Getting around Kyoto. Japan's world’s best Hokkaido cheesecake! Is it too crowded to enjoy the Inari Shrine?

Getting around Kyoto with a million other tourists

Trip Diary Day 9 - 6 April 2019

Check out Episode 6 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.

Kurasu Coffee

Breakfast of crunchy Japanese muesli and then a bus to the main Japan Rail station in Kyoto and then walk a couple of blocks to Kurasu for coffee. Kurasu have two shops in Kyoto. The one we went to here near the station and another out at Inari (Fushimi Inari-taisha). The coffee wasn’t too bad but a little weak compared to some of the coffees we’d been having recently. Only limited seating in the shop so we stood at a counter near the window and watched the world go by, had a couple of caps and left.

Milk-A-Table - Farm Designs

One of the reasons we went to the JR Kyoto was to visit the Isetan department store. Down in the basement food hall, B1, are dozens of food shops. Souvenir biscuits, sweets and cakes, patisseries, fresh food, meat, fish, sandwiches, there is so much food. Delicious food. Eye candy and literal candy. And cheesecake. Oh yes, the cheesecake. One of the shops is Milk A Table. Milk A Table is Farm Designs’ store in Kyoto. Way back in the year 2015 we visited the far north of Hokkaido specifically to visit a little cafe on a dairy farm called Farm Designs. We first heard of Farm Designs on Adam Liaw’s Destination Flavour Japan. On the show they showcased Farm Designs’ signature Choco-moo Cheesecake. We had to have it. So we did. We had a number of slices of the Choco-moo and other Hokkaido style cheesecakes (they have 15) and their milk pudding custards and tiny little cow biscuits. We were disappointed we weren’t going to Hokkaido this time until we found out from Mr Kaino, Farm Designs’ owner, that their cheesecakes were sold through Milk A Table at the Isetan store in Kyoto. Did cheesecake play a role in our deciding to visit Kyoto? I would say probably, yes. We did go to a “remote” region of Hokkaido for the cheesecake after all. Milk A Table had all our favourite cheesecakes, Choco-moo, Hokkaido and Classic. We bought a slice of each and a couple of packets of the tiny cow biscuits. I showed the two young women working there Mr Kaino’s Facebook page and try to say I have been to his shop in Hokkaido. I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten the message across until later I got a message from Mr Kaino saying his staff had met our family. Are Farm Designs’ cheesecakes the best in Japan? In my humble opinion they’re the best in the world. Farm Designs have three outlets in Hokkaido now and they also have a number of shops in Thailand. If you have the opportunity to track down a slice of Choco-moo, or any of their cheesecakes, do it.

One can not live on cheesecake alone so we bought jamon croissants from Boulangerie Paul. We had some memorable baguettes from a Paul outlet in Paris so expectations were high. I bought a pork katsu sandwich and tiny pork burger sandwich from the shop next to Paul. We had exceptional sandwiches in the most unexceptional crowded JR courtyard upstairs. We were saving the cheesecakes for later.

Buying Public Transport IC Cards In Japan

When travelling on local public transport you can either buy point to point tickets or get a prepaid IC card. Depending on which city you arrive you can get a Pasmo or Suica, in Tokyo, or the ICOCA in Osaka and Kyoto. There are about 10 other card from other cities in Japan. The cool thing is they can, with very few exceptions, used in any city in Japan for local public transport and even small purchases in conbini. The IC cards take the complexity out of buying tickets on the metros or buses. Just tap and go, and top up in convenience stores or ticket machines at railway stations. A couple of people pushed in front of me while I was queuing for a hole in the wall ticket machine. Then they stepped to the side a bit so I pushed in again and they were not impressed. I don’t know where they were from but I know they weren’t Japanese. I reckon it would be a rare thing for a Japanese person to be a queue jumper. I bought a couple of adult ICOCA IC cards from the ticket machine but I couldn’t figure out how to get a child’s card for Georgia. In the end I pushed the help button and nearly fell over when a flap opened next to the ticket machine and a head popped out. It is true, there are people in ticket machines and ATMs. At first the helpful head thought I was trying to reload the card but she then realised I wanted to buy a new child’s card so pointed me to the ticket office (Midori-no-madoguchi). A young man helped me fill in a form and then I got a card from the service desk. They need to see the child’s passport so they can stamp the kid’s card with an expiry date. Adult cards are good for 10 years. The IC cards are 2000 yen each. 500 yen deposit and 1500 yen worth of value. If you’re inclined you can get your deposit back if you return your card but this can only be done in the city of purchase. Bus tickets in Kyoto are 230 yen for an adult and child is 120. The ICOCA card meant no more fumbling around for correct change.

Fushimi Inari

At certain times of the day Inari is the most crowded place on earth. I made that factoid up but it seems legit. We caught a train to Inari on the Nara line. 2 stops. The train was as crowded as a train is likely to get except for one of those rush hour services where people are pushed and squeezed into trains in Tokyo. This train was nothing like that. Crowded meant that there were no seats available and we had to stand. We had some inkling that the Inari might also be a crowded when nearly everybody got of the the train at Inara. Hundreds of people. Maybe we should’ve gone to Nara and seen the bowing deer. We felt compelled to visit the Inari Torii though. This was our third visit to Kyoto and we hadn’t visited Inari on either trip before. Can you say you’ve truly been somewhere if you haven’t visited one of the most iconic sites in that town?

Vermillion Cafe

The Inari was straight up the hill from the station so we turned left and went to Vermillion Cafe and info in Fushimi Inari for a couple of cappuccinos. The coffees weren’t as strong as some we’d had so far in Japan but they weren’t bad. As I wrote this I realised vermilion, the colour, is a reddish orange. Just like the Torii gates in the shrine. Vermillion’s logo is orange. How did I miss this?

Farm Designs Cheesecake

We sat outside the entrance to the Inari shrine and finally ate our Farm Designs cheesecakes. They were as good as I remembered. Farm Designs still set the bar when it comes to world standard cheesecake. The last time we had cheesecake almost this good, that wasn’t from Farm Designs, was from La Viña in San Sebastian (read my thing about Spain’s best cheesecake here). Having sublime cheesecakes while sitting a concrete wall under some Sakura would have to go down as one of those special moments.

Inari Torii

We joined the hordes going up the hill through the Torii gates. Before entering the gates we stopped at water purification station called a temizuya. Part of Shinto purification rituals before entering a shrine is cleansing the hands and mouth with fresh running water. Georgia and Brandy tried the ritual, taking the bamboo cup and pouring water over their hands. Smiling people photographed Brandy saying Kawaii (cute).

One of the challenges in visiting heavily touristed places such as Inari is getting one of those Instagrammable shots under the Torii gates. You know the ones. Someone flouncing around alone under the Torii looking like they were there alone. Yeah, that was not going to happen. However, if your goal was to include as many people as could possibly be squeezed into the frame with you then you could consider it achievement unlocked. It would prove a formidable task to get a photo without anybody else in it. I think we got about two thirds of the way to the top before decided it was too crowded and, as the kids said, “boring”. So we turned and went back down. I think the temperature had something to do with it too. We weren’t used to the warmth after the snow and cold of Kanazawa. It was 22 in Kyoto.

Kyozuan tofu ice cream

Vermillion had a second outlet closer to the Torii up on the hill so we dropped in for takeaway iced coffees before continuing down the hill, across the railway line, over the river to Kyozuan tofu ice cream. Kyozuan’s specialty is silky creamy tofu ice cream. The schtick is you can turn the ice cream upside down and it doesn’t fall out. The older man, wearing whites and a high chef’s hat, that served us looked really familiar. After a bit I realised he was the same guy that served this ice cream to us at Arashiyama 10 years earlier. I looked up my old blog on my phone and found and showed him the picture I took of him way back then. He said thank you and he posed for a new picture. The kids had strawberry and tofu, and mango and tofu ice creams. I had green tea and tofu. Michelle had leftovers.

Philosopher’s Path, Kyoto

The afternoon was flying but Michelle still wanted to go to the Philosopher’s Walk up near Ginkaku-ji to see the cherry blossoms along the canal. We caught the very crowded train back to Kyoto then found the number 100 “express” bus to Ginkakuji. The ride was supposed to take 40 minutes. Over an hour later we got off the “express” bus early near Nanzen-ji for the “bottom” end of the walk. The bus had crawled the entire way. It may have been quicker to get out an walk. There were thousands of people heading to and from the shrines and temples on the way to Ginkakuji and Nanzenji. The royal palace had hundreds of people queuing up to enter. I’ve never seen so many people out and about in Kyoto. If you’ve been to Kyoto before and had ideas of visiting again I would re-consider. Maybe consider visiting Kyoto in the middle of Winter. Of course if you’ve never been to Kyoto it really is great place to visit. There is so much to see and do. Just be aware that it will be overcrowded at many of the popular highlights. There are still some less frequently visited places in Kyoto that you should think about too.

The sun was setting fast but we had just enough light for half an hour or so of photos and video under the sakura. Amazing canal lined with white Sakura blossoms. It was quite beautiful and the quintessential cherry blossom experience. This was one of the reasons we came to Kyoto at this time of year. We’ve done it now so we need not ever do it again. Smiley face. There were many people here walking the path along the canal and under the cherry blossoms. They’d stop to take photos on bridges across the canal. There people having their wedding photos done. People in traditional Japanese clothes posing under the flower, and tourists like us. It was busy but not as busy as we expected. Possibly because we’d arrived late and the sun was setting. When it was too dark for more photos we caught the bus back to Gion.

Izuu Sushi, Gion

A little over 20 minutes for the ride to Gion. We found the people again. All those people streaming down from Temples as were going up the hill had made their way back to Gion apparently. The streets and alleys were chock full of people. It was not quite 8 pm. We had almost left our run for sushi too late. We arrived at Izuu sushi just in time. A couple of people were still inside eating so they let us in but as we were being seated the next people to come were told it was too late and they could have only have takeaway. We will have to start looking for dinner earlier or we’ll only be able to have karaage from 7-Eleven in future. Izuu was founded in 1781. Sometimes we forget how old Kyoto is. It is amazing to think that not only are the palaces and temples old but a humble sushi restaurant could be hundreds of years old too. Izuu is famous for serving traditional Kyoto mackerel sushi made the same way it was back in the 1700s. Saba-sushi is cured mackerel on rice wrapped in seaweed (konbu). Mackerel, especially cured mackerel, has a stronger more meaty flavour than typical more delicate raw fish sushi but it is so very delicious. We also had the sea bream sushi and an egg sushi. Brandy and Georgie wanted more. While we were eating a constant stream of people, well 4 or 5, came in for takeaway. Takeaway and eat-in sushi were the same price. Instead of getting individual slices of sushi for takeaway they give you a “log” beautifully wrapped in paper so you can slice it yourself. I can’t recall seeing takeaway sushi from a traditional style sushi place in Japan before. 8478 yen for a truly wonderful unique sushi experience. Izuu‘s website is here, Michelin’s (Gurunavi) entry is here, and a nice write up by the Japan Times is here.

Back out on the main drag of Gion shops were just starting to close but the streets were packed with party goers, workers, tourists, people out on the town or going out for a feed. Thousands. The buses had queues and traffic wasn’t moving at much more than a crawl. We caught our number 46 bus and Michelle and I stood the whole way. Very crowded. A woman got up to give Brandy a seat. I really love it when people stand up to let the little kids sit. They need to sit as much as the elderly sometimes. You really don’t want a tiny 18 kg projectile if the bus has to stop suddenly. 30 minutes later we were back in Tozaitawaraya-cho (where we were staying). We skipped the Lawson and went to the supermarket at the end of our alley - the Daily Qanat Izumiya Sebon Nakatachiuri. We met the woman who gave up here seat for Brandy going in to the shop too. She gave us a big smile and bow and we thanked her again. Fresh strawberries in Japan are so very sweet and delicious. The ones here were half the price of Kanazawa - 300 yen. After all the Lawsons the supermarket seemed huge. They had a great selection of meat and fish. As far as everything else goes it was like a super sized Lawson but a little bit cheaper. Say something was 120 yen in a Lawson it would be 100 here. More cereal choice too. And bigger packages of things like yoghurt available. We found another brand of milk to try. So much fresh milk. Unlike Europe. In your face European supermarkets and your shitty shelf milk. Except Germany and Austria of course. We love your milch Austria.

Then it was only 50 metres home. The bloke that helped us try and open the key box lock when we first arrived has a shop across from our apartment. It is a small Izakaya. It has lanterns and curtains up at night. There are many little izakaya and restaurants around here. I bet none of them have English menus. There are also two big Pachinko parlours on the main streets near us. They each have half a dozen security guards patrolling the entrance and car parking. Considering the Pachinko, the izakaya and the restaurants it is a very quiet residential neighbourhood.

Michelle did a load of washing today and she dried it in the dryer on the secret upstairs verandah.

Epic Family Road Trip Japan on Youtube

Check out Episode 6 of our Epic Family Road Trip Across Japan.

Many of the pictures on this page are by Michelle. Essentially the good ones. Michelle retains full copyright and they can not be reproduced without permission. For licensing and using the photos contact Michelle at Michelle Newnan Photography