Japanese Breakfasts another day, another Shinkansen, destination Yokohama

So, after staying in the fabulous Ryokan hotel last night we decided that if we were to get the authentic traditional Japanese experience then we should also have a traditional Japanese breakfast. 

Whilst Starbucks has sufficed, really more because we've had very early starts, which would mean we'd be too early for a hotel breakfast and also because when we made the hotel bookings back home, breakfast was quite expensive at around £20 each and when you multiply this by fourteen it certainly does add up. 

So for 1620 Yen each (about ten pounds) we opted for breakfast. We knew that today we only had to get to Yokohama to pick the GT86 up at 4pm, so no rush which really does make a change. 

So, we got up and went downstairs to find out what awaited us! 

Honestly, my first impression was that there is just loads of stuff and I admit to feeling a little daunted about where to start and also what my taste buds might make of what is let's be fair food a lot of us have never tasted before. In the above picture you can see a slice of salmon. 

Here was have Miso soup in the foreground and in the background egg and some kind of fish thing next to it and also seaweed to the left. 

Here is tofu being boiled by a candle in the bottom of the pot. 

Above is green tea, soy sauce to which I've already added garlic and spring onion. The waiter called it 'Welsh onion!'. There is also rice of course which I've already put a bit of salmon in. 

In the background there is an orange, some pickles one of which was incredibly strong. It was certainly a culinary adventure. 

We were given a little advice on how to eat it, i.e., to let the tofu boil before putting it in the soy sauce. To be fair an old friend of mine put me off tofu years ago, so I was a little reluctant, but actually hot and soaked in soy sauce with garlic and onion it really does taste very nice. I opted to mix the salmon with the rice and then set about trying everything else. I forgot to mention there was a sort of thin almost card like sweet seaweed in a packet on the table as well. Perhaps a little sweet for me. Miso soup is of course lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

The cold egg was good too. Of the black seaweed and fish thing (sorry not quite sure what it was) whilst I liked the saltyness of the taste, I wasn't sure on the rest of it. The cold egg was lovely. 

We were one of two British/western couple there for breakfast the rest was entirely Japanese. I think Kyoto is where the Japanese come for a cultural holiday and I should imagine if they are Buddhist then it is a very important place to visit indeed. Following breakfast which I thoroughly enjoyed we went upstairs for coffee. At the hotel they had a TV on showing all the cultural feasts awaiting the guests of Kyoto. It all looked very traditional to me with Geishas and Maikos as well as ceremonies with lanterns and the like. 

We are staying in another Ryokan hotel tonight, this time in Gunma somewhere far more rural and not an obvious tourist attraction like Kyoto is. We will look at having breakfast tomorrow there too. I look forward to it! :)

As a leaving present, the hotelier presented us with a pair of rather nice chopsticks each. This is great because we were going to buy our own anyway!