The links stop at every taxi, rail and walking change while preserving the no-locker, no-hotel-detour route. Nozomi 14, Hachigo and the rain-cancelled market remain governed by the guide.
JAPAN 2026
RICE
RAILS
ANTIQUES
ART
OUT AT 08:35, IN AT 21:10
THE MARUNOUCHI SIDE
2026
DAY XI · 12 SEPTEMBER · 京都 → 東京
ONE BACKPACK ALL DAY, AND NO DETOUR
The two cases left Kyoto by courier on the 10th, so this is a one-backpack day with nothing to put down: no locker, no hotel detour, no doubling back. Breakfast is a reserved ground floor in Gion at nine, the 11:21 out of Kyoto lands at 13:33, and the pack goes straight through Tokyo Station to a market that only opens twice this month. Then one bowl, three hours of photographs, and a key at about ten past nine.
CHECKED OUT BY 08:35; FIFTEEN TO TWENTY MINUTES INTO GION
II
KISHIN → KYOTO STATION, BY TAXI
AWAY ABOUT 10:25; ¥1,600 CARRIED AS AN ALLOWANCE, NOT A QUOTE
III
KYOTO 11:21 → TOKYO 13:33
NOZOMI 14, PLATFORM 11 — REGULAR SMARTEX, ¥27,940 FOR TWO
IV
TOKYO STATION → THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM
ABOUT FIVE MINUTES ON FOOT — NO LOCKER, NO HOTEL DETOUR
V
OEDO → GINZA, THEN GINZA → MOMAT
FIFTEEN MINUTES WALKED, THEN A ¥1,700 TAXI TO THE MUSEUM
VI
TAKEBASHI → ŌTEMACHI, THEN NIHONBASHI
ONE METRO STOP AT ¥356 FOR TWO; THE LAST STRETCH ON FOOT
Only one leg of this day is a thing you buy. Nozomi 14 runs daily; on Saturday the 12th it leaves Kyoto from platform 11 at 11:21 and reaches Tokyo at 13:33, and the regular SmartEX fare for two is about ¥27,940 — two QR codes, nothing to collect at a window. The cheaper stack is on the record and was not taken: an EX Hayatoku Hikari or Kodama at ¥23,880, four thousand yen better and slower, which a market that shuts at four cannot afford.
Chōshoku Kishin is reservation-only, and it sits on the ground floor of another Rinn house in Gion — fifteen to twenty minutes' walk from ours, which is why breakfast happens outside the hotel and the day still starts on time. The second slot runs 09:00 to 10:20; the classic set is ¥3,600 a person with donabe rice at the centre and everything else arranged around it. Closed Wednesday and Thursday, so Saturday is not the risk — the risk is that a cancellation inside twenty-four hours is charged.
The Oedo Antique Market puts about 250 dealers out in the open on the plaza of the Tokyo International Forum, five minutes on foot from the platform. It is free, it runs 09:00 to 16:00, and in September 2026 it happens on exactly two days — the 12th and the 21st, and we are only in Tokyo for one of them. Seventy-five minutes with the pack on, 13:50 to 15:05: wood boxes, bronze, tea objects and useful tools, in that order. Rain closes it outright.
One idea, served clear: a golden duck-and-chicken broth layered with scallop, shiitake and cured ham, over thin noodles made for the shop in Asakusa. Nothing is dipped. The Special Chūka Soba is ¥1,600 and the seat is yours for thirty minutes, arriving late included. Slots open every Saturday at nine for the following Tuesday to Sunday — for the 12th that is 5 September, 09:00 in Tokyo, 03:00 in Moscow — and the ¥500 a head is refunded under no circumstances. If it fails, Mugi to Olive takes a fifteen-minute line and a regular bowl, never the tsukemen.
Hiroshi Sugimoto's Extinction has been at MOMAT since 16 June and closes on the 13th, so the 12th is its second-to-last day: about sixty photographs across all thirteen of his series. The ¥2,300 ticket takes in the collection galleries as well, which is why this is three hours and not one. The museum runs 10:00 to 17:00 most days but stays open to 20:00 on Friday and Saturday, last admission at half past seven. Arrive about 16:20, leave near 19:40.
Spiral Garden keeps a floor of the Shin-Marunouchi Building — art, tableware, accessories, things for a room — and on a Saturday it stays open until nine. One Metro stop from Takebashi to Ōtemachi puts us at the door around 19:55, with an hour to look at objects rather than carry them, since the pack is still on. Then Nihonbashi on foot or by short taxi, a key at about 21:10, and the two cases that went ahead from Kyoto waiting behind the desk.
The first of four Nihonbashi nights, and the one the hotel cannot yet find: on 25 August Mitsui could not locate the direct booking by name and asked for booking-completion evidence. It confirmed it will receive and store the two cases, but only once the reservation is verified — and Rinn had to telephone before the courier took them. Tell the desk to expect us after 21:00.
¥31,596
TRANSPORT, PARTY NOZOMI 14 ¥27,940 · LOCAL ¥3,656
¥11,400
THE TWO MEALS, PARTY KISHIN ¥7,200 · HACHIGŌ ¥3,200 + ¥1,000
¥4,600
MOMAT, PARTY ¥2,300 EACH · OEDO AND SPIRAL ARE FREE
¥47,596
DAY TOTAL, TWO TRAVELLERS TAXIS ARE ALLOWANCES · ANTIQUES ON TOP
IF THE DAY SLIPS — the 11:21 and the market's four o'clock close are the frame. Rain cancels Oedo outright → check in early at Mitsui, or take a seated Ginza hour before the reserved bowl. No Hachigō reservation → leave Oedo by 14:55 for Mugi to Olive, cap the line at fifteen minutes, and recheck its official account that week. Severe rail delay → cut Spiral first, then Oedo. If practical MOMAT entry is lost → move MOMAT to Sunday morning and drop Nezu rather than stack two museums.
The links stop at every taxi, rail and walking change while preserving the no-locker, no-hotel-detour route. Nozomi 14, Hachigo and the rain-cancelled market remain governed by the guide.
JAPAN 2026RICERAILSANTIQUESARTOUT AT 08:35, IN AT 21:10THE MARUNOUCHI SIDE2026
DAY XI · 12 SEPTEMBER · 京都 → 東京
ONE BACKPACK ALL DAY, AND NO DETOUR
The two cases left Kyoto by courier on the 10th, so this is a one-backpack day with nothing to put down: no locker, no hotel detour, no doubling back. Breakfast is a reserved ground floor in Gion at nine, the 11:21 out of Kyoto lands at 13:33, and the pack goes straight through Tokyo Station to a market that only opens twice this month. Then one bowl, three hours of photographs, and a key at about ten past nine.
CHECKED OUT BY 08:35; FIFTEEN TO TWENTY MINUTES INTO GION
II
KISHIN → KYOTO STATION, BY TAXI
AWAY ABOUT 10:25; ¥1,600 CARRIED AS AN ALLOWANCE, NOT A QUOTE
III
KYOTO 11:21 → TOKYO 13:33
NOZOMI 14, PLATFORM 11 — REGULAR SMARTEX, ¥27,940 FOR TWO
IV
TOKYO STATION → THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM
ABOUT FIVE MINUTES ON FOOT — NO LOCKER, NO HOTEL DETOUR
V
OEDO → GINZA, THEN GINZA → MOMAT
FIFTEEN MINUTES WALKED, THEN A ¥1,700 TAXI TO THE MUSEUM
VI
TAKEBASHI → ŌTEMACHI, THEN NIHONBASHI
ONE METRO STOP AT ¥356 FOR TWO; THE LAST STRETCH ON FOOT
Only one leg of this day is a thing you buy. Nozomi 14 runs daily; on Saturday the 12th it leaves Kyoto from platform 11 at 11:21 and reaches Tokyo at 13:33, and the regular SmartEX fare for two is about ¥27,940 — two QR codes, nothing to collect at a window. The cheaper stack is on the record and was not taken: an EX Hayatoku Hikari or Kodama at ¥23,880, four thousand yen better and slower, which a market that shuts at four cannot afford.
SELECTED, NOT YET BOUGHT新幹線 — PLATFORM 11 AT KYOTO11:21 TO 13:33
NOT BOOKED — T-34朝食 — A KYOTO BREAKFAST SET, NOT KISHIN'S OWN09:00 TO 10:20
NINE O'CLOCK · 朝食 喜心
RICE IS THE CENTRE OF THE MEAL
Chōshoku Kishin is reservation-only, and it sits on the ground floor of another Rinn house in Gion — fifteen to twenty minutes' walk from ours, which is why breakfast happens outside the hotel and the day still starts on time. The second slot runs 09:00 to 10:20; the classic set is ¥3,600 a person with donabe rice at the centre and everything else arranged around it. Closed Wednesday and Thursday, so Saturday is not the risk — the risk is that a cancellation inside twenty-four hours is charged.
The Oedo Antique Market puts about 250 dealers out in the open on the plaza of the Tokyo International Forum, five minutes on foot from the platform. It is free, it runs 09:00 to 16:00, and in September 2026 it happens on exactly two days — the 12th and the 21st, and we are only in Tokyo for one of them. Seventy-five minutes with the pack on, 13:50 to 15:05: wood boxes, bronze, tea objects and useful tools, in that order. Rain closes it outright.
OUTDOORS, WEATHER-GATED東京国際フォーラム — THE GLASS HALL BESIDE THE PLAZAFIVE MINUTES OUT
RESERVED, OR NOT AT ALL中華そば — ANOTHER SHOP'S BOWL, NOT HACHIGŌ'SABOUT 15:30
HALF PAST THREE · 銀座 八五
A CLEAR BOWL AND THIRTY MINUTES
One idea, served clear: a golden duck-and-chicken broth layered with scallop, shiitake and cured ham, over thin noodles made for the shop in Asakusa. Nothing is dipped. The Special Chūka Soba is ¥1,600 and the seat is yours for thirty minutes, arriving late included. Slots open every Saturday at nine for the following Tuesday to Sunday — for the 12th that is 5 September, 09:00 in Tokyo, 03:00 in Moscow — and the ¥500 a head is refunded under no circumstances. If it fails, Mugi to Olive takes a fifteen-minute line and a regular bowl, never the tsukemen.
Hiroshi Sugimoto's Extinction has been at MOMAT since 16 June and closes on the 13th, so the 12th is its second-to-last day: about sixty photographs across all thirteen of his series. The ¥2,300 ticket takes in the collection galleries as well, which is why this is three hours and not one. The museum runs 10:00 to 17:00 most days but stays open to 20:00 on Friday and Saturday, last admission at half past seven. Arrive about 16:20, leave near 19:40.
TICKETS NOT BOUGHT — T-14北の丸 — THE MUSEUM BESIDE THE MOAT16:20 TO 19:40
OPTIONAL, IF THE DAY HOLDS新丸ビル — FOURTH FLOOR, FACING THE STATION19:55 TO 20:50
FIVE TO EIGHT · 丸の内 → 日本橋
ONE STOP, ONE FLOOR, THEN THE KEY
Spiral Garden keeps a floor of the Shin-Marunouchi Building — art, tableware, accessories, things for a room — and on a Saturday it stays open until nine. One Metro stop from Takebashi to Ōtemachi puts us at the door around 19:55, with an hour to look at objects rather than carry them, since the pack is still on. Then Nihonbashi on foot or by short taxi, a key at about 21:10, and the two cases that went ahead from Kyoto waiting behind the desk.
The first of four Nihonbashi nights, and the one the hotel cannot yet find: on 25 August Mitsui could not locate the direct booking by name and asked for booking-completion evidence. It confirmed it will receive and store the two cases, but only once the reservation is verified — and Rinn had to telephone before the courier took them. Tell the desk to expect us after 21:00.
¥31,596
TRANSPORT, PARTY NOZOMI 14 ¥27,940 · LOCAL ¥3,656
¥11,400
THE TWO MEALS, PARTY KISHIN ¥7,200 · HACHIGŌ ¥3,200 + ¥1,000
¥4,600
MOMAT, PARTY ¥2,300 EACH · OEDO AND SPIRAL ARE FREE
¥47,596
DAY TOTAL, TWO TRAVELLERS TAXIS ARE ALLOWANCES · ANTIQUES ON TOP
IF THE DAY SLIPS — the 11:21 and the market's four o'clock close are the frame. Rain cancels Oedo outright → check in early at Mitsui, or take a seated Ginza hour before the reserved bowl. No Hachigō reservation → leave Oedo by 14:55 for Mugi to Olive, cap the line at fifteen minutes, and recheck its official account that week. Severe rail delay → cut Spiral first, then Oedo. If practical MOMAT entry is lost → move MOMAT to Sunday morning and drop Nezu rather than stack two museums.
