New Year’s Day in Beautiful Kyoto

You wouldn’t believe what happened upon stepping out of the Shinkansen in Kyoto, it started snowing on the first day making the already beautiful landscapes of Kyoto even prettier!!!!!

There’s so much to write about Kyoto and actually many pictures to show you guys that I will break it up into two posts so you guys can clearly see how it is like there.

Apparently, it was the first time it snowed so much in the past 32 years. As I wasn’t prepared for a snow blizzard of any sort, I was poorly dressed with shoes that soaked up the snow freezing my toes off!!!

Furthermore, as it was the first day of New Year in Japan, Kyoto had many special types of food to offer..

One of them is specially shaped Mochi by MikiMiki 1689, a famous mochi store in Kyoto – Must Try coz it’s just sooo kawaii!

They have a corner store on the ground floor, fronting the main road of Kyoto Station Shopping Plaza

Gentaro(my housemate from Japan who I lived with in Hawaii)’s mom and sister who graciously brought us to the Ana Crowne Plaza Hotel Kyoto from the station which is a really picturesque place to live in. If you follow my instagram or Facebook Page, you can see the view I face every morning when I eat breakfast – Heavenly !

Although it was so cold outside with many people staying indoors, meet the most ingenious people in the world – Ben and I who insisted in trudging in the snowstorm “To do what Japanese do on the first day of New Year’s” which is to head to the shrine and pray… And that’s exactly what we did.

Ben clearly enjoying the snowstorm, and I had to force a smile because I just couldn’t feel my face!

On to the cultural bit, Mayu-san teaching us that Japanese people cleanse themselves before stepping into the grounds of the shrine and I did it taking out my gloves while shivering at the same time – I can only say… Once you have been through cancer, what’s a little shivering to respect people’s culture right? 🙂

To show you how the snowstorm was, our transparent umbrellas were covered in it!

It was 4pm and look at how dark it is? The long walk to the shrine from the entrance but we did it to pay our respects to an age old tradition. It felt really peaceful because there was hardly anyone there as it would usually be packed on the first day but only lunatics like us would brace the storm for this… yay !!!

Now, onto some specialty food in Kyoto which is a MUST TRY!

Went to an izakaya bar recommended by Mayu San and Auntie Kazuko. Japanese people usually decorate their shops with this white hanging plant on the first few days of New Year

Tried the specialty mochi soup which tasted like a mixture of watery soup and starchy soup with mochi, radish, and some vege’s in it. Usually on the first day, Japanese people cook special food to consume for good luck, health and everything awesome for the rest of the year… we being kiasu took it as well of course.

Have you ever tried a tofu that taste like mochi? It was my first time and it was chewy to the bite and does not taste like tofu, but the mixture with it’s topping makes you feel like you are eating Hi-Chew , just saltier.. LOL! This type of tofu is a specialty in Kyoto so do try it out for the experience, I kinda like it

Another mochi dish in conjunction with New year’s!

Another thing to note is that the culture in Kyoto is so different from Tokyo that the Izakaya experience is also one of a kind. Every izakaya place in Kyoto is made in a way that every party has their own room which makes it even more authentic!

I would say we lucked out arriving on New Year’s day because of all the specialty food we took and the experiences of how a first day would be like with Japanese people as well.

As the snow settled on the second day, we headed to Kinka-Kuji temple and as we walked in, the path was dotted with green trees…. so breathtaking right?

Played around with the filters on my Olympus Pen Lite 7 using the all new vintage filter to get this picture. It truly looks like it was “back in the day”  right?

View of the temple behind me. When you are standing there staring at it, my breath was caught in my throat because I felt like these are the scenes I can only get in movies.

Right in front of the golden temple itself

Even whilst walking out of the temple, you will continue to see pretty scenery around you….

Last but not least, to all women out there.. IF you are ever in Japan on New Year’s day, enjoy the “Fukuburo” shopping which means lucky/happy bags. Every store sells them from designer goods like Prada, Gucci, Michael Kors, to small stores. Each bag contains many items and you pay only a fraction of the amount to get the bag. For example, I paid a jewellery brand 5000 yen which is RM150 to get 35,000 yen worth of items, can you believe that?!?!

Hope you guys enjoyed my detailed account of Kyoto on the first two days, I have one more post to share about Kyoto and will combine it with Osaka as well:)

YOLO,

Mei Sze