Scaredy Cat Travels

Fuji to Kyoto 

Transportation: Shinkansen bullet train

Hotel: Dhawa Yura Kyoto 

Plans: At the moment, plans are to see some of the Fuji sites we missed then head to Kyoto in the afternoon. The highlight of today will be the kids’ first ride on a bullet train.

It would make a lot of sense if I were afraid of trains hurtling along a track at almost 200 mph but I’m not. Unless I really think about it.

I want to give the kids the full Shinkansen experience so we’ll grab ekiben and a drink at the station before boarding. Ekiben are a version of Japanese bento boxes made especially for train travel. Every region has its own specialty dish. The ekiben sold in the corresponding station are designed to celebrate regional foods. When I watch videos, the native riders always talk about what regional specialty food they plan on getting when they arrive in an area. Even if it has nothing to do with the video’s topic.

It is also common practice to pick up omiyage, gift boxes filled with regional specialty snacks, to take home as gifts for friends and even coworkers who didn’t go on the trip with you.

Tokyo’s prefecture specializes in the cute banana sponge cakes shown below while Chiba is known for peanuts so its omiyage snack is a peanut-shaped cookie filled with sweet red bean paste.

All this train talk reminds me of what is possibly my biggest fear of the entire trip.

My kids on a Japanese train.

I think (hope?) Jackson and Rowan present themselves in public as pretty normal human beings. But it simply isn’t true. At least when you put them together for any length of time. If you’ve watched the documentary and remember the scene of the three of us walking down a hotel hallway, the kids are leaning into each other as they walk, trying to push each other over. You might think “oh, the film crew just captured and included a rare playful moment” but no. This is them, on their way to accept a prestigious award on behalf of their sick father, on their very best behavior.

I still sit between them when possible. Otherwise the poking, whispering, giggling begins. Which leads to more poking, louder whispering and fussing and ends with Jackson crying. Even if Jackson started it.

May I remind you that they are 17 and 21?

Japanese culture dictates that there is no speaking on the subways or trains. None. When Japanese are interviewed and asked what freaks them out the most about Americans (paraphrasing slightly), they ALWAYS say “they talk on the trains” or “they’re loud”. They could be speaking about my kids. They WILL be speaking about my kids. It’s not like I can move and pretend I don’t know them. I look just like them.

Scaredy Cat rating: Mostly just the kids.

Hotel #6 Extended

Finding a hotel in Kyoto was almost as time consuming as Tokyo. In part because it was here that I had the most detailed picture in my head of what the hotel should look like. I wanted something small and quaint with old world Japanese vibes, but I didn’t want to go full-on ryokan because of the issues with my back and also because I didn’t want to pay each night for the included, elaborate and expensive Kaiseki ryiori dinner. I am also a little intimidated by the potential language barrier here so felt we should stay somewhere relatively mainstream to insure they are used to dealing with English-speaking foreigners. 

I had originally started looking into Kyoto as a destination, because very early on, I stumbled across the Hoshinoya resort set on the banks of the beautiful Oi river. In fact, the primary access to the resort is by boat. But alas, it is also not set-up for family travel and is way out of my price range. Because of its more removed location it probably isn’t the best choice for our trip when we want to be able to easily access all of Kyoto’s best sites, many of which are across town from here. At least I keep telling myself this. But I have included a lot of photos so you can see why I was obsessed.

In the end, I think I only actually booked one hotel here. One of the challenges I faced when choosing was that many of the Kyoto hotels in the more traditional areas do not have large windows and some have no windows at all. I felt this would be difficult to deal with for four full days. Some compensate with small rock gardens with bamboo and pagoda lamps but these are often more expensive (but so pretty!). There were several hotels in contention but I settled on the Dhawa Yura located near the traditional Gion district. 

The hotel has an old world Japanese feel with a bamboo garden in the center of the building. There is a lovely bar/restaurant on the lower level looking out at the garden. Rooms are small but they have nice windows. Someone will need to tell Rowan that there are no tubs. It won’t be me. 

We have two rooms here as well – one corner room and one standard twin room. Despite the rates here being very reasonable, this is our most expensive hotel total because the only discount I have here is a $200 annual American Express Platinum hotel reimbursement, and we’re staying for three nights. Dhawa Yura is part of the Banyan Tree hotel group which has a great reputation.

Total hotel cost for both rooms for three nights = $157 per room per night