Japan - Kyoto

With its 2000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, as well as palaces and gardens, Kyoto is one of the best preserved cities in Japan. My brother Moonsup and I stayed in a traditional 'ryokan' (Japanese inn) in the historical Hygashiyama district. Actually, the first ryokan we called said it only accepts Japanese guests (!!!), so we went with our second choice, which was at a great location - we saw geishas walking down the street:

Cobble-stoned Hygashiyama street:

At the ryokan:

The Silver Pavilion:

Yashoka shrine, the place of worship and the dwellings of the kami, the shinto "gods":
Yashoka shrine at night:
Stone shrine in the street:
Our main focus on this trip was food - we first planned our meals throughout the day and did some sightseeing while we waited to get hungry again. Between being in Korea and the Japan trip, I gained back all the weight I lost on the road. I think it's again time for the 'traveller's diarrhea' diet.

This is okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) and yaki udon (stir fried noodles):
We went to this restaurant that sold only one type of fish. Moonsup speaks decent Japanese but didn't understand what type of fish it was. We ordered the sashimi (raw fish) and nabe (hot pot), all made from the same one fish, which was delicious. Later we figured out that it was blow fish:
This is a traditional Japanese dessert house that's been around since 1925; I ordered green tea ice-cream with red beans and rice cakes:

Kyoto specialty cuisine is kaiseki, where numerous small dishes are brought to the table. Kaiseki meals are generally very expensive (like everything else in Japan) - this is the cheap version:

Counter-clockwise from the top: black beans, clotted cow-blood cube, broccoli, dried apricot, cod eggs, pork and some sort of bean jelly salad in the bowl.

Oyakodon - chicken and egg rice bowl. This restaurant was also about 80 years old: