Recommendations for Japan Travel

Going off the beaten path always amuses me a bit as advice (what happens when everyone decides to do that?) but it's also quite true that you can often be literally tens of metres away from the most touristic locations with barely any tourists actually around you in most places (exceptions include cities that have become theme parks like Venice).

Lovely. Spent 3 months in Kyoto in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, and loved Japan, more than my other quick business trips in the past.

Some of my notes, specific to Kyoto, but unsure whether they also apply elsewhere:

Typical food in KYOTO:

- aristocratic kaiseki ryori course dinners

- vegetarian shojin ryori of monks

- simple obanzai ryori home style cooking

- Kyo-wagashi (Kyoto sweets)

- Yudofu (tofu cooked in hot broth vinegar sauce) - try it at Yudofu Sagano. It is famous for tofu kaiseki in Arasihayama

- Yuba (tofu skim)

- Nishin soba: It is a local herring fish soba noodle dish with flavored soy sauce broth. The herring fish perfectly smoked with into sweetness and salty tastes (eat it at Matsuba Soba)

RESTAURANTS in KYOTO you should try if you have the budget for it (expensive, but not REALLY expensive): Cenci (Italian fusion, 1-star Micheln): http://cenci-kyoto.com/menu (I am Italian, I can tell you that this restaurant is a gem)

I think the robustness of the advice is that there is a myriad of unbeaten paths in any place. And, if one particular unbeaten path becomes so popular among unbeaten paths fans that it becomes beaten, there will several others still unbeaten paths.

"Very few people take me up on this part of the recommendation: get out of the cities if you are here for more than a week in your life."

Same situation for visitors to the UK. I've given up trying to tell tourists to get out of London, they never listen.

> exceptions include cities that have become theme parks like Venice

Even in Venice, if you leave San Marco and if you cross into San Polo, you just have to leave the Ponte Rialto behind. It also helps if you arrive by boat and land at Fondamente Nove and just don't take the "straight" route to Piazetta San Marco.

Cinque Terre is a similar "theme park" in italy. We've been there on an holiday weekend in spring with really nice weather. The trains were packed like in Tokio during rush hour. But even there, as soon as you left the main route, ascended some stairs, you had amazing views all for yourself and the only other tourists were those you saw down below.

People are just too lazy to take even small detours.