’s almost torture looking at them before bedtime. Chris’ mom enjoys the sandwiches in Japan. A lady in our tour group took the blueberry jam from the buffet. She insisted it’s the best, but I think it’s the bread. There’s too much to eat in Japan… and in my opinion the prices are good.
Deer Note: My mom didn’t want to feed the deer after her first trip. So, we enjoyed watching them roam. I’ll have to go back to Nara to make the deer bow.
Hi Kristy,
Yes, too much to eat there. So much so that I didn’t have the stomach space to try the sandwiches. When you go again you should try to feed the deer. It was pretty cheap, but just make sure you take the senbei away from right in front of the senbei cart. I think they’re more mellow if you walk to the side and just feed a couple of them.
What a beautiful trip! I was in Tokyo for a week last year in August and it was fun. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to go to Kyoto. After seeing your post, I’m promising to myself that I will go there soon
looks like you had an amazing time in japan! i remember when i was there.constantly heading into the food sections of all the department stores. simply amazing, the spreads they had and the fruit! all of it was so fresh and oddly glossy and so picturesque. thanks for sharing these lovely pictures.
I am so…IMPRESSED…by all of this that I had to sit back a bit because it was like sensory overload. Your trip details keep getting better and better!
But it was the photo of your dog that won my heart. Now I know how he looks like — I would so miss him a lot too!
Thank you for all of these pictures! I’ve never been to Japan but now I want to go more than ever!
Just gorgeous! And the shopping! ooooh, fun shopping.
And oh my gosh, your dog is adorable! How can you leave those big brown eyes? hehehe.
Hi marie,
I hope you get to go to Kyoto soon. I really liked the more traditional style of architecture in that area.
Hi diva,
Yup, always heading to those food floors, and you gotta love all the samples!
Hi rowena,
Can you imagine how much he gets spoiled once we get back?
Hi Hillary,
You’re welcome!
Hi Elle,
I know so sad to leave him. The only good thing is that I know he’ll get spoiled with my dad. Think table scraps and sleeping on the couch!
Just loving it. Can’t wait to see Part 4. I’m telling all of my friends to log on and see the most beautiful pictures.
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for spreading the word! In part 4 you’ll see the sukiyaki dinner that we shared. Boy did I eat a lot that night!
Love panko!!! we made some panko shrimp lollipops , yummy!
Hi White On Rice Couple,
I love panko too! I was meaning to comment that those shrimp lollipops look great - and the photos are excellent!!
Rocky is so handsome!! I love him!