Sushi, Wagyu & Tea Around Kyoto japan-guide.com

Green tea, sushi and Japanese beef are well-known Japanese culinary exports and are available at many Japanese restaurants in the world. And of course, nothing beats having the dish at its source and that's where Uji and Otsu, two cities close to Kyoto known for these special teas come in. My name is Raina Ong, staff writer for japan-guide.com and in this video we'll be going on an overnight trip to get an introduction to sushi, wagyu and tea in Kyoto and around. On day one, we start our journey in Kyoto and make our way to a sacred mountain northeast of the city. We end the day on the other side of the mountain in Otsu where we'll learn about sushi and Japanese beef. On day two, we head to Uji and spend the day learning about green tea before heading home. So follow along as we go on an overnight trip around Kyoto for sushi, wagyu and tea. Day one. Our trip begins in Kyoto station from where we make our way to Mount Hie, a sacred mountain in northeast Kyoto. We'll take the cable car and rope way all the way up to the mountain and from there go on a short hike before descending to Otsu on the other side of the mountain. In Otsu, we visit a sushi shop, a sake shop and end the day with a beautiful Japanese beef dinner. There are a few ways to travel between Kyoto and Otsu and traveling via Hiezan is an excellent way to include a major sightseeing attraction to your itinerary, which is what I'm doing. Mount Hie is a sacred mountain on which Endakuji temple is located. Endakuji temple is made up of three main areas. Yokawa in the north, Saito in the west and Todo in the east. I'm at Saito now and I'm going to take a look around here first then hike to Todo. The hike should take me around 30 to 40 minutes at a leisurely pace. At its peak, there were thousands of sub temples spread out on the mountain. However, most buildings were destroyed during the period of warring states in the late 16th century. The temple was rebuilt in the early 17th century and many of the buildings that can be seen today date back to then. The main temple buildings are mostly located in the Todo and Saito areas and a pleasant trail connects the two areas. The temple was founded over 1200 years ago and was where many influential monks who later went on to establish various buddhist sects studied. After visiting the vast Endakuji temple, I make my way down to the other side of the mountain and on towards Otsu along the shore of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. This is where my culinary dive into sushi and wagyu is about to begin. I start my adventure in Otsu with a visit to Sakamotoya, a well-established producer of funazushi, the forerunner of sushi as we know it today. Funazushi has a history of over 2,000 years and it is a dish in which fresh pregnant carp caught in the spring is first cured in salt then fermented in rice through the summer. I'm here now at Sakamotoya to learn more about funazushi which is said to be the forerunner of sushi. This fish has been fermented in rice for about a year. The entire fish from the head to the tail is soft enough to eat on its own and I'm going to give it a try. This is actually really good. It's a slight tangy flavor and it's really smooth and the flavors just blend together really well in your mouth. Yeah it's good. Next I'm headed to Hiraishoten, the local sake shop and brewery which is on the way to my accommodation. There are a number of local sake breweries in Otsu and this one has a nice selection of them. A short 10-minute walk from the sake shop is Biwako Hotel, my accommodation for the night. The luxurious hotel has rooms that overlook Lake Biwa. When in Otsu or Shiga prefecture one should not miss having omigyu, the local Japanese beef which is one of the top wagyu brands in Japan. The intricate marbling on the beef combined with the method of preparation are often the biggest influences on how well the flavor of the beef is brought out. I'm here at the teppanyaki restaurant in my hotel for tonight and I'm gonna have the local beef omigyu which is the Japanese beef for dinner. In a teppanyaki style restaurant diners sit in front of a hot steel grill and the chef cooks their meal in front of them on the grill. I went for an omigyu course at the restaurant and it was such a treat and an outstanding way to end the day. This looks so good and I'm gonna get right into it. Itadakimasu! The meat just melts in your mouth it's so good. Day two. We continue our journey taking the train from Otsu to Uji where we'll spend the day learning about tea before heading home. Tea has been grown in Uji since the 14th century and over time Uji tea became one of the most well-known tea brands in Japan. A number of tea varieties are grown in Uji and today there are many tea shops that sell Uji tea and places where visitors can experience tea. A visit to Uji is not complete without sampling tea or a tea product or participating in a tea service. Today my goal in Uji is to immerse myself in as much of the tea culture as possible and I start my day in Uji with a walk down the main shopping street as I make my way to my first tea-related activity, a ceramics class. Pottery plays an important role in the tea culture and can be seen in the exquisite tea bowls that are used in the tea ceremony. I'm here at Asahiyaki, a local ceramics studio and gallery in Uji for my pottery class. Follow me! I'm gonna give this a go and I hope I don't send clay flying everywhere. My work of art will be trimmed, glazed and fired before being posted to me. This process typically takes a couple of months which makes for a nice delayed souvenir. From there I headed to Takumi no Yakata, my last spot for the day to relax and enjoy some tea. Grown the traditional way in which the tea bushes are not trimmed to a uniform size using machines and are allowed to be bushy, Uji tea leaves are usually picked by hand and processed into gyokuro and matcha. Matcha powder is frothed up with hot water and served in a large tea bowl while the gyokuro tea leaves can be steeped with room temperature water and is drunk out of tiny tea cups. Smells like seaweed, just gonna take a little sip. The lower the temperature of the water used to steep gyokuro leaves, the more flavorful and richer the first infusion of the tea is, almost like drinking a tea broth. The leaves of the gyokuro tea are usually eaten after drinking it so I'm gonna try it as it is now and after that add some ponzu or a bit of salt and then try it again. Kind of tastes like vegetables, like steamed vegetables. And that was our overnight trip learning more about sushi, wagyu and tea around Kyoto. Thanks for joining me, I hope this video has been enjoyable and perhaps even inspires some ideas should you decide to plan an overnight trip in Japan. For more information about this trip or to watch another video, click the links on the screen now or head over to japan-guide.com, your comprehensive up-to-date travel guide firsthand from Japan. Thanks for watching, be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell for more videos about Japan. Happy travels!