Lovely. Spent 3 months in Kyoto in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, and loved Japan, more than my other quick business trips in the past.
Some of my notes, specific to Kyoto, but unsure whether they also apply elsewhere:
Typical food in KYOTO:
- aristocratic kaiseki ryori course dinners
- vegetarian shojin ryori of monks
- simple obanzai ryori home style cooking
- Kyo-wagashi (Kyoto sweets)
- Yudofu (tofu cooked in hot broth vinegar sauce) - try it at Yudofu Sagano. It is famous for tofu kaiseki in Arasihayama
- Yuba (tofu skim)
- Nishin soba: It is a local herring fish soba noodle dish with flavored soy sauce broth. The herring fish perfectly smoked with into sweetness and salty tastes
(eat it at Matsuba Soba)
RESTAURANTS in KYOTO you should try if you have the budget for it (expensive, but not REALLY expensive): Cenci (Italian fusion, 1-star Micheln): http://cenci-kyoto.com/menu (I am Italian, I can tell you that this restaurant is a gem)
What about Kyoto vs Tokyo? Is there also the "small city" experience (calmer streets, slow people) in those cities, in places away from the center, perhaps?
Near Tokyo, you can visit the seaside towns, like Zushi or Enoshima, and get a small town feeling. But only on weekdays, as Tokyoites also want to flee the craziness from the city, and end up crowding the smaller places around it too.
North of Tokyo, you can reach Tsukuba, which is one of the most lovely towns in the Kanto region. Beautiful, spacious, very calm.
It's a very big city, so yeah there are lots of districts which are quieter. They are essentially small towns all jammed together. I've stayed in a place 15 minutes walk from Shinjuku that was almost dead.
Some of my notes, specific to Kyoto, but unsure whether they also apply elsewhere:
Typical food in KYOTO:
- aristocratic kaiseki ryori course dinners
- vegetarian shojin ryori of monks
- simple obanzai ryori home style cooking
- Kyo-wagashi (Kyoto sweets)
- Yudofu (tofu cooked in hot broth vinegar sauce) - try it at Yudofu Sagano. It is famous for tofu kaiseki in Arasihayama
- Yuba (tofu skim)
- Nishin soba: It is a local herring fish soba noodle dish with flavored soy sauce broth. The herring fish perfectly smoked with into sweetness and salty tastes (eat it at Matsuba Soba)
RESTAURANTS in KYOTO you should try if you have the budget for it (expensive, but not REALLY expensive): Cenci (Italian fusion, 1-star Micheln): http://cenci-kyoto.com/menu (I am Italian, I can tell you that this restaurant is a gem)