One of our favourite meals, which is also easy to cook at home, is Tonkatsu, the Japanese version of the schnitzel.

Ingredients

• 4 pork minute steaks, cut a bit thicker
• Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs, available in Asian supermarkets)
• Flour
• Egg
• Salt, pepper
• plenty of oil for frying (e.g. high-heat sunflower oil)
• Tonkatsu sauce (from the Asian supermarket, e.g. “Bulldog Tonkatsu Sauce”)
• 150 g white cabbage
• Vinegar dressing for dipping the white cabbage salad (e.g. Yuzu dressing or sesame dressing from the Asian supermarket)

Preparation

Lightly salt and pepper the schnitzels, then roll them one after another in flour, beaten egg, and Panko. Cut the white cabbage into fine strips and divide it among the plates.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the schnitzels on both sides until crispy. The oil shouldn’t get too hot, as Panko burns faster than our usual breadcrumbs. A bit of practice is the only thing that helps here until the breading is nice and crispy and the meat is cooked through but still juicy inside.

Cut the finished schnitzels into finger-thick strips with a sharp knife. Arrange on the plates and pour a good splash of Tonkatsu sauce over them.

Itadakimasu! (Enjoy your meal)

This cute manga tells the story of how a fish became a Shachihoko. We found the manga on a lantern at the Takamatsu Castle grounds.

You’ll often spot Shachihoko at temples and castles at the ends of roof ridges. They’re supposed to symbolically protect the building from fire.

The viewing platform at Shōgunzuka Seiryūden is a fun little excursion in Kyōto that rewards the tiring climb with a fantastic panoramic view over the city.

We decided to hike our way up. Finding the starting point turned out to be not quite that easy. First we tried at Awata-jinja, but a closed gate blocked our path. A street further north by Shoren-in finally led us into the forest.

A path that is sometimes a bit hard to spot winds its way through the woods, eventually leading around the base of the viewing platform and ending at a car park. At a leisurely pace, the ascent takes about 30 minutes. If you’re not good on your feet, you can always just take a taxi up. 😉

Once at the top, you pay an entrance fee (500¥) and then step onto the viewing platform. Not only is the view spectacular there, but also the - literally - cool benches made of thick glass blocks.

Right next to it stands the former viewing platform on a scaffold. From here you have a magnificent view of central Kyōto. Before leaving the place, it is definitely worth spending a few minutes strolling through the small landscaped garden on the grounds.

Let’s talk about the loo! Everyone’s probably heard somewhere that Japanese toilets are a very special kind of tech gadget. And it’s actually true. In every hotel, from cheap to posh, we found electric toilet seats, the so-called Washlets.

A heated loo seat is pretty much the bare minimum nowadays. On top of that, there are various water jets to clean your nether regions, with adjustable spray strength and water temperature of course, plus a warm air blower to dry you off. The current generation has a separate wall panel, letting you remotely trigger the features and flush at the push of a button. The latest craze is the toilet lid opening at the push of a button, or even automatically as soon as you step into the cubicle.

A really popular feature, especially with women, is the Oto-hime, the Sound Princess. It simulates the sound of a flushing loo and reliably masks other, not-so-polite noises that might happen while you’re using it, all while saving water.

Using a Washlet can be a bit of a challenge for a tourist, since the buttons are labelled in Japanese. Some modern Washlets don’t even have a mechanical flush lever anymore. Then the adventure begins of finding the right button to flush away the results of your sitting. On the panel pictured, it’s not the obvious big buttons, but the three narrow ones on the top edge. The button on the left is for a number two, the one in the middle for a number one, and the right one just does an eco-flush. A small comfort is that the Washlet manufacturers recently agreed on standard symbols.

Public loos aren’t equipped with that level of comfort. Alongside the western sitting toilet (“Western Style”), you’ll often find the totally classic squat toilet (“Japanese Style”) available as an alternative. What’s really handy is that you can find a public loo nearby almost everywhere, and the vast majority of the time they’re actually in a really clean state.

Guys can’t be shy in Japan, by the way. Some public loos offer a pretty clear view of the urinals from the outside. On the Shinkansen, the urinal is behind a door that can’t be locked from the inside. But that’s not really needed anyway. Through a big window, you can easily see from the outside if the little boys’ room is currently in use.

Anyway: Japanese Washlets might be a gimmick and a luxury. But a luxury you can get used to pretty quickly… 😁