Japan Vacation - 2018

This post has nothing to do with music teaching.
Nancy and I love travelling to Japan, and the big wish list items this time around included eating lots of tasty food and sightseeing.  On this trip, we made more of an effort to try more sweets and street food, as well as a greater variety of ramen.

Video (not from our trip) of the Octopus crackers being made:

This ramen has very little in common with instant ramen.  Many of the shops have several generations of experience, and there are often several local and regional differences.

In Shin-Yokohama, a quick train ride  away from Tokyo, there's a ramen museum theme park where one can try many kinds of ramen.  We miraculously made it through almost 3 bowls there. 

We hadn't been to Kanazawa before.  The food scene in Kanazawa was maybe more impressive than other cities. Large variety of sweets and street food, even the conveyor belt sushi was extremely high quality.

One of the highlights, always, is having a couple of Kaiseki meals, which are multi course meals with somewhat strict guidelines, often made with seasonal and local ingredients.  In this case, we had meal service in the room, and the courses came in intervals over a blazing fast 90 minutes.

Our first stop in Japan was Tokyo.  We only stayed for two days, mainly trying to recover from jetlag. 

Next stop was the resort town of Hakone, known for its active volcanos and  hot springs.
​We also had a chance to meet up with friends and go on a hike.

Nearby, a Cable Car to Owakudani, a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents.  Last time we made this trip, the cars were closed due to an eruption.

Also nearby, the Open Air Museum.

Kanazawa has been easier to access of the last few years due to new high speed rail lines.
We spent 5 days there, enjoying the gardens and Kanazawa Castle.  The "Higashi Chaya" district had a bunch of sweet shops and sake breweries.  For me, a highlight was visiting the phonograph museum, where I heard an old recording of Japanese violinist, Nejiko Suwa.   

We also returned to Kyoto on the final stage of the trip, hoping to see sights that we missed on our previous trip: The Silver Temple, and Philosopher's' walk.