 |
| A Geisha Welcome |
JAPAN IN ALL ITS GLORY
 |
| View From Hotel in Tokyo |
 |
| The Twenty Second Floor (With a glass outdoor elevator!) |
 |
| A Temple In Kyoto |
 |
| Welcome To The Royakan |
We travelled around Tokyo taking in all the tourist sights and staying in high rise hotels, took the bullet train to Kyoto and then stayed in a royakan, which is a typical Japanese home/hotel complete with wooden baths, paper walls and futons. It was just a little westernised, but not totally to my taste. The food and green tea in particular were fairly odd, all looking very attractive but tasting unusual. There were beautiful geishas everywhere.
In the exclusive Japanese Royokan in Kyoto we sat at the Chef's Table for a Speciality Meal. It all looked so very beautiful but was a complete mystery to us all ... nine courses and not a thing I recognised!
I should love to say that I really enjoyed the holiday - but I would be lying. I loved the fact that all the Japanese are so very polite, that the country is totally clean, that the food is fresh, but truly hated the high rise life style, the fresh but totally unrecognizable food, the noise and bustle and the weird and wonderful ways I encountered. I was also rubbish with chopsticks and truly hated green tea and sake. I also really missed a good old fashioned English cup of tea!
 |
| The Chef - Japan's Answer To Jamie Oliver |
 |
| Breakfast - The Only Meal I Ever Really Enjoyed |
Japan Here I Come Again - Maybe Not!
What an experience though!
ReplyDeleteI did a similar trip to Japan a few years ago and absolutely loved it! I didn't find in nearly as alien as I thought I would, perhaps because I have Japanese friends and students. The food was fine, much better than the food I had in America!
ReplyDeleteIt's a place I would return to if it were not such a long journey to get there and I am not a person who likes to travel or enjoys foreign countries!
I went to the Tokyo Quilt Show and stayed in the Tokyo Dome and we were on the 22nd floor too!