This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of a reader from a WeChat group, 懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐. Original link.

Ritz Carlton Japanese Breakfast

I woke up early and saw that it looked like rain, which was a bit depressing.

The plan for the day was to rent kimonos first thing in the morning and do a photo shoot, something we had already booked last year. A month before the trip, the forecast still showed clear weather, but as the date got closer, it just had to rain on this particular day. The photographer I booked was coming all the way from Tokyo, and when she saw the forecast, she started having second thoughts and even asked whether I wanted to switch to a local photographer. No way—I had carefully picked this photographer for her very cinematic style, and I really didn’t want to change at the last minute.

So with the stubborn mindset of “even if it rains, we’ll shoot with umbrellas,” we were determined to do the shoot no matter what. But the forecast kept changing, and when it started saying the rain would stop around noon, the photographer suggested moving our appointment to midday instead.

So we took our time and went to breakfast. We had set the time when we checked in the day before. The restaurant is on the hotel’s lower level, directly facing the garden, with huge floor-to-ceiling windows and a full view of the scenery outside. It was very quiet that morning, with only us and one other table dining there.

For breakfast, you could choose either Japanese or American. Since we were in Japan, we picked Japanese every time. It was a very traditional Japanese breakfast.

First up was the house-made tofu, which was quite good.

This was the kid’s set: grilled fish, tamago, a beef side dish, miso soup, rice, and fruit. My child liked wrapping the rice in seaweed sheets—the one in the white-and-purple packaging.

Adults could choose either porridge or rice, and both of us went with porridge. The square box held all the toppings and side dishes for the porridge, and I like dumping everything in and mixing it all together. The small cup had sauce for the porridge, and I poured that in too. Simple and aggressive.

The steamed egg with sea vegetables was similar to the scrambled eggs at the Conrad Tokyo, but the Ritz version was much tastier and didn’t have that fishy seaweed flavor.

Photos from every angle... The grilled fish that day was salmon. Grilled fish is probably one of the Japanese foods my partner and I just never really understood. After eating it again and again on this trip, we still felt it wasn’t especially memorable and was usually a bit dry. Raw tastes better...

It didn’t look like much of each item, but by the end we were both extremely full. I couldn’t even finish the porridge.

There was also a B2 level that seemed to have the spa and pool, but we didn’t go. The hotel can arrange outside massage therapists, the pricing was very reasonable, and they were available pretty late. I had thought about booking one, but every night I ended up soaking in the huge bathtub in the room, resting on the bath pillow, and comfortably falling asleep...

I had to stop and take a picture because it really was so pretty.

This large doorway probably led to a suite. If you come in the low season, maybe you’d have a shot at an upgrade.

Kimono Photo Shoot

We had arranged to meet the photographer at 12:30, which meant we needed to get to the kimono shop about 2.5 hours earlier. Once again, we asked the bell service to call a taxi. Since it was raining, there weren’t any taxis waiting at the hotel, so the staff member immediately grabbed an umbrella and went out to the street to hail one. He got one within seconds, then helped explain the address to the driver. The service at this Ritz was seriously excellent. The ones in the U.S. should take notes...

There are countless kimono rental shops in Kyoto, but I ultimately chose Kyosakura because they offer makeup services—which is rare—had kimono options for my partner and child—which ruled out more places—and were also close to Fushimi Inari Taisha, where I most wanted to shoot—which narrowed it down even further: https://www.ch1-kyosakura.net/

The shop is run by Chinese owners, and the owner’s WeChat ID is the pinyin for “京都和服京樱”: jingduhefujingying. She replies quickly and was very easy to communicate with. The whole rental experience was excellent.

The shop is on the second floor along a small side street, only about 3 to 4 minutes on foot from Fushimi Inari, so it’s very convenient. They originally had two locations, including one in Gion, and you could rent from one shop and return at the other, which was super convenient. But during the pandemic, the Gion shop was under renovation, and the owner said it wasn’t expected to be finished until this summer.

Maybe because of the rain, we were the only customers in the shop that day. The owner’s wife, also Chinese, was there, along with two staff members: one very pretty young woman in charge of hair and makeup, and another who seemed very experienced and handled dressing us in kimono.

First we picked out the kimono. There were lots of choices, and for someone like me who rarely dresses up and doesn’t shop for clothes much, it felt hard to choose. I asked the staff for recommendations, tried on two, and quickly made up my mind. My partner and child had fewer options, so they chose theirs pretty easily.

Next came the underlayers, then hair and makeup. Only the women get hair and makeup, so my partner and child wandered around nearby while they waited for me. This shop does full makeup, the kind of sheer, natural base makeup popular with Japanese girls, I think, though I’m not really an expert. They don’t help with eyelid tape or false lashes, though. I’m terrible at makeup myself, so for the sake of the photo shoot, I got my lashes done before leaving Seattle. As for the double eyelids, I just had to brave it and apply the tape myself, and honestly it didn’t turn out that well...

Meanwhile, my child just poked around the shop looking at everything.

All the hair accessories were beautiful. But when it came time to pick a hairstyle, the owner’s wife said this photographer prefers simple hairstyles, so none of them ended up being used.

My partner and child went out for a walk, and it was still raining...

Once hair and makeup were done, it was time to put on the kimono—layer after layer after layer. It probably took more than half an hour. The staff member at this shop was really skilled, and the kimono didn’t feel as restrictive as I had imagined, though it did make me feel like I had to keep my back straight the whole time. My child and partner were dressed too. My child asked why they had to wear those split-toe socks and thought they were really fun. Each person also got to choose a bag.

The photographer arrived too, and we set off in our wooden sandals.

A few tips here. Since we were traveling with a child, we inevitably had a lot to carry, so we brought a large waterproof bag from Disney and put everything in it. Since I’m not great at walking long distances, I also kept my own shoes with me so I could change out of the sandals anytime and rest my feet.

The shop provides a kimono handbag for each person by default, but the photographer we chose didn’t want those bags in the photos, so you can skip taking one. We only realized after bringing them along that we never used them anyway.

By then, the rain had pretty much stopped. Fushimi Inari in the rain had a special kind of charm.

We changed the kid into wooden geta sandals, and after just two steps he started wailing that he didn’t want to wear them, so we changed him back. Thankfully, the main focus of the shoot was me anyway. The kid and my teammate were basically assistants, background characters, or just regular tourists enjoying the scenery while I was being photographed.

The photographer asked if I had a particular obsession with Fushimi Inari, and I said yes—I really wanted photos with the torii gates. I still remember the first time I saw pictures of them and was drawn in by those layered shades of orange-red.

The photographer told us that people generally go up on the right and come down on the left, so if we walked against the flow from the left side, we’d have a better chance of getting moments with no one in the frame. He also said that if you’re just there for photos, there’s no need to climb all the way to the top. The torii near the top aren’t maintained as well and look pretty worn down. I said that worked out perfectly, because we probably couldn’t make the climb anyway.

We didn’t walk very far. Fushimi Inari is one of those must-visit tourist spots, and I realized I didn’t even have any torii photos on my phone... so here are the finished professional shots of the torii I’d been thinking about for so long.

Before long, it started raining again, and not lightly either, so the photographer suggested we switch locations.

We were already low on energy, and after walking around in geta without having eaten lunch yet, we were both exhausted and starving after finishing at Fushimi Inari. My teammate and the kid dashed into a convenience store to buy something to eat.

We took a taxi to Tatsumi Shrine. It was still raining pretty hard, so we could only shoot under umbrellas. There were very few people around here, which made it great for photos. The shrine and the nearby Tatsumi Bridge were both very photogenic. The photographer said Tatsumi Bridge is an absolutely stunning photo spot during cherry blossom season, but unfortunately we missed the sakura.

As I mentioned earlier, this photographer’s style is very much this old-movie look, which I really like. He was also the one recommended on the official Kyosakura kimono shop website. When the owner of Kyosakura found out we had booked this photographer, he had nothing but praise for him as well. His name is Order:

I’m too lazy to blur faces—it’s tiring and hurts the overall look anyway—so I’m not posting a lot of the other photos I loved in the public account. You can see more of his work on his Weibo:

As for kimono selection, we saw quite a few girls on the street wearing very colorful komon kimono, but personally I think the more understated homongi photograph much better and also look far more refined. Unmarried women can also choose furisode.

I kept shooting while my teammate and the kid hid out in a little alley eating convenience store food. I also managed to take a few bites of onigiri in between shots. Outdoor shoots are really tiring, but Kyoto is preserved so beautifully—full of old-world charm, with a picture-worthy scene at every turn. My teammate said he was exhausted too, but still loved Kyoto.

The kid said he needed to use the bathroom, and the photographer told us that bathrooms in Japanese convenience stores are generally available for anyone to use, and you don’t need to buy anything. Using the restroom while wearing a kimono was easier than I expected, though it’s still best to go before getting fully dressed.

We shot at several more spots, and seeing how worn out we really were, the photographer finally said we’d probably gotten enough and could wrap things up. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. We ended the day’s shoot at the spot in the photo below. After my solo shots were done, I said maybe I should take a couple of photos with my teammate too. But then an Indian family nearby (the one in the photo) saw that we had a photographer with us and copied us by using the same location. They kept rearranging themselves and taking photos forever without leaving. We finally squeezed in a few quick shots during a break in their session.

After the shoot, we had originally planned to wander around on our own. But our very helpful photographer asked where we were having dinner, recommended Kennin-ji near the restaurant, and even led us there himself. We passed Hanamikoji on the way, and he said that in the past this street was the route maiko used when going to meet guests in the evening, which is how it got its name. These days, though, it’s much harder to spot a maiko there. Instead, we saw an older woman wearing furisode, and I honestly have no idea which kimono shop recommended furisode to her.

The photographer told us that Kennin-ji is incredibly photogenic, but commercial photography has been banned there for several years now. I even asked how they tell the difference between commercial shoots and hobbyists. He said that when you have a whole family dressed in kimono like us, and he’s the only one wearing regular clothes, it’s obviously a commercial shoot.

Kennin-ji

After the shoot, we all changed back into our own shoes. At the entrance to Kennin-ji, you have to take off your shoes and store them in a locker. We also left our big bag of belongings by the entrance, which made everything feel much lighter and easier.

Even though I don’t really understand photography, I could still tell that Kennin-ji has so many great places to shoot.

Running around and making loud noise aren’t allowed at Kennin-ji, so the whole time we were telling the kid not to run and to keep his voice down. Little boys really are something.

Every room had landscape paintings on the walls or doors. It felt like the kind of traditional Japanese residence you see in older wealthy-family settings in Detective Conan.

The kid was absolutely thrilled, climbing all over the place.

Any time we came across a room with windows like this, he could stay entertained for ages.

We stayed at Kennin-ji until closing and got one more heavy dose of Japanese garden aesthetics. Since you have to take your shoes off inside the temple, the restroom was the kind where you had to switch into restroom slippers before going in. All the toilet-seat sanitizer was empty and no one had refilled it. That was also when I realized that restroom conditions in Japan are not universally amazing after all.

The kid running ahead after we left Kennin-ji.

This whole block was filled with old buildings and temples, all connected by little lanes. We had no idea exactly where we were and just wandered around casually, which was delightful in its own way.

This is Kennin-ji's Sanmon gate, Boketsuro.

Gion Suetomo, Kaiseki Dinner

We kept walking and ended up at another exit on a small side street. When I checked my phone, our dinner restaurant was right across the road.

Kyoto in the evening sun.

The entrance to this tempura restaurant was so pretty that I couldn't resist taking a photo.

There was a Kennin-ji stone marker across from the restaurant, though it didn't seem to be an actual entrance you could use.

Dinner was at Gion Suetomo, a kaiseki restaurant with a 3.86 rating on tabelog. I wasn't sure whether it held one or two Michelin stars. We had the hotel concierge help book it three months in advance. Our reservation was for around 6:30, but we were exhausted and happened to arrive a little after 6, so we went in to ask whether we could be seated early.

The restaurant entrance itself wasn't as photogenic as the tempura place I had just photographed, but once the door opened, it was a completely different world inside: another small Japanese courtyard. The photo below is the waiting area.

The staff were all dressed very sharply in suits. The host at the front went inside to ask and said we could be seated early. For us, completely worn out from walking, that was such a relief.

Because we had a child with us, we couldn't sit at the counter, so we were arranged in a private room on the second floor. Our room and the neighboring one were connected by a balcony, and the space was decorated in a beautifully traditional style, with the natural wood tones I love.

Wearing kimono while eating kaiseki—pairing the most Japanese outfit with the most Japanese meal—really set the mood.

The restaurant thoughtfully prepared an English menu for us. The course order didn't seem to follow the traditional kaiseki sequence, though?

The first course was sakura tea. Beautiful, and it tasted a bit like genmaicha.

This dish was quite unusual: white asparagus purée with plum sauce. A little sweet and tangy, and not rich at all.

I ordered sake for a change, and sure enough, it's still not something I really know how to appreciate.

Hassun. You could really tell how carefully the restaurant selected and paired the ingredients, and each item had a very different texture and flavor. Everything was good, but nothing quite gave me that wow moment.

Takiawase. The broth was very delicate and flavorful, and this was another solid dish.

Mukozuke. The server explained that the flatfish was hirame. The texture had a slight springy chew to it, which was pretty distinctive. The tuna was good too.

This dish was stunning: a savory sherbet made with sea bream, topped with bits of citrus. The combination went far beyond anything I would have imagined, yet it worked beautifully. My favorite dish of the night.

Yakimono. Another grilled fish course that I just don't fully understand. It was a lake fish from Lake Biwa served with vinegar. The staff grilled it tableside, and the fish head had to be inserted into the grill separately. In the process, the server even burned his hand.

I still just don't get grilled fish. I really don't.

At other restaurants we'd visited, the staff at least tried to communicate with us in English. At this place, both the male and female servers basically said they didn't speak much English and then gave up, proceeding to speak rapid-fire Japanese to us the entire time. The guy at least had an apologetic look in his eyes; the woman stayed completely expressionless throughout.

The main course was wagyu shabu. The server brought over an enormous platter, and my travel companion naively thought the whole thing was for us. The green garnish on the plate was Japanese pepper, called サンショウ. We had kept accidentally eating it at breakfast over the previous few days, and it wasn't until this meal that we finally asked a server what it was actually called.

Once plated, each person got a portion like this. The Japanese pepper actually paired quite nicely with the wagyu. Eaten separately, they just tasted like two unrelated things, but together they worked. And yes, the pepper really did have a numbing kick—after finishing this plate, my tongue felt numb. Still, it was a very tasty course and the pairing was well done.

The rice, pickles, and soup were served together. The rice bowl was huge, so they gave each of us a small bowl and said the rest could be taken home for an extra charge, if I heard that correctly.

It was clam rice with ginger. I don't like ginger, so I didn't really get this dish. The soup and small side dishes were pretty good, though.

The meal ended with a refreshing course: cherry tomatoes marinated in apricot sauce. Sweet and tangy, and quite creative. The warabi mochi was more straightforward by comparison.

And finally, a cup of frothy matcha. Every time I get matcha like this, I feel like there’s never enough foam and always want to ask if I can have another cup.

I forgot to take a photo of our kid’s meal. He just had a bowl of plain noodles and shared the rest with us. Thankfully, most kaiseki dishes weren’t raw fish or raw meat, so he could eat a good portion of it. His favorite was the wagyu, though he also tried bits and pieces of the other dishes.

Overall, it felt like the chef had very high standards for ingredients and also cared about creative pairings. Two of the dishes were particularly memorable. Service was also extremely formal, with the staff kneeling while serving. That said, the rest of the courses were a little underwhelming, and the flavors could have been more refined. I’m not sure whether that was because we were seated in a private room, since the counter is usually where the standard is higher. Still, if you want to try kaiseki, this seems like a pretty solid option.

After the meal, the restaurant helped call a car for us back to the hotel.

The kimono shop had already closed, so we chose the hotel return option. As long as we returned everything by 10 pm, it was fine, and the shop owner personally came to our hotel room to pick it up. The fee was an extra 1,000 yen per adult. Before changing out of the kimonos, my travel partner and I took a few mirror selfies in the hotel room, wrapping up a wonderful kimono experience.

We still hadn’t finished the snacks the hotel had delivered the night before, and then a fresh batch arrived again that evening. The macarons even had little smiley faces on them—so cute.

Ritz Carlton Breakfast Buffet

The day before, we had sat by the window. This time, we were seated in a small private booth.

I forgot to mention earlier that breakfast at the hotel was complimentary for Platinum members. That’s actually pretty rare for the famously stingy Ritz, especially for a breakfast of this quality, so this definitely deserves major praise.

The breakfast room was much busier that morning, a stark contrast to the day before.

Breakfast was mostly similar to the previous day. The main difference was that the grilled fish seemed to have been replaced by Saikyo-yaki cod? Still a bit dry, though...

The tofu was different from the previous day too—it was yudofu this time, and it was even better.

My travel partner said they especially loved the breakfast box.

I really liked the fried tofu pouch that day. Everything else was just as tasty as the day before, and we polished off every last bite.

After breakfast, there was one more important task to take care of. As I mentioned earlier, I had been checking the Mount Fuji visibility forecast every day, and once the forecast started to look stable, I began looking at hotels. On the day the visibility score was 10, nearly all the hotels with the best Fuji views were already sold out. There was only one room left, and it could only be booked on Rakuten Travel, in Japanese only. I planned to ask the hotel concierge for help, but the concierge desk didn’t open until 9 am, and we finished breakfast before then. Coincidentally, our kid had become obsessed with the Ritz Kids passport and wanted to collect stickers every night, but each evening he’d pass out as soon as we got back to the hotel after dinner. So we took him to get stickers while waiting for the concierge desk to open. One of the front desk staff even used a Polaroid camera to take his picture and put it in his passport—he was absolutely thrilled.

The concierge told me that hotel didn’t accept reservations by phone and could only be booked online, so it would be best if I completed the booking myself. She helped translate while I made the reservation on my phone. Unexpectedly, Rakuten Travel had a required notes field, and the concierge and I spent quite a while figuring it out. Meanwhile, we kept our kid occupied with the ice cream he had redeemed with his stickers while he ran around the garden playing in the water.

My travel partner packed in the room and took a commemorative photo of the bathroom.

And one last photo of the room as well.

You could easily spend many, many days in Kyoto. During these two days, we really only scratched the surface. Classic spots like Kiyomizu-dera, Gion, Ninenzaka, Sannenzaka, and Hanamikoji are all worth exploring properly, but we were simply too exhausted, so we’ll save them for next time.

Originally, our plan for the first day in Kyoto was to go to Arashiyama for the river boat ride and scenic train. But there was an accident with the boat ride in mid-March: a boatman fell into the water and died, and the boat service was suspended as a result. Since half a day in Arashiyama wouldn’t really have been enough anyway, and with the boat ride shut down, we canceled Arashiyama and switched to Kinkaku-ji and the nighttime cherry blossom event instead. We’ll save Arashiyama for next time too.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account of one of our reader group members, Lazy 33’s Food, Drinks, and Fun. The account features original, high-quality writing, so if you’re interested, feel free to follow it.

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