Random Japan

The ultimate guide to Kyoto ice-cream

Hayashi 'Fang' Hougi 

While the weather is gradually getting chillier as many parts of the world meander into autumn, we know we’ll never be able to give up the sweetest bit of summer – ice cream. You can never be too full, nor the weather too cold, for a bowl of that delicious, frozen goodness, and if you happen to be heading to Kyoto to catch the beautiful autumn leaves, you’ll be pleased to know that Japan’s most traditional city is positively brimming with ice cream at this time of year, and today we have a guide to some of the best out there.

Whether you’re into fruity flavors or traditional Kyoto desserts, or simply wanting to satisfy your sweet tooth, the ancient capital is bound to have something for you.

Green Tea rules the world

One of my favorite things in Kyoto is green tea ice cream. And, really, if you’re going to eat green tea ice cream anywhere in the world, it ought to be Kyoto. This mildly sweet delicacy has become so synonymous with modern Kyoto dessert that you can get it nearly everywhere, but here are some local favorites.

MILESTONES

• Officials at Tokyo SkyTree say more than 100 million people have visited the tower since its debut in May 2012.
• Hiroko Ando, 64, a graduate of Chuo University law school, became just the third woman to be appointed chief justice of a Japanese high court. She’ll serve in Takamatsu.
• Japan’s shortest railway tunnel—a 7.2-meter-long stretch of track on the JR Agatsuma line in Gunma—has been taken out of service to make way for the construction of a new dam.

White Dust Found On Mt. Fuji
No, Not That White Dust


Funny Money On The Move
In Ota Ward

Kids Are Noisy

No Daycare For Them

Maglev line gets green light

KYODO

Central Japan Railway Co. on Friday received a green light from the government to build a magnetically levitated train line between Tokyo and Nagoya by 2027.

The maglev line will shorten travel time from Tokyo to Nagoya to about 40 minutes, according to JR Tokai, as the railway is known. It also plans to extend the maglev line to Osaka by 2045, cutting the trip between the two metropolises to just 67 minutes versus 138 minutes by bullet train.

The cost of the entire project is estimated at ¥9 trillion.