Japanese Food Bites: Indulging in the Taste of Summer

It’s a sultry Monday morning as time draws near to say goodbye to Kyoto prefecture. Two long weeks have somehow passed by in a flash. You hardly noticed the days slipping through your fingers amidst all the excitement of washoku preparations, bamboo forests, tea farms, monkeys, deer, fireworks, and plant-based biology lessons. Time has come to plan your final morning in the city, as well as your free afternoon back in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, memories of which now feel years away. What will you choose?

If you go on a hectic three stop sunrise adventure with Val, Kerem, and Romi, scroll to 1A.

If you finally get some well deserved rest and sleep until departure, scroll to 1B.

1A

Valentina has been obsessed with Toji Temple since the minute your class set foot in Kyoto. Despite her excitement, enough research was not done and you all end up at Ninenzaka with 20 minutes left until sunrise instead. Even though you’re not where you intended to be, you’re still treated to one of the most spectacular sunrises you’ve ever seen over Kyoto’s most famous stone-paved pedestrian roads, which is practically empty at this hour except for a few equally ambitious photographers and the occasional jogger. Hokan-ji temple looms over brick tiled roofs littered with outshoots of vines, all draping over fresh wooden architecture that gives off an earthy, fresh-cut smell. The glow of the street lanterns fades as the striking purple and pink that feels LED-esque gives way to the shine of sunrise.

In an ambitious last-ditch effort to do every single thing possible in one morning, Kerem notices that Fushimi Inari is only a 12 minute uber ride away, and next thing you know, you’re all standing in the famous torii gate tunnel. The best part is that at this hour, the shrine is almost entirely empty. Instead of being bumped around by crowds of tourists, you’re free to wander the mountside paths flocked with buildings and gates all glistening with the same outstanding shade of red. More or less exhausted from the 2 hours of sleep you’ve had, you decide to venture back to the hotel (via another uber) and get some breakfast.

As you’re halfway through your tuna mince and egg rice bowl from the fast-food place down the street from the hotel, Romi finally wakes up and calls! She sounds a bit frantic, eager to make up for the time she lost and get at least a little sightseeing in before you leave for Tokyo. Val solemnly breaks the news: “Oh no, babe, we’re already back…” Through the phone, you hear Romi fall to her knees in despair. How can you make the most of the hour left until the train and also make it up to her? Why not try actually going to Toji temple! Another uber takes all of you 5 minutes away to happily fork over the 500 yen admission fee to galavant around the beautiful temple grounds for a solid 20 minutes. The sakuras that the temple is famous for unfortunately aren’t in bloom, but the gardens are beautiful nonetheless, adorned with goopy green ponds surrounded by luscious greenery and finely detailed stone lanterns, benches, and overhangs. The ambience is topped off with hundreds of deafening cicada screams. As your feet begin to give out from under you, you finally all decide to make your way back to just barely catch the train.

1B

You tucked into your top bunk nest nice and early for the last time at Tune Stay Kyoto. The hotel has done you a great service over these past two weeks. It’s been home to meals, memories, and midday hibernations, not to mention the diverse collection of short films available at night to distract you from your homework. As the minutes creep towards the time you’ve set your alarm for, you’re fast asleep in your fifth or sixth REM cycle. You dream of being a wild kombu far off the coast of Hokkaido, where you’ve noticed a lack of sea otters around in the past few weeks. Suddenly, you feel a sharp chomp at your holdfast. Oh no, it’s a sea urchin!! You can’t do much to defend yourself since evolution and time was not enough for you to develop any kind of defense mechanism for these situations. As the urchin makes the rest of the way through your anchoring structure, your blade starts to float to the surface of the sea. You try to scream, but all that comes out are spores. You jolt awake, back in your bunk bed and breathe a sigh of relief, half expecting to cough out some spores on the way to the train.

If you venture for eki-ben for a train breakfast, scroll to 2A

If you decide to catch up on sleep on the shinkansen, scroll to 2B

2A

You wander around the train station, eager to find some breakfast. Packing up several suitcases of souvenirs and dirty clothes left you with little time for nutritional satiety. Thankfully, you’re familiar with eki-ben, meals fashioned to be eaten on the train. You snag a box that very easily fulfills washoku requirements, chock full of colorful lotus root, pickled plums, and several other unrecognizable veggies over a bed of rice. The train leaves the mountains behind you as the food enters your mouth.

2B

Groggily, you throw your bags up to the overhead bin. You flop onto your assigned seat on the train. You throw a towel or a sweatshirt onto your face, anything to block out the light and dampen the noise. Tokyo arrives in what feels like a blink.

If you join Romi, Jeremy, Kerem, Frederick, and Andy for michelin star kaiseki, scroll to 3A

If you join Rachel, Mandy, Daniel, Mokkh, and Jo for tonkatsu, scroll to 3B

3A

What feels like forever ago, Yukari-san– in her awesome generosity– shared with you her recommendation to Kashiwaya, a Michelin star recognized kaiseki that boasts its impressively seasonal 12 course menu. On Instagram, Romi received a very personal introduction to the owner and head chef Hideaki Matsuo, who seemed ecstatic to host students that came to study Japan’s food culture and give them a taste of his culinary finesse. Around 5 pm, you scurry up to your hotel room and change into your most dapper attire to match the environment the restaurant will provide. Downstairs, you get into Uber premier van (the only option that fits all of you) with Romi, Jeremy, Andy, Frederick and Kerem, and enjoy the 25 minute drive that has the same vibes as a prom night limo ride. 

When you arrive, the staff greet you at the door, all adorned in beautifully decorated yukata, with the sleeves interestingly pinned back for utility. You’re seated in a private stall hidden behind a sliding wooden door intricately carved with geometric patterns, soon after which Hideaki-san enters to greet you all personally. He looks delighted to meet you and is even more pleased to hear about your past month of travels learning all about Japanese food. He appears especially interested in Jeremy, to whom he gives continual shoulder pats and side-eyed glances in a way that makes you wonder if Jeremy will be included in some of tomorrow’s dinner courses. After countless exchanges of arigato gozaimasu, Hideaki-san made his way back to the kitchen, and the food followed not long after him. 12 courses that span over 3 hours treats you to one of the most sensationally and flavourly diverse food experiences of the entire month. Most notable was the maguro, the spread of bluefin tuna. The main plate is made of chutoro, meat that comes from the back and stomach of the fish. It’s exceptionally fatty, flavorful, and fresh, as if the fish hopped out of the sea and landed straight onto your plate. Rivers of adipose spread atop the cut resembling a watershed so intricate that it would bring environmental scientists Jeremy and Gillian to tears. A smaller bowl of meat cut from the tuna’s side is presented bathed in soy sauce, and you are told it has been marinating since long before you arrived at the restaurant. Somehow, it’s even more tender than what you tasted before. The consistency of the tuna is almost indistinguishable from the soy sauce because of how fast it liquifies in your mouth. 

At the end of the 3 hours, Hideaki-san returns to take a picture with you all, for which you need to suck in your gut to be able to fit your shirt back over your belly. You’re grateful for the outstanding hospitality of the staff and will never forget the great lengths they went to make your meal as immersive, detailed, and delicious as possible. You also decide you will shout out Yukari-san in your blog post and thank her personally for giving you the opportunity to have this experience, knowing she’ll read this eventually.

3B

After hearing about this tonkatsu restaurant from almost everyone for the past two weeks, you finally decide to make a return, and it’s just the fuel you need after that train ride. After dropping your bags off at the Premier hotel, you turn straight back around and head towards Tsukiyama Tonkatsu. There awaits a perfectly breaded pork cutlet, sitting next to a well-rounded mountain of cabbage, amongst other delectable side dishes. You’d say more, but your classmates went into detail regarding the sensory experience of this restaurant at the Kyoto Writers presentation.

After a long day in multiple prefectures, you’re grateful to be back in a bedroom all on your own. As the glow of Shibuya blares ever strong outside your window, you feel a sense of warm familiarity, and excitement to be back in Tokyo. What awaits you on the final few days of the dialogue? Probably a few gallons of stress over final exams and presentations! Best of luck, and don’t forget to tune in to tomorrow’s story!