Japan Food Tour of Kyoto and Tokyo

Tokyo was the first place I ever visited in Asia, and it was an amazing welcome. The city is huge and incredibly busy, we went to Shibuya Crossing - one of the busiest intersections in the world - and just marveled at the number of people. One of my favorite things about the city how modern it is with huge skyscrapers everywhere and technology everywhere you look, but then in the middle of all of that you will find an ancient sacred temple. The juxtaposition is beautiful and makes the city very special. 

Something we really enjoyed was all of the different vending machines scattered around the city. Not just typical snack and drink vending machines, but vending machines that make meals, have toys, books, pretty much anything you can imagine. In fact, many ramen restaurants use vending machines rather than waiters to take your order. You walk in, choose the meal you want on the vending machine, then give the resulting ticket to the person behind the counter. There are endless experiences like that which make Tokyo such a unique place to visit.

Just an easy train ride away from Tokyo is Kyoto, which is just as worth visiting as Tokyo. It is a much smaller city and has  a vibe much more focused on tradition and culture. There are beautiful sacred temples all over the city, each worth visiting for its own unique architecture and history. One of the most popular things to do in Kyoto is visit the Fushimi Inari-taisha temple and then take the 8km hike through the arches to the top of Mount Inari. We attempted to start the hike one day while we were there, but since it was so extremely hot (110 degrees Fahrenheit, 43 degrees celsius) we didn't think we could handle the hike in the sun. So, we ended up going back that night after sunset and doing the hike in the dark. It was still very hot (86 degrees F, 30 degrees C) but much more manageable. Since Japan is so safe we felt totally comfortable hiking at night even though there was nobody else around, the only thing we had to keep an eye out for was wild boars!

Our favorite local spot was a coffee shop / Thai restaurant (fun combo!) called Hibi Coffee. We went there for coffee every morning and ate Thai food there for dinner one night. Hibi himself was always working behind the counter, and we really enjoyed being regulars for the few days we were there!