Kirk
Yesterday was December 22. Today is December 23. We lost a day flying across the time line.
Not a lot of write-up from me today. Mostly just photos. I think I said too much yesterday. LOL. Dealing with slow Internet issues, so that's why it's took an extra day to get the photos up. I'm using a Ricoh GR III for 99% of the photos, and an iPhone from some selfies. On our first trip to Japan in 2016, I carried around a big Nikon D750. Then in 2018, I carried a Fuji X100F. Now I've got the Ricoh. Next trip might be only iPhone.
I'm using Lightroom, but not editing the photos much. I'm just using the Ricoh film profile of "Positive Film". It just takes too much time right now to do much more. I'll go over some favourites later when we get back to Vancouver and re-post on Instagram. The pages look better on a laptop/iPad landscape.
She's vacuuming the sidewalk! - Kirk.
On this trip we are visiting Kyoto and Nikko specifically to check off Kyle’s ask to visit certain shrines. When planning our trip we asked what he was interested in doing this time around and he listed a few shrines and one store in Akihabara - who is this kid???
We headed to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest after coffee. On our way to the train station we stopped at a local shrine to take a few photos.
Walking from the train station to the bamboo forest we passed a lot of visitors crowded onto the street having snacks. The crowd thinned out a bit on the way to the forest so it was not overly crowded.
We are lucking out with beautiful weather. Although the temperature is a little cold in the morning it warms up pretty quick.
Kirk
Bamboo forest. It was crowded in some sections, but not too bad. If you're going there expecting a quiet, zen thing, then it will seem crazy crowded. But, if you know what you signed up for, then all the tourists are expected.
Elaine
After walking through the forest we decided to continue walking into more of the local area and were rewarded with quieter streets and beautiful architecture. Every cafe and restaurant looked like something out of an anime. Kyle said they looked a little unreal, like something out of a Disney movie.
By the time we were done walking around it was too late to head to Fushimi Inari Taisha so we headed back to the city.
Kirk
Sugari ramen shop. Love their decor.
Elaine
We decided to try Sugari for ramen. It was a very interesting space. The entrance was a bit hidden. We weren’t sure we were at the right place but Kirk walked in and there was a lineup to order… we were in the right spot. Very orderly setup. Order via a touchscreeen, head upstairs and sit in another lineup. As customers leave new patrons are seated along the bar.
The setup was very streamlined. The chopsticks, napkins and seasoning were all packed away in a hidden drawer that Kirk only knew about from YouTube videos and Kali saw other patrons using. Thank goodness some people in our group are observant!
Happy Holidays in Kyoto! These motorcyclists were a happy bunch and posed for us.
In the Karasuma Shopping Street there were there a lot of stores perfect for browsing, including CDG Black (that made Kirk super happy), Bape, Tsutaya Bookstore, etc.
We stopped in at a mall to browse some stores and there was one that had a ton of Haikyu merchandise. Like sooooooooo much merch!
Kirk
I was so happy to see a standalone CDG Black shop.
Kirk
Yakatori for dinner.
Elaine
We ended up having dinner at a small yakitori restaurant. It had seating for 14, 10 at the bar and a side table for 4. Ordering was all via an app. Requesting glasses, individual plates, tea refills, requesting the bill, etc. were all separate “orders” that also had to be put through via the app. Very efficient. There was only one chef and one sous chef. We watched as they made each skewer, one or two at a time.