Happy New Year!

It must have been the first, then, that my dad, my sister and I went to Shinkyogoku Street to shop around. Shinkyogoku is parallel to Teramachi street and is another shopping district with a bunch of cute little shops. It was really cold, however, so we wound up heading home a bit early, but not before we stopped at an okonomiyaki restaurant for lunch. I’d never been to an actual okonomiyaki restaurant before, but it was a lot of fun, especially since the two waitresses on duty were excited to practice their English with us while showing us how it was done. Basically, you order what kind you want (I got pork) and they bring it to you raw and you cook it on the table in front of you, which has basically a large griddle on it. You put down the meat first to cook it, then (if you’re having this style) the noodles. While they’re cooking, you mix together the egg, cabbage, and batter that they gave you in a bowl, pour it on top of the meat, put the noodles on top and cook it on both sides. All that’s left after that is to top it in sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and/or bonito flakes and eat up! It was the perfect lunch for that day, since the griddle gives off a lot of very welcome heat.
It must have been the next day that we tackled the Yasaka Shrine/Nene’s road/ Kiyomizu temple trip. Yasaka was very busy, but it was also full of booths selling all sorts of foods and shrine charms, which gave it a very festive atmosphere. My sister bought a special sort of protection charm that they (apparently) only sell at New Year’s, which is an arrow without a point hung with ribbons and bells and very attractive. If Yasaka was busy, Kiyomizu was quite nearly un-navigable. Somehow we managed to get through it, see the sights, buy some charms, and marvel over the architecture unharmed and return home. My sister sadly had to leave extremely early in the morning on the 2nd, se we had a final meal at Mos Burger together before I left for Kyoto station to meet my friend who was coming into Kyoto that night. I had, stupidly, thought that the Mr. Donuts in Kyoto Station would be a good meeting place, and waited there for awhile before realizing that not only had I given awful directions, but also that it could not be seen from the main level of the station as I had thought. My next thought was to leave a message for her apologizing and giving directions for how to contact me the next morning at he hostel, but when I asked at a nearby hotel where there was a hostel near Kyoto station they told me that there was none. Luckily all was actually well, as the email that I received not long after confirmed.
-‘Modern Yaki’ is a type of okonomiyaki that has noodles on it in addition to meat. This style is, I believe, most popular in Hiroshima and Osaka.
-It seems that every Japanese person ever goes to shrines and/or temples in the first week or so of the New Year. Many of the women wear beautiful kimono to do so.
-Mos Burger currently has this amazing shrimp burger out that comes in an almost pita-like wrap with shredded cabbage and mayo or chile sauce.
-There actually is a hostel near Kyoto Station, it’s just not called a hostel, it’s called a ‘Tour Club’.
-A lot of things are closed for the first week or so of January, but convenience stores (and Mos Burger) are always open, so we didn’t have any trouble finding food.