oldest Japanese grocery in the country

http://clocktowertenants.com/2012/06/cast-iron-special.html

https://katagiristore.com

the six easy flavors of Gion Kobu 祇園甲部

Try to find Kyo Kinana ice cream in Kyoto without an iPAD and you are screwed.

With active maps and real-time guidance, Selina actually found an ice cream parlor so lost on a back alley off the main drag in Gion, we grew confused in our sense of direction.

With a brochure, a Fodor’s and a hotel map like in the old days, this place would not have been found.

But she found it. Amazing. We went in.

The ice cream here is an art.

Roast soybean, sweet red bean, black sesame, black sugar syrup, powdered green tea and mugwort. Six flavors.

So fine. With hot tea.

You might wonder how the Geishas can eat this insanely rich and delicious product and still stay kimono slim. That’s easy.

They take the stairs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karasuma_Line

faith lives

Back in May, ClockTowerTenants featured the Japanese village of Kurama for the clarity of thought that ancient place can bring.

It’s amazing to be surrounded by such antiquity.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2012/05/kurama-knows.html

But the real reason to visit Kurama is for the open air volcanic hot spring baths, a blissful experience out in the wild unmatched by anything before.

The terrain is steep and you must climb to the source of the spring.

Steam rises behind bamboo.

Naturally cameras are forbidden, but that has never stopped me before.

Once inside you shed your clothes and lock them with old wooden keys.

Then shower...

...then find your way to the mineral water. The air is chilly and the water's very hot.

It stings at first but you adjust. Breathe deep and close your eyes. 

Faith lives in a faithless world.

If you can’t find it here, you might not need it. 

Have a great weekend.

Kurama knows

Archeological evidence places the first human settlement on the islands of Japan at approximately 10,000BC, about 12,000 years ago.

That’s hard to conceive in a country where our 126 year old ClockTower warrants a landmark designation.

Kyoto is one of Japan’s oldest cities, so there is a calm that hangs in the air that is comforting for its perceivable wisdom and patience.

Kurama is an ancient village about 70 minutes north of Kyoto by rail, up into the mountains.

The earth is pristine and the air is so clean it’s intoxicating, and the sense of “let it be” is unmistakable.

What a great, maturing experience.

I love my country. 

Our freedoms are the envy of the modern world.

But we can be such a frenzied, aggressive and clueless little culture, running hard in ever-tightening circles chasing our dreams of happiness not realizing peace is already here, living inside.

All we have to do is quiet down and tap into it.

Kurama knows.

waste not! want? not.

Mottainai (もったいない) is a Japanese word that helps to explain how Japanese are different from Americans. 

It can be translated "what a waste!”

While an American will drop a full meal into a trash can, Japanese children are warned not to leave a single grain of rice at the dinner table.

Okonomiyaki お好み焼き is a kind of Japanese pancake, evolved as a way to use up leftovers.

The name is derived from the word okonomi, 

“what you like”, 

and yaki 

meaning “grilled”.

In Tokyo a few years back, Selina and I decided to give it a try.

She selected a grill-it-yourself joint, where a bowl of chopped up muck is turned out on to a “teppan,” a gas grill fitted right into our table.

Flipping them takes skill and so we let the server do it.

They were crispy around the edges, barely cooked through the middle and totally alien to our Western palate.

Honestly? I didn’t actually like them very much.

fish story

http://www.realwowz.net/2013/04/fish-dance-restaurant-kobe-japan.html