July 20th, 2016

After waking up at a decent hour, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we gathered up our things and made our way to the airport from the Narita Radisson Hotel.

Once at the airport, we exchanged our Rail Pass vouchers into actual Rail Passes and caught the next train into Tokyo. Rail Passes are definitely the way to go if you want to travel around Japan and not just stay in the major cities. It’s purchasable only by visitors to Japan and the exchange rate was such that it cost $254 for a one week pass, this includes local trains, buses run by the JR company, and the bullet train. It is worth it for going to Kyoto, as a one way ticket could run up to about $130. So for a round trip, it already pays for itself.

Our intention was to go to Kyoto but we still had to take a train into Tokyo and then switch to the bullet train at Shinagawa station.

In Tokyo, it is a good idea to get on the train you are scheduled to get on at the time that is written on your ticket. If you don’t do this, and get on a train you think is going to your destination, 7 minutes early, you will get on the wrong train. I learned the hard way as our assigned seats indicated we were in the smoking section of the train. I looked at my ticket and then at the person sitting in my seat, and we looked at each other confused, and then he checked my ticket and indicated we were on the wrong train. Fortunately, we were headed in the right direction so we got off at the next station and got on the train behind us.

Chocolate always makes me feel better during times of frustration so at this stop, I bought 4 random boxes of chocolate.

Once we got comfortable and found our seats, we did an informal chocolate taste test.

First up:

This is like a lava cake, miniaturized and made into a chocolate candy. The outside was browned and crispy and the inside was rich and creamy. E and I split it with Grant and C in the back. We liked it but it definitely wasn’t the best chocolate we’d ever had.

Next one up:

This one is a new edition of an old classic Kinoko No Yama, or “mushroom mountain”. The cap of the “mushroom” is milk chocolate and the “stem” is a crispy biscuit-like cookie. This edition came with the whole mushroom dipped a second time in chocolate.

I’m biased as this is one of my favorite Japanese chocolates growing up. And E, Grant, and C agreed with me that this was the best one so far.

The next one on the taste test menu:

Another play on an old classic. The whole Pocky franchise of pretzel biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate, includes many, many, many different varieties such as pretzel sticks dipped in strawberry cream, to sticks dipped in chocolate and coconut flakes, to even a Men’s Pocky edition. I’m still not sure what the latter one was about but I’ve asked around and people think the chocolate is very dark and bitter.

So this Pocky that we chose, wasn’t necessarily exciting but looked delicious as it is chocolate dipped with flakes of almond.

This one was an instant favorite among the guys. E and I weren’t sure if it beat Kinoko No Yama, the previous chocolates. Definitely a smooth, and rich taste combined with the saltiness and crunchiness of the almond and pretzel.

Final one:

The last chocolate we tried was Pai No Mi, or loosely translated “fruit of the pie”. These are mini chocolate pies made into chocolate candies. The crust is super flaky, like baklava, and the middle is chocolate. This one didn’t rank as our favorite even though it is also a classic Japanese treat.

The consensus:

Kinoko No Yama won out among the girls, and the guys’ 2nd choice

Almond Pocky was the guys’ favorite and the the girls’ 2nd favorite

Pai No Mi was everyone’s third pick

Torotto was the last pick. It had a little bit of an artificial chocolate taste that no one preferred

Eating chocolate amused us for a short while on this 3 hour trip. The train ride itself was very smooth. The rest of the way was spent looking out at the wonderful scenery. We didn’t see Mt. Fuji, and I would like to think it was because it was cloudy and not because we were distracted by chocolates.

We made it to Kyoto by around 4:30 in the afternoon. Like everyone promised, Kyoto was hotter than Tokyo and more humid. Immediately, when we got off the train, 92 degrees enveloped us in a thick blanket of heat. But we didn’t mind, we had just arrived in the historic city of Kyoto.

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