Kyoto Support » Tag: Oshogatsu (お正月)

Kyoto Support » Tag: Oshogatsu (お正月) - Recent Posts http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/tags/oshogatsu Sad to say, but this lovely old town requires some support. en-US Thu, 23 May 2013 20:15:50 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/search.php miwa on "Visiting Kyoto over New Year" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/visiting-kyoto-over-new-year#post-201 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:40:19 +0000 miwa 201@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ Hello ezencia, If you are coming to Kyoto that time and hasn't booked accommodation or restaurant, please make reservation as soon as possible. I used to work in Ryokan, and I know that people who come to Kyoto on new years day book for the next year when they leave Kyoto. Michael on "Visiting Kyoto over New Year" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/visiting-kyoto-over-new-year#post-200 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:34:50 +0000 Michael 200@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ Hello ezencia, Thanks for your question! The New Year celebration in Japan, O-shogatsu, as it is called is surely the most wonderful celebration of the year, but it can be difficult for foreign travelers as many restaurants and shops will be closed. If you are not on a tight budget or you have friends or family, I think that you can have nice time in Kyoto at O-shogatsu. You might consider coming at another time of year thought too. We touched on this issue previously, please see the link below for more. Here is a summary: Visiting Japan at New Year's, Oshogatsu (お正月)  Generally I would NOT recommend visiting Japan during the New Year's celebration for several reasons. - New Year's in Japan is family time, like Christmas in Western countries.  - Few shops, stores, restaurants will be open from January 1-4.  - Hotel and ryokan will be difficult to book. Sightseeing The shrines and temples will all be open -- and will be packed. Japanese visit a shrine for hatsumode, the first visit to a shrine in the new year. Here is a KyotoFoodie article with some photos of hatsumode: <a href="http://kyotofoodie.com/hatsumode-the-first-visit-to-a-shrine-of-the-new-year/" rel="nofollow">http://kyotofoodie.com/hatsumode-the-first-visit-to-a-shrine-of-the-new-year/</a> Japanese visit a temple at midnight to ring in the new year with the temple bell being rung 108 times. This is also a very wonderful experience. Trains often run all night on new year's eve and new year's day. Museums are generally open from January 3rd or 4th. Accommodations If you can get a reservation at a ryokan, one the includes meals, you should have no trouble as the staff ought to take good care of you. The problems is that it is a Japanese custom for families to stay at a ryokan over the new year so it it difficult to get a reservation. Food and Restaurants Few restaurants will be open. Very expensive, proper Kyoto-style kaiseki restaurants are obliged to be open (many are not now). Some cheaper restaurants near sightseeing attractions such as temples and shrines will be open. Most moderately priced restaurants, like the ones near your hotel or ryokan will likely be closed. If you stay at a ryokan, dinner and breakfast are usually included. The over-priced, mediocre restaurants in the international hotels ought to be open. From January 2nd, the department stores are open and you can get very good food at a moderate price to take out at the food courts. Convenience stores will be open as usual, 24 hours, through the holiday and the food offered isn't too horrible. Transportation Trains, buses, taxis etc are all available as usual during the holiday. Vegetarian/Vegan and Visiting Japan at New Year's: <a href="http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years" rel="nofollow">http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years</a> ezencia on "Visiting Kyoto over New Year" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/visiting-kyoto-over-new-year#post-199 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:10:10 +0000 ezencia 199@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ Hi, I am travelling to Kyoto between 28 Dec and 31 Dec. I heard many places are closed during this time. Is it a bad time to go? Or are there still things to see? Thanks! rikonick on "Vegetarian/Vegan and Visiting Japan at New Year's" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years#post-109 Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:40:37 +0000 rikonick 109@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ I found it amazingly easy to eat vegan food in Kyoto. First, most vegetarian food is vegan. There's not the stigma attached to veganism that you find in the West - because the frame of reference is shojin ryori, which is vegan. I checked out all the shojin and fucha places I know of - Ikkyu, Kanga-an, Shigetsu, Izusen - and none of them used dashi. But it's not really a vegetarian's best bet - I only know of one of them that's open later than 7pm. Some of them are memorable, but not really a way to sustain yourself in Kyoto. I also got vegan meals in traditional kaiseki places, as well as many other joints that carnivores don't realise serve veggie food. Chefs in Kyoto understand the term "shojin" and the best ones are enthusiastic to show what they can do. Harise is a traditional, very traditional, kaiseki place, but I had the best shojin ryori of my life there. What's more, the dishes all resembled my carnivorous companion's food, but made from entirely different ingredients. At Misogigawa on Pontocho I didn't even have to ask - they asked me straight off whether I was vegetarian or had any allergies. The chef there makes it his trademark to cook differently for each person. And the chef at Il Viale once trained as a vegetarian chef, so he can whip up a vego course without blinking. Same goes for Sasajima at Il Ghiottone, who uses the word "shojin" a lot. Tamaki, behind the Manga Museum, was obliging and produced a superb course lunch. On top of all that, I found around 15 proper vegetarian restaurants. In Tokyo, asking for a vegan version of a dish is like asking the chef to serve it with oven chips. In Kyoto you're spoiled for choice. ChrisLehrer on "Vegetarian/Vegan and Visiting Japan at New Year's" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years#post-76 Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:43:26 +0000 ChrisLehrer 76@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ My wife has students who are pure vegetarians, though not vegans, and the general agreement is that Japan is a nightmare: everything you order that appears to be vegetarian turns out to have dashi in it. BIG thing to watch out for, you vegetarians: DO NOT EAT any prepared egg dishes except at western-style (yoshoku) family restaurants and such. It is usual to cook eggs with a little dashi here. That lovely roll of pure egg omelet? The egg itself has dashi in it: it's not rolled around fish, but is fish through and through. My own feeling, of course, is that bonito are plentiful and fast-breeding, so you can set aside all moral scruples when eating them in dashi, and that if Zen monks can eat something, so can you. But I recognize that this is not an entirely fair (or unbiased) sentiment. Me, I eat anything that doesn't run away fast enough. Most Japanese I know well are horrified at what I'll eat. Ants? Very good for you, with a pleasantly citrus-acid crunch. Deep Kyoto on "Vegetarian/Vegan and Visiting Japan at New Year's" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years#post-58 Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:23:36 +0000 Deep Kyoto 58@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ This is too late for Ophelia I'm afraid, but perhaps future readers will find this list of vegetarian restaurants on my website useful: <a href="http://www.deepkyoto.com/?p=362" rel="nofollow">http://www.deepkyoto.com/?p=362</a> Michael on "Vegetarian/Vegan and Visiting Japan at New Year's" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years#post-9 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:19:44 +0000 Michael 9@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ Hello Qphelia, Visiting Japan at New Year's, Oshogatsu (お正月) Generally I would NOT recommend visiting Japan during the New Year's celebration for several reasons - New Year's in Japan is family time, like Christmas in Western countries. - Few shops, stores, restaurants will be open from January 1-4. - Hotel and ryokan will be very difficult to book. Oshogatsu is a wonderful time in Japan, here is how you might be able to experience it: - Book an EXPENSIVE ryokan, probably 6-12 months in advance would be required. Some (wealthy) families book the same ryokan every year for decades. At an upscale ryokan you will be very well taken well care of with breakfast and dinner included. (In Kyoto plan on about $1000 per day for two people at a nice ryokan at New Year's.) - If you can stay with friends or family in Japan, you will surely have a great time. Vegetarian Food in Japan Vegetarian food in Japan is a rarity. Shojin ryori (精進料理), or 'temple food' is your best bet. In Kyoto there are a number of restaurants that offer shojin ryori, but many use fish based dashi (出汁), soup stock, so this won't work for vegans. Shojin ryori is fairly expensive and more restaurant are open from 11am to 4pm. So, dinner is not available. Shojin ryori article in Wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_cuisine" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_cuisine</a> Happy Cow's Vegetarian Guide for Kyoto <a href="http://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/kyoto/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.happycow.net/asia/japan/kyoto/index.html</a> Vegan Food in Japan Vegan Food is virtually impossible to get in restaurants in Japan. If you are vegan, and you really want to visit Japan, I think that you need to stay somewhere that has an attached kitchen so that you can cook your own food. In Kyoto, there is Cafe Proverbs [15:17] (formerly Dining Bar Peace and before that Cafe Peace) located in the Hyakuman-ben neighborhood of Demachiyanagi and Kyoto University. Dining Bar Peace - 100% Vegan in Kyoto (Our review of what is now Cafe Proverbs [15:17]) <a href="http://kyotofoodie.com/dining-bar-peace-100-vegan-in-kyoto/" rel="nofollow">http://kyotofoodie.com/dining-bar-peace-100-vegan-in-kyoto/</a> Cafe Proverbs [15:17] homepage <a href="http://www.proverbs1517.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.proverbs1517.com/</a> Qphelia on "Vegetarian/Vegan and Visiting Japan at New Year's" http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/topic/vegetarian-vegan-and-visiting-japan-at-new-years#post-7 Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:51:09 +0000 Qphelia 7@http://openkyoto.com/kyoto-support/ I was hoping to go to Kyoto for my honeymoon this winter (December 29th-January, 2nd) but my fiance is a vegetarian. He can't have any kind of meat (fish included), or any oils, extracts or dashi. Do you have any recommendations for vegetarian restaurants in Kyoto that would be open during this time? I'm also wondering if there are any interesting New Year's celebrations we might be able to take part in. Thanks!