OUR KYOTO SONG (My Second Actually)

I've been to the cultural treasures of Kyoto except for the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest that I visited for the first time. 

For this second visit, I don't have to cheat on the fare adjustment from Nagoya, had a seafood lunch instead of the cold packed leftover breakfast I had 20 years ago, paid all the entrance tickets and got stamped, and brought along a happy wife.   

Not sure why I missed the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest the first time I was in Kyoto since it's been there since 794. 

It indeed has a legitimate claim of being picturesque spot for a thousand years and on Day 3 of our 2026 Japan Tour, the wife had her 3rd dongo at the forest gates while Balong opted for a fried mochi. 

Kinkaku-ji or the Temple of the Giolden Pavilion is a Zen Buddhist temple that was first built in 1399 and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I got in free 20 years ago by skipping through a distracted ticket seller but paid this time despite Balong's tantums. 

There's not much I can recall from my first encounter with the Ginkaku-ji, another Zen temple popularly known as the Tample of the Silver Pavilion that was first built in 1482.

Yes, there was a rock garden that is still there but a revelation is the wife who had a lobectomy several months back in 2025 and yet gamely took on the uphill hike for a panoranic view of the temple complex and the Kyoto skyline.

Our lunch at the crowded Nishiki Market, a seafood spread of tempura, sashimi rice bowl, oysters, a crab leg, and okonomiyaki --- remains to be our most expensive meal in Japan so far at 14,000 yen.

I had a highball and a Kirin beer before before indulging in a sake-tasting spree.

The wife had sweet potato chips.

The Nijo Castle's nighttingale floors are security devices to alert Tokugawa ieyasu of the presence of intruders,

At least that's what has been explained 20 years ago as I tagged along an English-speaking guided tour but this time, the story is different according to Bulan who heard it from a current day English-speaking guided tour, that the sound is created "from the movement of nails against clumps in the floor caused by wear and tear over the years". 

Another new discovery is that the castle actually has a massive garden where we got lost trying to find the exit and the eki stamp stand. 

Finally, the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, a wooden temple built without nails that traces its history to 805 and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site where once upon a time, I had a dinner of ramen with a jar of sake.

The wife again showed her climbing prowess as we manevered through steep stairs and slopy streets.

But what is our hardest hike was greeted with a "Closed" sign because of the holidays in Japan.

So I peed on a manicured garden.

We walked (and took the bus) through Kyoto under a soft rain the whole day.

We were tired and I smelled of pee.

We needed a hot dinner and hoped from Bus 207 straight into an oden shop and hoped that we don;t get lost in translation.

The recommended radish, meatballs, beef, and tomato were excellent; the pork and cabbage super; the potato salad exceptional, and the ice crema nuggets superb.

I had my highball and Suntory beer... 

...and finally encountered Anthony Burdain's favority egg salad sandwich from Lawson.

A DOUBLE LUNCH IN NARA

There was a former colleague from Narra in Palawan who always got drunk in bars with heavy narra accessories, a premium hardwood that is the national tree of the Philippines.

And two train rides away from Kyoto is Nara, Japan's first permanent capital that hosts a number of UNESCO-listed World Heritage Sites including the Kofuku-ji Temple that ws established in 669 as a wife's plea for her husband's recovery from an illness.

Our 3-day Kansai Railway Pass encountered a glitch for the first time as we entered Nara, perhaps because our prayer for protection from illness at the Kofuku-ji Temple was done in reverse order: offering incense, alerting the Buddha with a bell prior to our prayers, then going through the purification ritual that should have been the first procedure.

We intended to have this rectified at the Todai-ji Temple (circa 738 and also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) but none of us would fit through the nostril of the Nara Daibatsu (circa 743 and the world's largest bronze Buddha statue) so we invoked his protection against epidemics by earnestly praying amidst the curious throng  for enlightenment, good luck, and health.

I needed to pee because a Japanese version of Angel Locsin played with some of the 1,400 bowing deers at Nara Park but an entrance fee is required to access the toilets of the Isuien Garden.

The Yoshikien Garden was more accommodating as not only does it have a free clean toilet, it also showcases traditional Japanese landscaping. 

It was after that when the first bullshit lunch of paper-thin meat slices in huge plates hit us at the central bus station. 

We were so disappointed and rueful that we decided to grant Balong's donburi craving before boarding the train back to Kyoto. 

That was our revenge second lunch within a span of an hour: a centerpiece unadon with cold soba, a bowl each of gyudon and katsudon, and the wife's second dango, steamed and not grilled which she prefers.

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Nara was short and sweet, and heavy too because of the double lunch.  

Since we have time, we decided to lighten the next day's packed Kyoto itinerary by stopping at the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine (circa 711) to count its estimated 10,00 torris,

We did not finish because I can't resist the sake shot offer by a cutie who can be Imee Marcos in her younger years before her days as a bullshit presidential sister.

We still have time so we decided to go geisha hunting at Hanamikoji Street.

There was a lot of traffic enforcers and and exclusive traditional teahouses but only saw two hurrying geishas. 

Dinner was soba and udon.

I had my usual beer and highball.

Balong finished his doriyaki from Nara, Bulan shared his box of Papa Beard's from the Fushimi-Inari Station.

23 IN OSAKA (The Kitchen of Japan)

I stayed in Osaka for a week-long induction as a visiting JICA fellow 20 years ago.

Back then, my knack for adventuring was just evolving so the farthest I ventured was to the train station nearest to the JICA Center with the intention of visiting the Osaka Castle.  

That failed excursion haunted me so 20 years after, I led Pugad Baboy to a revenge tour of the Osaka Castle (circa 1583), scaling all its 8 floors for a panoramic view of Japan's 3rd largest city where he image of two oversized samurais from Bakal 2 were imprinted as eki stamps.

It was there where the wife fell for the dango. 

Before Osaka, the uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz jeopardized our carefully curated trip to Japan.

It was not until Bulan passed through the gates of Kansai International Airport after his declaration was interrogated twice that the trains to Tengachiyaya, Tenjimbasisuji Rokuchome, Awaji, and Omiya delivered us to a  blonde Thai receptionist and her welcome pack of passport covers and the key to the hotel's sole famiy room with a balcony. 

Having registered as Boy Ramen, we were next led to a small shop whose young chef demonstrated the preparation of their signature cihicken paitan ramen --- our first authentic "Made in Japan" meal.

From Kyoto, we went back to Osaka to celebrate Balong's 23 years, reporting first to a ticket inspector of the Osaka Castle before the enticing smells of a grilled Wagyu beef skewer, a slice of sweet cantaloupe, and pan-fried tokiyaki, obanyaki, and okonomiyaki reeled us to the Kuromon Market where Balong hosted a birthday lunch of unagi, sukiyaki, yakitori, sashimi, kare, and Wagyu steak.

I mostly paid for the trip so I also got a shot of sake and a mug of highball. 

These were the starters for an aperitif of extra cold Asahi Super Dry, a Pilsner Urquell, and a Peroni at the  Asahi Beer Museum, just compensations for going through a high tech interactive recap of the brewery's history. 

But Balong's aspiration for a donburi dinner in the madhouse known as Dotonburi failed to materialize depsite our prayers at a Shinto shrine and the purchase of the first weird Kitkat flavors we intend to bring home. 

So we closed the day in Kyoto, in a crowded izakaya where with the help of Google Translate, we correctly ordered tempura, grilled mackerel, a plate of assorted sashimi, a bowl of ginger beef, and a slimy okra-based Japanese salad.

The boys had ginger ale, I had a beer and a highball.