Matt the Great

Out of your list of 13, I hit 9. I missed a couple of the big ones such as the Nishiki Market; if Lonely Planet found out, they would slap me. But the ones I did catch made my trip so much better...thanks!!

You are owed a major shout-out for item number 9, "find a place that makes melon-pan (because it's really good)." It was really good indeed, though I would offer a bigger adjective: really amazing, perhaps.

The previously mentioned onsen. The Japanese love taking hot baths, and they love taking their baths together. Val and I hiked in the northern hills of Kyoto--the area is named Kurama--to see a temple with a very cool, secret catacomb and then on to take a bath, or rather, baths. The bathhouse has two areas, an indoor and an outdoor. Additionally, it has a relaxation room to recover from the grueling trial of soaking in a hot spring bath. You have to shower before getting in the baths, and when I saw the shower, I had no idea what to do. There was a mirror with a handheld shower head, a stool, and an ottoman. Later I found out that it wasn't an ottoman so much as a bucket that was just upside-down you use to dump fresh water over yourself. This is how I learned that being naked in front of people only heightens the experience of making a cultural faux pas. The indoor bath had a hot bath (yum), a cold bath (hell), and a sauna that was 70*C, which translates to 1,000,000*F. I lasted two minutes in there. Nonetheless, Val and I left the baths clean, refreshed, and relaxed.

And oh--you remain robed in the co-ed areas, so I got to wear a kimono!: