Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, a beautiful Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Kyoto.

This used to be a place where people left the bodies of their dead. Now the temple holds thousands of burial statuettes that memorialize the souls of the dead. The statuettes used to be scattered around but where gathered into one place a hundred years ago.

I guess that at one point the statuettes had shape and features. Now they’ve been worn down by weather and wind into a soft-edged sameness. Rather symbolic of what happens with ourselves after we die. At first we are distinct in people’s memories; later we become just a vague concept of a distant ancestor.

Just the beautiful lichen-covered wall of a round stone structure inside the temple area.

Geographically we’re not that far from central Kyoto, but it certainly feels distant.

Kyoto is nestled in a valley between rocky, wooded hills. The city hasn’t crept up on the hills much – either they’re too difficult to build on, or they’ve been intentionally left untouched. On the outer edges of the city, the hills show very clearly where the city stops and nature starts.

The suburban streets we walked through were very pleasant and pretty. Very different from the streets of Tokyo. Then again, we never really got as far out as the edges of Tokyo.

Among Kyoto’s many sights are bamboo groves. Some are famous and much-photographed, others are just there.

On our way to one of the famous ones with many Instagram photos, we passed one that was barely marked on the map. The low sun made for pretty light and shadow,

The largest bamboo stalks were as thick as tree trunks.

The tall, straight stalks, and the light filtering through the tufts of leaves at the top, make it feel sort of like the ribbed vaults of a Gothic church.

Arashiyama bamboo grove is a popular one. I had expected something the size of a small forest, but it was much smaller. Basically a single, mostly straight path of maybe a hundred metres, with bamboo on both sides. Given that there was only one path, it was quite full of people. You can’t see them very well because I mostly aimed the camera away from them, but the bottom of the photo is all full of people’s heads.

Among all the arrow-straight bamboo – a single dark and twisty tree.

I imagine the bamboo groves used to be larger. Probably still are, somewhere out in the countryside. I wonder what it would feel like to walk, surrounded by nothing but these straight pillars. Meditative?

In Japan, February 4th is considered the first day of spring. In Stockholm it’s the deepest winter, but here there are already plum trees blossoming.

We were far from any busy restaurant districts when it was time for dinner. First we tried our luck at a highly-rated sushi place, but there was an hour’s waiting time, and that was more than we wanted to wait. Ingrid’s legs were tired, and I was so hungry that I would have accepted a McDonald’s meal, so we just picked the next closest place.

Which turned out to be a tiny corner place that served okonomiyaki, pancakes with shredded cabbage. Clearly a place that wasn’t aimed at tourists at all, what with its location and all-Japanese signage, and staff who didn’t have a word of English. But the menu had English translations, and we managed to order by pointing.

We were served absolutely delicious okonomiyaki by a very kind older gentleman, who also demonstrated the correct way of eating it. (You definitely don’t cut it like a pizza, but in square pieces.)

This would turn out to be the best okonomiyaki of the whole trip. We ordered okonomiyaki at two more restaurants, but neither could measure up to this.

Okonomiyaki is one of a very few Japanese dishes that I’ve cooked at home, based on a recipe from the Linas Matkasse meal kits. I was curious to see how close the Swedish version was to the original. Pretty close, actually! The meal kit version was fully vegetarian whereas here okonomiyaki is often topped with tiny bonito flakes. The squirted mayo topping, which I’ve always found a bit strange, is very much present in the real deal.

Upon arrival in Kyoto, we aimed straight for our top sight here and spent the whole afternoon at Fushimi Inari-taisha, a shrine complex known for its “thousand torii”. Inari is worshipped as the patron of business, and there is a tradition for businesses to donate a torii gate to the shrine.

Fushimi Inari-taisha is very photogenic and very popular. The torii are arranged so as to form tunnels along the paths up the hill, and their uniform colour and size makes for unique and stunning views. The first few tunnels were full of people, as expected. But once you move up the hill, the crowds thin out very quickly.

Initially I thought that the sight of orange-red torii gates would get boring fast. I mean, how many identical gates do I want to look at? Then we started walking and saw just how much variety there was.

Torii on the shade side of the hill loomed almost spookily.

Small knee-high torii were propped up next to the path.

Further up the hill, the gates got smaller and less shiny.

Stairs and afternoon shadows.

Ingrid, for scale.

Turning around and looking back down the hill, you can see the writing on each gate. The torii are donated when making a wish or when a wish has come true, so I assume the writing details each donator’s wish.

Each time we rounded a corner, there were new, interesting views. We only turned back down the hill when the light really started failing.

Many of the torii were bright and shiny, especially near the entrance, but further up the hill there were those that had started fading and rotting with age – as well as brand new ones that had only just been erected.

Our walk up and down the paths was accompanied by the constant cawing of crows. There were giant hordes of them here. Mostly hidden in the trees, but we saw them when we had come down to the edge of the wooded hill.

We’re relocating to Kyoto by Shinkansen bullet train.

The train stations in Tokyo are huge and confusing. The metro stations are bad enough, but the train stations are even worse. It took us half an hour to navigate through the station to the Shinkansen platform. Apparently there are parts that are considered the same station but aren’t even fully connected – when we asked the staff for directions, we were told to exit the station, walk to the other side of the block, enter the station there, and then continue. We thought we had left plenty of time for getting to the train but still only made it to the platform with 10 minutes to spare.

Passing Mount Fuji on the way. It is huge and absolutely towers over the surrounding countryside.

Kyoto immediately feels different from Tokyo. Smaller, greener, hillier streets. More houses in the traditional style.

Before we leave for Kyoto, here are a few photos of our tiny rental apartment in Tokyo.

The apartment is in the middle of a very ordinary residential district in Ikebukuro, near Kanamecho station. We’ve got views of the skyscrapers in the business district around Ikebukuro station. Closer to us, there are roof terraces of the houses around us.

The apartment is tiny. The whole apartment is smaller than my bedroom at home. We have room for a double bed, a pentry, and a bathroom behind the pentry. And a washing machine.

When we open our suitcase, we can barely step past it. There is a small table with two stools, but it’s so narrow that we would be hitting each other with our elbows if we both tried to sit there at the same time. Breakfast is instead served at the stools, next to the bed.

Breakfast today: 1 egg sandwich, 1 onigiri, 1 lemonade.

We made a day trip to Kawagoe, a small town near Tokyo that is known for still having entire streets with Edo-era architecture. There are some European-style buildings, but most look very Japanese to my tourist’s eyes: small two-storey buildings in dark wood, with traditional roofs and sliding doors.

First, though, it was lunchtime. We’ve had noodles of a few kinds, we’ve had sushi; now it was time for Japanese curry. With the help of online reviews we picked a curry shop that, again, looked like nothing but served good food for cheap. The restaurant had a single member of staff doing everything, which basically consisted of ladling up rice, pre-made curry sauce, and your chosen toppings. Which you ordered and paid for in an automat out front. Another great meal at another hole in the wall.

The main street in the old style was lined with small shops, mostly catering for tourists. Snacks, Japanese crafts, cute things.

Japanese tourists, especially young girls, sometimes dress up in kimonos for their outings. There are kimono rental shops in all popular touristy areas. You can rent a whole outfit – kimono, all the layers underneath it, obi, sandals, toe socks, handbag. The fabrics and decorations used tend towards the frilly and shiny.

Just because the street looks old, doesn’t mean that the contents of the shops are traditional. There were plenty of shops focusing on Snoopy, Ghibli, and other popular entertainment brands.

The side alleys were as interesting as the main street.

The bell tower was originally built in the 17th century. As with many historical buildings in Japan, the current physical embodiment of it is newer, rebuilt in the late 19th century after a fire. The same goes for all the wooden temples we’ve visited – just because the temple is described as being this many centuries old, doesn’t mean that the current physical structure has stood there constantly all that time. They’re rebuilt from time to time.

No day in Japan is complete without a visit to a temple or a shrine. Kawagoe Hikawa shrine was very picturesque. The torii gate is apparently one of the tallest in Japan.

A small stream seemed to be used for dissolving prayers written on special paper.

A tunnel of wooden prayer plaques.

Kawagoe Castle, on the other hand, was a total disappointment. There is basically no castle to be seen, just grassy mounds where the castle walls once stood.

Our rental apartment is in Ikebukuro district, but we’ve barely seen any of it, apart from the routes to the two nearest metro stations.

We’ve got a trip planned outside of Tokyo for later today, but in the morning we walked around a bit in Ikebukuro.

Ingrid visited Animate, a 7-storey manga superstore. I tried my best to occupy myself while waiting for her, but it became very boring fast.

I browsed a bookstore. I was hoping that they might have something interesting in the knitting section. Japanese knitting books are quite different from Swedish ones. In Sweden, there are books like “Knit 20 sweaters” or “Knit for the home” or “Everything about socks and mittens”. Japanese knitting books were more based on vibes. “Here’s some cute stuff” – which could range from knitted sweaters to crochet flowers in the same book. If they want to knit a sweater, do they go through dozens of books to find a pattern?

After the museum, we visited Tsukuji market, which is what’s left of the old fish market. I was expecting lively alleys, full of food stalls and restaurants, teeming with people. It was… not that. It felt rather dead. Maybe we came at the wrong time of day?

Since we were here, and hungry, we splurged on four pieces of fancy sushi. Generally there wasn’t much here that tempted us so I bought a simple cheese skewer to take the edge off my hunger, and we went elsewhere.

In Ginza, one of the main thoroughfares was closed for traffic. It felt like some kind of traffic apocalypse had disintegrated all the cars but left all the people.

We browsed the Itoya stationary store. I am jealous of Japanese people who have access to so many fine paper products. Origami paper, wrapping paper, note-taking paper, cards, pretty cardboard boxes…

When it was dark, we went to Shibuya sky lounge to take photos of the photogenic street scene there. There is less traffic in Tokyo than I had expected, but a lot of people. Everybody is very obedient when it comes to traffic rules, traffic signals and street crossings. Traffic signals prioritize pedestrians. At the major street crossings, when the lights go green for pedestrians, they go green on all sides at the same time. People cross in all directions, including diagonally, and entire the entire crossing is like an ant hill. But a polite and organized ant hill!

For dinner, Ingrid wished for ramen. We ate at Kyushu Jangara Ramen Harajuku, a total hole in the wall, with cheesy curtains and cheap-looking signage. Had I walked past it on the street, it would never have caught my eye. Possibly only to laugh at the cutesy creatures on the curtain. But Ingrid had done her research!

Inside it was just as cramped as a kaitenzushi place. Those dividers between seats make it possible to cram in more people than you otherwise could. Cosiness factor: zero.

The food was excellent, though. Flavourful broth, topped with noodles and vegetables and one of those lovely marinated eggs, as well as other strange things that I couldn’t even identify. They had ramen with vegetarian broth, which can be tricky to find – it tends to be pork-based. Ingrid said that her pork ramen was even better than my vegetarian one.