Our Japan trip is slipping more and more into the distant past without my documenting two other stops, one before and one after our rewarding Kumano Kodo hike. We left Tokyo aboard the sleek Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. I love it when our transportation is part of the fun, and this was a good one. Comfy seats, urban and then rural views, and Mount Fuji out there on the right as we sped along.

We spent our first afternoon and evening in Kyoto just strolling and getting the lay of the land, wandering through Gion, the Nishiki Market, and Pantocho Alley.

We tried to get into a popular little gyoza restaurant, but while standing in line, we spied a note about their sister location that had vegetarian-only dumplings. Win-win for us as the line was much shorter and we are not big meat eaters anyway; we ordered some beers and gyoza and had a perfect, casual little feast before returning to our ramble around the city.

We were up early the next morning for a ride out to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. We congratulated ourselves on this good move as the crowds were building rapidly by the time we ascended through the forest, roamed around a bit on the hills, and then came back down into the touristy little town.

We skedaddled pretty quickly and almost succeeded in seeing Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion) without massive crowds as well. In non-typical fashion for me, we also managed to see this sparkly gem of a temple in outstanding weather conditions!

Moving from gold to silver (temples), we pushed on to Ginkaku-ji, but J was already reaching his temple limit for the day, and we made short work of this visit.

Luckily, we were not far from a famous udon restaurant and after an hour in line outside, we got in and had a fantastic lunch. We are very much not the kind of people who wait in line to eat, but we made an exception based on the tiny eatery’s reputation, and I was so happy and proud (ha!) to get kudos from our millennial children for our efforts.

We walked off the fat noodles, broth, and toppings on the Philosopher’s Walk to Nanzen-ji and then added one last mile to get back to our hotel.

After resting for a matter of minutes, we realized that if we were going to buy knives at a famous shop founded in 1560 (originally as sword makers), we would have to leave immediately to get to Nishiki Market before the knife shop closed for the next two days, at which point we would be gone.

We had to push through dense crowds to complete our mission, but we did succeed in the nick of time. I imagine we were one of the few parents whose Christmas gift to their children that year were big, fat, very sharp santoku knives! They were beautifully boxed and wrapped and even though it meant we had to check our bags on the return flights, it was worth it to have these wonderful knives in all of our kitchens.

For the second day in a row, we got out nice and early the next morning to get to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the social media-worthy series of torii (gates) that proceed up, up, up into the woods.

As advertised, the crowds thinned considerably the higher we went, and once again, we were happy with our choice to accelerate our day to avoid the tourist throngs.

Alas, by the time we’d walked almost an hour back into the main city and Kiyomizu-dera, it seemed like all of the people we’d missed the day before and this morning had converged upon this large Buddhist temple, one of the signature World Heritage sites in Kyoto.

Still, we both thought it was worth jostling with slow walkers, baby strollers, and various other impediments to free movement; the temple architecture was especially rustic and appealing, and we were able to once again clear the masses the further into the site we ventured.

We finished off the visit with lunch, a stroll through the charming cobblestone streets of Sannenzaka just below the temple, and an unplanned but gorgeous walk into Maruyama Park, a most satisfying ending to the afternoon and, other than one last city walk and okonomiyaki dinner, farewell to the city of Kyoto overall.

After our Kumano Kodo hike, which commenced the next day on the Kii Peninsula, we returned by train to Osaka about six days later to finish off our time in Japan. I’d made no major plans, just a hotel reservation, so we improvised as we went, coming up with some fun walks and a small side trip to Nara one day.

Although it was wildly crowded and kitschy, we enjoyed dinner and a walk in Dotonbori, Osaka’s well-known entertainment district, known for its bright neon signs, nightlife, and extravagant street food.

We had to eat one last giant okonomiyaki (cabbage, egg, and flour pancake – yum), and we enjoyed the Christmas lights and high street energy on our hour-long walks each way from the hotel.

On our last full day in Japan, we decided to take a train to Nara, best known for the impressive Buddhist temple, Todai-ji, as well as herds of semi-wild deer. Japan’s first permanent capital (710-794 AD) is still home to scads of heritage statues, other art, and buildings, and it’s an easy place to get around on foot.

As our very last temple of the trip, Todai-ji simultaneously blew me away and made J exhale a huge sigh of relief. The grounds themselves were mesmerizing to me, with water reflection views from many angles, allées of cherry and maple trees, and of course the pretty deer at nearly every turn.

In what is becoming a common refrain in this post, we appreciated the deer more the farther we got into the park. (Just keep walking, and everything will get better! I think I follow this philosophy in many parts of my life, but I digress …!). In the early stages, the deer were clearly habituated to human feeding, and they were aggressive and dirty. As always, I questioned the ethics of feeding/not feeding these formerly wild animals. In spite of the fact that these graceful creatures have decimated some of my own landscaping over the years, and are overfed here, I can’t help but adore them for their lithe elegance, and so I let myself enjoy walking among them in such a picturesque setting.

That evening, we enjoyed this lively and modern city’s night lights one last time as we walked to find some good beer.

We scored a window seat at a small craft beer establishment in a high-rise building and reviewed our fantastic two weeks in this country of manners, cleanliness, and wide-ranging beauty.