Hello and welcome to the momiji episode! Ok, so momiji literally means autumn colours and this episode is going to be chock full of autumn colours, so be warned! This episode also covers the period which marks the end of my third year in Japan. Does it feel that long? Well, yes and no, and I say that unequivocally…😉.

And so, to the weather; winter appears to have set in early this year. Certainly it has cooled down earlier than last year, with the consequence that the momiji (see above 😊) came on somewhat earlier this year. It really is a lovely time here, quite magical, and I’m not sure if I prefer blossom over momiji! While the blossom is the promise of the warmer weather to come (and spring has always been my favourite time of year, as a result), the momiji is the celebration of the warm weather which has passed.

As it was momiji time, it was time for us to take the trip down the Hozugawa again – my birthday present. We had some guests here at the time, so we just picked a day when no-one was arriving or leaving and the weather was good (if a bit cool). We didn’t want to leave it till too late in the month, in case the momiji was past the best. We also hoped there wouldn’t be too many people there waiting to take the ride, since we ended up arriving later in the day than we had originally planned. Luckily we only had to wait about 15 minutes. The momiji was wonderful and the trip was yet again fantastic – I suspect it is one of those experiences that can be oft repeated without getting weary of it.

Just another day at the office…

The passing sightseeing steam train – they wave at us and we wave at them

The ride was a little rougher than the first time in a couple of places and I’m not sure if it was the result of there being less water in the river (hence less protection from the rocks to the side and below) or the ‘poleman’ being a little less careful about keeping us away from the rocks. There was also a little more water splashing over the side of the boat onto some of the people up the front. This, however, just added to the overall adventure, I think (although, I wasn’t the one getting wet 😊).

At the end of the ride, when we reached Arashiyama area, one of the guys propelling the boat asked if anyone wanted a picture taken of them. I don’t recall them asking this the first time we did the ride, but then we were further back in the boat so may have missed it. Anyway, I thought this was a good idea, so handed over my phone, He then told us to stand up, which we weren’t sure he was serious about at first, since one of the rules of the ride is to stay seated. After he motioned us up, we sort of half stood up…

They didn’t have to yell at too many people in boats to get out of the way this time

After disembarking, we made our way back into town and went to a new restaurant – Muku. It is a Taiwanese vegan restaurant which we knew would be opening somewhere, and it turned out it is a lot closer to us than we had hoped for. We had a lovely lunch and introduced ourselves to the woman running the place as we were leaving. She was excited by this and wanted photos with us! A few days later I received a call from her asking if she could come to our place to have lunch, at which point I had to explain we don’t generally serve lunches.

Anyway, a couple of hours later I got another call from her saying she was in the area and could she come to see us!! So, we said this would be fine, and then she said she was just down the road!!! Yes, we were rather surprised at all this, but she was a lovely person and we had an interesting hour or so with her. It turns out she also owns a restaurant in Wakayama, and three guest houses. She is, in fact, Taiwanese and her husband is Japanese. He was working in Singapore at the time, but she called him to meet us over the phone (video call) 😊, which was an unexpected turn of events (to say the least).

We had one other ‘momiji outing’ during the month, to Kodaiji at night, which they light up specifically for the momiji. It is something we have never done before, despite it being an annual occurrence. We left home before sunset, so as to be there to see the sunset – it was a clear night. Yet another wonderful experience (despite the bus load of tourists that arrived just as we did…), which I will highly recommend to our guests. They also light up the temple grounds during spring, so we’ll have to visit at that time too.

After walking around the grounds, we walked into town, through Maruyama park, Yasaka shrine and the Gion area, to have dinner at a ramen restaurant that has vegan ramen on the menu and is really good. The owner now recognises us when we arrive, since we go there often enough.

The xmas metal origami crane…

Something that has really been reinforced to us recently is how lucky we have been, overall, with the guests we have had (ok, barring one couple, and it was only one of them that was the problem). Overall, they have been such lovely people. We have spent quite a bit of time talking to many of them, and they are just such nice, engaging people. It really is a pleasure to host them.

We’ve had quite a mix in terms of ages, countries of origin, singles and couples and families. Many of the younger people are  professionals, quite frequently in the IT area. I was very excited recently when a young US couple stayed with us who had PhD’s in Maths. Our first Mathematicians…kindred spirits. We also recently had our first international pilot, who flies out of Taiwan. Sometimes it’s a little sad to see some leave. All we need now is more people staying with us.

These lovely people came to Kyoto for a friend’s wedding (Shinto). They live in Norway, although he was born in Russia. We just had to get a photo of them dressed for the wedding.

On that front, we recently had an advertisement in the GlobeRovers magazine, thanks to a friend from Australia who writes articles for the magazine. The owner of the magazine had recently visited northern Japan and we piggy-backed on the article he wrote for the magazine. It is a good article about winter in Japan, highlighted with some glorious photos. He offered us a free half page ad, which he said he would upgrade to a full page ad in return for a free two day stay here at some point. An excellent deal, which we happily accepted!

The really big news is that the Lonely Planet Vegan Travel Handbook is now available – and we are in there!!! There are various topics covered, and then individual countries, which is where we are (the chapter about Japan, of course). They contacted us some time ago to ask if we would like to be included (no brainer, although at first we thought it was a joke) and we sent them some photographs which they asked for. So, we are in a section of the chapter called “Dream Digs”, just us and a Buddhist temple retreat, which is in Wakayama.

Vegan Minshuku Sanbiki Neko
The Australian owners of this welcoming Kyoto inn are a great resource for vegan travellers to the region. Wake up to a delicious vegan breakfast, chill in the communal area and shower with cruelty-free toiletries. Find it in a quiet, residential area of the historic Higashiyama district. www.veganminshuku3neko.com

😊

Fingers crossed this gives our profile a big boost.

Finally, yesterday we hosted a brunch for the Kyoto Vegans Meet-up Group. We had to limit it to 14 people, which is the absolute maximum we could fit in the dining room, although in the end one person couldn’t make it (at the last minute). So, we had 13 guests for brunch – the last brunch (for 2019…). Silliness aside, it started at 10:30 (however, two arrived at 10:15 – I suppose that makes up for all the times we arrive early, which is nearly every time…) and the last people left at 15:20!! There was a lot of talking and they all enjoyed the ‘tasting plate’ we served them (basically all Craig’s work – he really does enjoy doing the cooking, and I’m happy to see him happy working).

It was quite funny watching all the people taking photos – of us plating the food, the plates on the table, other people eating, etc. Quite a few of these have ended up on Instagram. It was an interesting mix of people which included two here on holidays from China, who run the vegan group in Hangzhou and were interested to see what the groups do here in Japan. Slight difference in size, though, less than 100 in Kyoto, and 500 in theirs (this, apparently, is the size limit of any group as imposed by the Chinese government).

We really had a great time (and this despite me having a cold…☹ – thankyou to the makers of cold and flu medication). I suspect we’ll try to hold another event, if we have no guests on a Sunday during summer.

So, that’s your lot for now

Cheers and see you next year!

Vale Clive – I can only aspire.

Sunset…

Various views of Kyoto

Our momiji

So, we both had the HDR setting on, on our phones, and only a few of the photos turned out…

The most amazing cat tower ever!

The MOMAK shop window, a never ending source of entertainment. Taken one week apart – the mice seem to be breeding!

Not sure if you go there before or after!

Another interesting shop window

This person just keeps on adding items to the front step

What every well dressed dog will be wearing this xmas

A couple of the xmas decoration displays. Not sure what the things are in the bottom photo – Casper the Friendly Xmas Ghost?

This display greeted me when I went to gym last week! Possibly the nicest decoration I’ve seen this year – or ever. I wanted to take it upstairs for my ballet class.

A new decoration (not xmas) at Engine Ramen. I love it!!!

A bit glary, but you can see enough, I think – the Vegan group at brunch (and some loony in the background)

Miro – a street cat who is living on our back deck – we hope to encourage her inside permanently, at some point. She’s very wary of people.