日本への旅 - 5日目 (Trip to Japan - day 5 )

Notably encumbered by all the shopping we leave for Kyoto.
On saturday, post offices are closed, so i decide i will surely go on monday for a shipment to Italy since my luggage is full.
To go from Tokyo to Kyoto we take the Shinkansen a surface train, so i can finally see the tipical japanese home, not the big built up area all made by skyscrapers and such, but the small neighborhood and the country side.

Kyoto seems quite compared to Tokyo:
Nobody pushes you running in the subway , and is not croweded.
The weather is warmer, sky is clear and there isn't the muggy wet weather that makes you feel dirty after a few minutes.

We have a walk in the little street near our hotel, we pass the international manga museum, that was closed tho so we couldnt visit it, and the Nijo castle, that will me our destination in the days incoming.

Tired by the travel (it took us around 4 or 5 hours from Tokyo to Kyoto) our day ends having dinner to Gyuzen restaurant, where we try Shabu-shabu and Sukiyaki, you can eat them together because they are similar dishes.

Shabu Shabu: The dish was originally made with thinly sliced beef, but some versions use pork, crab, chicken, duck, or lobster. Most often, ribeye steak is used, but less tender cuts, such as top sirloin, are also common. A more expensive meat, such as wagyū, may also be used. It is usually served with tofu and vegetables, including Chinese cabbage, chrysanthemum leaves, nori (edible seaweed), onions, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and enokitake mushrooms. In some places, udon, mochi or harusame noodles may also be served.

The dish is prepared by submerging a thin slice of meat or a piece of vegetable in a pot of boiling water or dashi (broth) made with konbu (kelp) and stirring it. Cooked meat and vegetables are usually dipped in ponzu or goma (sesame seed) sauce before eating, and served with a bowl of steamed white rice. Once the meat and vegetables have been eaten, leftover broth from the pot is customarily combined with the remaining rice, and the resulting soup is usually eaten last.(from Wikipedia)

Sukiyaki : Like other nabemono dishes, each region has a preferred way of cooking sukiyaki. The key difference is between the western Kansai region and the eastern Kantō region. In Tokyo, the ingredients are stewed in a prepared mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sake and mirin, whereas in Osaka, the meat is first grilled in the pan greased with tallow. After other ingredients are put over these, the liquid is poured into the pan. The shungiku are added when all the ingredients are simmering. A raw egg is broken into a serving bowl, one egg for each person. Some prefer to add a bit of soy sauce and the egg is lightly beaten. The meat and vegetables are dipped into this sauce before being eaten.

It is said to be advisable to place the jelly-noodles away from the beef because the calcium contained in the noodles can toughen meat.(from Wikipedia)

Thanks for reading