[traditional Asian music playing]
[traditional music continues]
[inaudible]
[man shouting in Japanese]
[triumphant music playing]
That's right. Stay out of my way, Richard.
[Richard laughs]
[music ends]
[upbeat theme music playing]
♪ A happy hungry man's ♪
♪ Traveling all across The sea and the land ♪
♪ He's trying to understand ♪
♪ The art of pasta Pork, chicken, and lamb ♪
♪ He will drive to you ♪
♪ He will fly to you ♪
♪ He will sing for you ♪
♪ And he'll dance for you ♪
♪ He will laugh with you ♪
♪ And he'll cry for you ♪
♪ There's just one thing He asks in return ♪
♪ Somebody please, somebody please ♪
♪ Can somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil? ♪
♪ Somebody feed him now ♪
[song ends]
[gentle music playing]
[Phil] If you've seen the old PBS show, you know I've been to Japan before.
When I first got to Tokyo, I thought,
"Wow, I'm in a pinball machine. This is hectic. This is crazy."
And a lot of it is.
Kyoto might be the opposite.
When you get to Kyoto, it's like… [sighs]
I've never been to a place where I felt such serenity,
and calm,
and peace, and beauty.
It's a city,
but it's the quietest city I've ever been to.
The moment I arrived here, it felt dreamlike.
It felt like I was floating down the street.
It's just that stunning.
I get to my hotel and look outside at the crystal clear stream,
maybe six inches deep,
running over river stones, past centuries-old homes,
and it hits me.
I only have a week here.
That's not going to be enough.
There's over 2,000 ancient temples and shrines
for you to just stumble upon.
Yes, they built a city around it,
but they've also preserved what's beautiful.
So you can be walking in a city and suddenly turn
and be transported to another century.
[gentle music continues]
[playful music playing]
[Phil] And of course, this beauty can also be found in the food.
[sizzling]
Yuma Wada leads food tours,
and his favorite place to take people is Nishiki Market,
one of the great markets of the world.
Why? This is why.
You run food tours. How long you been doing this?
Uh, it's been more than seven years or so.
[Phil] How'd you get started?
I used to work in the States, and I joined a couple food tours in the States.
Yeah.
There was that "Aha!" moment that, "I could take home." You know?
-You could do this. -Yeah.
Japan has a lot of history and good food too, so…
[Phil] I'm noticing signs. "Don't eat while walking."
That is rude to do in Japan.
-Yes? -[Yuma] Yeah.
-[Phil] And this market's 400 years old? -[Yuma] Correct.
It's pretty fantastic. But I do have a problem.
I want everything I see.
This is the way to display an apple.
[Yuma chuckles]
-[Phil] Fuji apples, and we're near Fuji! -[Yuma] Yeah.
[Phil] To the locals, the market is known as Kyoto's kitchen.
But it's the neatest kitchen I've ever seen.
By the way, when do you see a crowd like this, and it's quiet?
It's civilized.
Sorry! See?
Except for people gesticulating and hitting you, it's very nice.
Yes.
All right. I want you to try this Sabazushi.
Sabazushi is like a marinated mackarel sushi.
Great. I'm into it.
Okay.
Wow, you go right in. They're okay with this?
-Yeah. [laughs] -Okay.
[giggles]
[Phil] Whoa. That's a big piece of sushi.
[Yuma] They can cut it for you.
I would love that, if they…
-Or should I just grab it and eat it? -[Yuma and Richard laugh]
-We typically cut it, and you try a piece. -Let's do it the way it's supposed to be.
-It's still a pretty big piece of sushi. -[Richard laughs]
-You're gonna do it? -Yes.
I want to do like he does.
That's just beautiful, fresh sushi. Man.
Actually, Kyoto is far away from the ocean,
so this is a way to preserve fish here.
Ah! That's right.
And it's very unique to Kyoto.
Mm!
-Already good. -[Richard laughs]
[in Japanese] Arigato.
Thank you.
Thank you. Can we get two? Two hamo.
[in English] This is called hamo eel.
This is a pike conger eel. This eel is very strong.
After you cut the head off, it can still bite you.
Can it still bite me after it's been battered and deep-fried?
No. [laughs]
[Phil] Arigato. Here we go.
It's quite hot. Be careful.
Hot, hot! Very hot!
[in Japanese] Very hot.
[giggles]
[in English] It's so good.
Mm.
It's good!
Good? Whoa.
[playful music playing]
[Yuma] Here we're gonna try a Kyoto-style dashimaki egg omelet.
-We'll be fast. -[worker laughs]
[playful music continues]
Mm!
Oh.
This is our next stop.
Kyoto's local water is very soft and clean.
-[Phil] Yes. -Sake-making is very big here.
Wow, that's a lot of sake for one guy.
[slurps]
Ah! Whoa, that's good.
Yeah. All right, Kyoto is quite big on pickled vegetables.
-Yes. -And this is pickled cabbage.
Just, uh, pickled for a short time period.
-It's very light. -Mm!
One of the most underrated dishes in the world.
[Yuma] It's a good drinking snack as well.
Luckily we're drinking.
Goes very nice together.
[Yuma] These are all Japanese handmade sweets.
-Fresh mochi. -[Phil] Yeah.
[Yuma] So it's mugwort with sweet red beans inside.
Mugwort doesn't sound like the most delicious thing.
-[chuckles] -The name mugwort.
Pretty good.
Mugwort!
[Yuma laughs]
I like mugwort!
-[Yuma] All right. This is our next stop. -[Phil] This looks more hardcore.
-[Yuma laughs] -This is the deep end of the ocean.
We have a culture of eating freshwater fish.
-[Phil] Yes. -[Yuma] Because Kyoto is inland.
We're gonna try koi fish too, uh…
-Koi fish? -Koi fish. Yeah.
I have koi fish in my… in my yard as pets.
-Yeah. -I've always wanted to taste them.
[chuckles]
If this is good, say goodbye to the koi fish, Monica.
[laughing]
[Yuma] Koi fish are cooked with sake, mirin sweetener, and also soy sauce.
Yeah, so it's nice to know that in an emergency…
[Richard laughs]
I have a food supply in the backyard.
Yuma, you're the best!
[music stops]
[traditional music playing]
Today, I'm going to one of the best coffee shops in Kyoto.
It's called Wife and Husband.
And the fellow I'm meeting there is named Samurai Joe Okada.
[in Japanese] Hello.
Yes, thank you very much.
[Phil in English] As you might guess, he's an expert in all things samurai.
Not only that, he's the oldest licensed tour guide in all of Japan.
And you give samurai tours here in Kyoto?
Yes, it has been 40, 50 years.
-But you're only like 35 years old! -Oooh. Plus.
[both laugh]
-Plus. Yeah, I am also plus. Yes. -[laughs]
[Phil] I'm meeting this young man just after his birthday.
He just turned 94.
-Should we have some coffee? -Yeah, shall we?
-Please. -Thank you.
-Wife and Husband. -[Samurai Joe in Japanese] Yes.
The name does not sound promising.
-Konnichiwa. -Konnichiwa.
I am Phil. This is Joe.
-You are? -Ikumi.
-Kyochi.
-You are Kyoichi. -Kyoichi, yeah. [laughs]
You work together and you live together.
I've never seen this work out, but, uh, you seem to be doing it.
[giggles]
-We'll leave you alone. [chuckles] -[Ikumi] Yeah.
Thank you.
I'm sitting with my back to the wall like a good samurai. Yes?
[laughs] Ninja come behind.
-I'd feel safe with you, though. -[chuckles]
-Let me do it. -Yes.
-Oh. -[indistinct]
I've heard about this coffee, so I'm very excited.
They don't make a lot of things here.
They make one of the better coffees you'll ever have.
It's powerful.
I can't sleep tonight.
[chuckles]
And they make this honey toast with cheese.
-It doesn't sound like much. -[Samurai Joe] Oh. Attractive.
[Phil] Attractive, yes.
[Samurai Joe] Mm.
But it is much.
-Tell me about you. -[Samurai Joe] Yes.
You're born in Japan, but I understand you lived in America as well?
In Los Angeles.
Oh!
-I was tour guiding for nine months. -Yes.
Ah!
That was the most important time of my life.
-Really? -Which influences what I have now.
-Language. -Language.
When I came back, I passed the government test
to be a licensed tour guide.
Sixty-one years ago.
Was it difficult to pass that test?
Only five percent of the applicants pass the test.
Wow.
So I try my best to accomplish whatever I wish to do.
Effort with sincerity is my philosophy.
Samurai shall not tell any lies.
Right.
Do you know if that rule was in America, we would have no politicians?
[chuckling] You have a good appetite.
I do have a good appetite. Like you are a samurai, this is what I do.
[chuckles]
[Samurai Joe] How I managed my good health is bread in the morning,
and at night, whiskey.
Kanpai!
[giggles]
-Can you believe… -To whiskey!
I emptied 110 bottles of scotch whiskey in one year?
110 bottles.
[Richard laughs]
60 years, whiskey.
-Yes. -Every night?
Oh, I am very impressed.
[clock ringing]
-[chuckles] -It's the cuckoo clock.
Time is up. [chuckles]
-[Phil] Yes. -[both chuckle]
[peaceful music playing]
This beautiful little path is Philosopher's Walk.
In the late 1800s, this is the only area where philosophers, writers,
and artists could afford to live.
Kind of like Brooklyn was in the '70s.
This is now some of the most expensive real estate in Japan
because look how gorgeous this is.
Apparently, in the early spring, it's sakura season,
which means cherry blossom time, and this whole area looks like this.
A lot of the restaurants in Kyoto have ten seats.
I saw a bar that had four seats, right?
They were only open from 5:00 to 9:00.
It couldn't hurt to book ahead, or if you're lucky,
find a friend with a connection.
Today, Shizuka Anderson is taking me
to a very famous place here.
Shizuka is Japanese-Canadian
and hosts an online show called Japan by Food.
There's so many, like, amazing traditional foods in Kyoto, right?
-Yes. -So many good foods.
But probably some of the most fun I've ever had in Kyoto
is right here at this restaurant.
[Phil] Shizuka is a very big fan of Kichi Kichi chef, Motokichi Yukimura…
[Shizuka] One…
[exclaims]
[Shizuka screams]
[Phil] …who is, as you can probably tell, very shy.
Fire!
[Phil] I hope we can bring him out of his shell.
[indistinct]
[Phil] With almost a million followers,
he's become internet famous for a dish my father would love,
because it's really just soft eggs on rice.
Omurice.
-Soy bean! -Soy beans!
[Chef Motokichi singing]
Rice.
There's the rice.
[Chef Motokichi speaks in Japanese]
Wow. You're like Tom Cruise.
-Tom Cruise? -[in Japanese] He said like Tom Cruise.
-[Motokichi in English] Demi-glace sauce! -Demi-glace sauce.
[Chef Motokichi in Japanese] Yes. [exclaims]
-[Shizuka] Removes it from the heat. -[Chef] Ready?
-Ready. -Very soft.
-Oh, God. -Oh!
[Chef Motokichi speaks in Japanese]
-[in English] Ready? -Ready.
Showtime!
[Chef Motokichi exclaims]
-[Shizuka] Ta-da! -[Richard laughs]
-Isn't that beautiful? -The most beautiful.
Demi-glace beef sauce.
Taste like a bitter. [indistinct]
-[Shizuka] Here you go! -For me?
We will share, yes?
I think we each get one, actually.
[exclaims]
Thank you.
-All right, let's go. -[exclaims]
[laughs]
-Thank you. [in Japanese] Thank you. -[Phil in English] Beautiful.
Thank you so much!
-Thank you. -Thank you!
Let's go somewhere to eat.
[laughs]
[music stops]
[playful music playing]
-Oh! You like it? -I'm gonna turn into you now.
-[Chef Motokichi] Hey! -[laughs]
Happy.
-Oh, that's perfect. -It is perfect.
[Shizuka] Mm!
Music! Start!
[upbeat music playing on radio]
[Chef] One, two, three, four!
[laughs]
Woo!
Oh my goodness! [laughs]
Everyone's dancing in the background, I love it.
[music continues]
[yells]
Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.
-Bravo. -Thank you.
-Standing ovation. -[both exclaim]
-Uh… -Isn't that fun?
This is the most excited I've ever seen anyone over an omelet.
[laughs]
Yeah. Me too.
[gentle music playing]
[Phil] When you're surrounded by so much beauty,
it feels wrong not to share it.
So I brought my much better half on this trip.
Monica.
We're staying in Gion, Kyoto's geisha district.
Geisha means artist, and you can certainly see why.
Every movement, every fold of cloth, each note they sing.
It's all mastered with precision over many years.
[geisha singing in Japanese]
[Phil] This is an experienced geisha,
performing with a sort of geisha-in-training,
called a maiko.
Helping us navigate this experience is Reiko Yokota,
who's a talented pastry chef here in Kyoto.
The maiko tradition starts like from 300 years ago.
They are 18-year-old girls.
And they train in these houses to learn the art of tea and the art of dancing.
-So specific everything, yes? -Yes.
[traditional music playing]
[Phil] This is an ancient ritual that they have mastered.
-[Monica] I love the pace of everything. -[Phil] Yeah.
-It feels very proper and serene. -[Monica] Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Beautiful.
There's something so gorgeous about every detail of every movement.
[Reiko in Japanese] Thank you.
[Phil in English] You know, when you take such time and care,
and this level of perfection…
[traditional music continues]
It's considered an art form of entertaining a guest, right?
You pick it up with your left hand, and then you turn it clockwise twice
so that the front is not in front of you, to pay respect.
[traditional music continues]
-Exactly. -One…
-One, two. -…two. Good?
Please.
-Worth all the wait. -Why can't Starbucks be like this?
[giggles]
And they wait for us to finish.
Yes.
[giggles]
[music ends]
[peaceful music playing]
[Phil] Do you know what kaiseki means?
It actually means a tasting menu.
This style of eating is all over the world,
and one of the best people in the world at doing this is named René Redzepi.
And he opened a restaurant in Copenhagen called Noma.
Noma has, of course, earned three Michelin stars
and has been called the best restaurant in the world by critics.
What luck that I'm here in the final days
that Noma's having its Kyoto pop-up.
I might be the luckiest man you've ever looked at.
[instrumental pop music playing]
Coming with me to Noma is my dear friend Julia Hwang.
She runs a company called Inner Trend,
and I'm so happy she's here in Kyoto when I'm here.
Julia, thank you.
Oh my God, I can't believe it.
Kanpai.
By the way, René brought over a hundred people from Copenhagen for this.
He wanted the whole staff to learn about what it's like here in Kyoto.
When did you first come to Kyoto?
[Julia] I was born and raised in Japan.
Kyoto is field trips.
It's one of the major field trip destinations.
Cheers.
Cheers. I'm so happy you're here with me.
I'm so… Thank you.
Oh my God. This beer.
[laughs]
[Richard laughs]
-This beer. -That's good beer, huh?
The Germans should be afraid.
[laughing]
-This one is shabu-shabu. -Oh, yeah.
-Here, let me lift this. -[Julia] Oh.
[René] Yes.
[Phil] I was not expecting it to be still boiling.
That's the quality of the Japanese earthenware.
It holds the heat so well. So it's still simmering.
[Phil] Five very different seaweeds.
-Mm. -Oh, is that beautiful.
Each one a knockout punch.
I've never tasted anything like this.
-It's like coral going in… -I love this one.
Mm… Oh!
-It's like watermelon. -I love that.
It's like eating watermelon, but you're eating seaweed.
[laughs]
I'm just going to show you this because we're gonna--
-[Julia gasps] -[Phil] Whoa!
[laughing]
[Phil] That is a very fresh shrimp.
[Richard and Julia laugh]
-This is your next serving. -Maybe he knows something.
He knows something's happening.
[laughing]
[Phil] Some of the ingredients may be less than enthusiastic,
but we're eating it all.
Even the garnish.
Now, there's a lemon. They've taken the peel off.
Mm-hmm.
That lemon…
[Richard chuckles]
Was that a lemon?
That was like a lemon candy.
-Thank you, my friend. -And that's just pure lemon?
That's a lemon. That's a lemon. You can eat it like an apple.
What? René, be careful.
So that wasn't treated?
No, no, no.
It's from the island of Shikoku.
I learned something.
[Phil] And look at this. It's that runaway shrimp.
Topped with a paste of native sea buckthorn,
Madagascar pepper, and seaweed salt.
[server] We've just peeled it, so it might still be twitching.
Pick it up by the head. Take one or two bites.
-That'll finish him off. -Yes, sir. Enjoy.
Okay.
All right, some people might be squeamish about this.
But not me!
Mm! Mm!
Delightful flavor, though.
Hello.
Oh my God.
-Here we go. -Talk about paper-thin.
Paper-thin.
This is cuttlefish, marinated in whiskey vinegar
and placed on ice.
Oh my God.
[exhales]
What is it? It's just… It's like a beautiful piece of sashimi
with all these spices that I've never had before.
Have you?
-And probably never will again… [laughs] -I don't…
And to follow, a miso crisp with raw, marinated shrimp
and peach tree sap cooked in dashi.
And I forgot to mention, these little black flecks of seasoning?
They're ants.
It's brilliant, right?
The ant is the salt of the dish.
Maybe this is the hottest ticket in the world
at this moment that we're filming.
Absolutely.
René closes the show with bamboo served in a cold squid broth.
[in Japanese] Is that bamboo shoot?
-[in English] These ones are. -[gasps] Oh my God!
[René] Mm. These are bamboo shoots.
You know, I'm getting a message from you through the food.
You didn't come here to influence Japanese food.
You came here to be influenced by…
Of course, I've always been so inspired by Japan.
And by this city of Kyoto, which is the capital of kaiseki,
which is a seasonal tasting menu format that dates back hundreds of years.
It's what you do at Noma anyway.
People believe that French cooks came to Kyoto in the '50s and '60s.
That's when you started seeing tasting menus in Europe.
Where the tasting menu came from.
Perhaps, what we're eating in the fine dining restaurants
around the West actually have its roots in this city.
[lighthearted music playing]
It's so refreshing and light.
René, I can't thank you enough for this experience.
-Of course. -I mean, it's beyond special.
I know where your next pop-up should be.
-[René] Where? -My house.
[both laugh]
[Julia] There's a tea ceremony term called ichi-go ichi-e
that you can't recreate the moment.
I might have the same dinner, René might cook for us,
he might even have the same ingredient,
but you can never recreate the moment.
So this, to me, is like the ultimate ichi-go ichi-e
that I have to really cherish.
[voice breaks] I feel the same. I'm emotional.
And to share with you, my friend, is a beautiful thing.
-Thank you. -Absolutely beautiful.
[music fades]
[gentle music playing]
[playful music playing]
Convenience stores are a little different here than at home.
I always love checking out the snack section.
[music ends]
Let's see what we have, shall we?
Here's something you don't see all the time.
Cucumber in a bag.
Mm!
That's refreshing and delightful.
I'll keep that for later.
[Richard chuckles]
I think this is fish jerky.
Ooh, I just got a smell of fish.
Oh yeah, that's fishy.
[Richard laughs]
I could see enjoying this on the right day.
This is not that day.
[men laughing]
Ooh. "Dried ripe mandarin orange."
Mm!
Yes!
Wait, I'm in love with these.
All right, this is for our friend Emilio who worked back at ZPZ.
He said, "If anybody's going to Japan, bring me back Crunky."
Mm!
Emilio!
Someone else is going to have to bring Crunky home to you.
[Richard laughs]
-I'm almost afraid of this one. -[Richard] What's that?
You know what this is?
All right. What the hell?
It's bubbling. It's-- It's-- It's doing this.
[mimics bubbling sound]
[crackling noises]
Maybe you don't take a big swig of that.
-[Richard laughs] -There's only one cure for that.
[humorous music playing]
Ah!
[gentle woodwind music playing]
Now you're gonna meet a chef who says he's not a chef, he's a farmer.
And he farms his own buckwheat.
And that is what this restaurant is.
A buckwheat noodle restaurant.
Buckwheat noodles are called soba,
and René Redzepi says that this is one of his favorite restaurants in the world.
So Monica and I are joining René Redzepi and his wife Nadine at Juu-go.
This is Akiya Ishibashi.
-Thank you very much. -[Phil] My honor to meet you.
My friends tell me you have the best soba in the world.
I don't think so.
No? Who is better? 'Cause I'll go there.
[laughing]
You grow the buckwheat, and then you make the noodles.
Yes, everything.
-Everything. -Wow.
[Phil] You start with porridge.
This doesn't look like much.
If in any other restaurant, they served you this,
you're like, "I don't think so." Then you taste it and you're like,
"Oh. Yeah, this is great."
And it just brings up, you know, almost childhood memories
of hot cereal, or cold cereal.
[Monica] The texture's so comforting.
When I was a kid, I would always put very little milk in it
because I wanted it to be this texture.
I've never had anything else like it since.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
They still think so.
[laughing]
[adventurous music playing]
[René] I wouldn't call him traditionalist, because he's modern thinking.
[Phil] Yeah.
He wants to progress, to make better agriculture.
He wants to make better noodles.
He's rolling out the noodles.
-[Phil] Yeah. -Look at his movements.
Takes some muscles to do what he's doing.
He pounds this buckwheat into submission.
[René] Can you feel how he's pressing down? This is not easy.
But you can also see he doesn't notice us at all.
He is 100% focused on making the noodles.
-He's in the zone. -He's in a flow.
That's one of the allures of coming here, is that you can experience craftspeople…
-[Phil] Yeah. -That are 100% dedicated…
They wanna do everything themselves.
It's not about turning tables, or making that 20% profit margin.
It doesn't feel like it, at least.
[Phil] The second and last dish arrives.
-We each get? -Yeah.
I mean, look at this. It's just a big plate of noodles.
Little dipping sauce on the side. That's kind of it.
First, we taste without anything.
Yes.
Feel the texture. It's a good chew.
Mm!
[Richard laughs]
And then next, you take half of this into the dipping sauce.
Then you take some of these noodles, and then you dunk them in…
[slurps]
And you slurp.
-All right. -Ready? One, two, three.
[all slurping]
[giggling]
[slurps]
[Monica] Well done.
-I could feel that one. It was good. -I felt it.
The whole world just went, "Next."
[laughing]
[traditional music playing]
Come with me now to this beautiful thing in Kyoto.
It's Kozmoz New York Coffee,
run by a Californian named Barry Wyatt.
How are you?
Fine as frog's fur.
[laughs]
[Phil] Barry came here 28 years ago on a mission.
Literally.
We came here from our church because there was a big earthquake,
and I was in charge of social outreach.
-Wonderful. -I've been here ever since.
Wow. Please tell everybody what else this café does.
-We teach English. -Right.
And we do something to provide income
that we can invest back into the community.
[Phil] And fortunately, that something is this.
-Tacos and rice. -Beautiful.
-And one Kozmoz deluxe cheeseburger. -A beautiful burger.
-This is America! [giggles] -Yeah!
All proceeds from the English school and café
go towards social outreach programs.
I'm happy to help any way I can. Especially this way.
[Barry] Ah-ha!
Oh yeah!
Mm!
-Barry! -Did it hit the spot?
I love this!
Each week, Barry's team sends out deliveries for their food bank,
tailoring each box to the needs of the recipient.
Tell me how you get people involved in this,
and what your outreach is.
Now from America, we have internships.
Could be anything from doing webwork
to being able to make burgers, help pack boxes.
-Yeah. -Um, teach English.
Nice. You're the man.
-Thanks, bud. -Thank you.
All the profits from Kozmoz go to local orphanages,
and homeless shelters, and outreach programs.
Hey, if you can't get there to volunteer or intern,
you can donate right here.
[traditional music playing]
[Phil] This is the Imamiya Shrine.
It was built over a thousand years ago, during a plague.
Its name means "newly constructed,"
which made sense at the time.
Just outside the shrine is a sweet shop
where I'm meeting a new friend.
Jacob Kear was a chef at Noma, and now he has his own restaurant
in Kyoto, called Lurra.
We'll be going there for dinner.
But right now, he's taking mefor some aburi-mochi,
and although it looks like lunch, it's actually dessert.
Looks like bits of chicken, but it's not.
[Jacob] No, it's just, it's mochi cake
coated in a kinako, which is a toasted soybean powder.
[Phil] And it's made the same way it's been made for a thousand years.
This place is from 1656.
[Jacob] About 1656.
The place across the street was how old?
About over a thousand years old.
Over a thousand. Nobody goes there anymore.
-[laughs] -They want the new place.
Look at these ladies.
They hold them on these skewers
and they char them,
and they get them hot and kind of melty, and they put the sweet miso on them.
-This is all they make? -That's all.
This is what I love about Japan. Specialize, and then they make it perfect.
They make it perfect. We call that shokunin.
We could use a little more shokunin in America.
Absolutely.
Arigato.
[in Japanese] Thanks. Have a good day.
[Phil in English] After you order,
you take a seat at the beautiful little tea house next door.
Shoes off!
-Sit here? -Please sit.
All right. Easier said than done.
[Jacob chuckles]
-[grunts] -[Jacob chuckles]
[Richard laughs]
-You got it, Phil? -I will never be a monk.
You good? [chuckles]
-[Phil] Look. Hi! -Here it is.
[Jacob in Japanese] Thank you.
[Phil in English] Amazing.
-[in Japanese] Thank you. -Thanks.
[Phil] Here we go.
-So this is it. -This is it.
So just sticky rice cake, grilled over the hot binchotan grill
then had a sweet white miso.
Man. Now did we get the regular or extra-large order?
[laughing]
The regular.
[Phil] Mm!
You get everything.
You had this?
[Richard] What does it remind you of?
Like marshmallows.
[Richard] That's why we're brothers.
-[Jacob] Exactly what he said. -It's like roasted marshmallows.
But it's mochi in this beautiful little sweet sauce,
but not too sweet.
-That's the mark of a good pastry chef. -Yeah.
People, remember.
[Richard and Jacob chuckling]
-What a treat this is. -It's simple.
-And it's a thousand years old. -Yeah.
Come on.
Can you imagine? Can you put that in perspective, right?
Just a thousand-year-old just sells this.
And it has not changed.
[Jacob] It has not changed.
And that's the beauty of Kyoto.
All right?
And we have Dunkin' Donuts.
[chuckling]
This is delightful.
-[Jacob] Mm-hmm. -[Richard laughs]
[video call chiming]
[Fran] Phil!
[Richard laughs]
-Hi! -There's my friend.
I have to tell you.
It doesn't matter where I go in the world,
I have to have this show on.
Oh.
I don't know what it is. Maybe the drone of a whining Jew…
[laughs]
…makes me feel so comfortable.
I mean, it's got a very gemütlich feel. The whole show.
Well, I couldn't love you more before you said that,
and now double, triple, quadruple.
And you were feeling a little under the weather.
-How are you now? -I was.
This was like a big deal to pull it together like this.
I thought to myself, you know, Judy Gold didn't look so great.
-She didn't, like, do anything special. -[laughs]
But then Peter, my gay ex-husband,
he said, "No, put on a little lipstick."
-[Phil and Richard laugh] -You know.
You look so fantastic. Have you been to Kyoto?
I never went to Kyoto, and I always wanted to.
We have to do an episode where we only go to organic restaurants,
because you are what you eat.
I just don't know how--
You must be on all kinds of medications at your age, no?
[all laughing]
[Phil] I love you.
You are an ad for whatever you're advocating,
because look at you.
If we would have been in Hebrew school together…
[laughs]
…you would have been the Hebrew school crush.
Aww, how sweet you are. That's such a nice thing to say.
[Phil] You know that my dad always told a joke,
and today I wanted to honor you by letting you tell a joke for him.
Well, I'm so grateful. In honor of your dad…
Thanks.
So God tells Adam, "I have a gift for you."
"The gift of woman. And she is gonna do everything you say."
"She's going to agree with everything you say,
she's gonna always want to have sex with you,
and she's gonna cook and clean all the time."
Adam says, "How much will a gift like this cost me?"
And God said, "An arm and a leg."
And Adam thought, "Well, what would a rib get me?"
[laughs]
That's a beauty. Come on, that's a great joke.
You know, I spent a rib. You know what I got?
[Fran, laughing] What?
-Is she-- Oh Monica! -[Phil laughs]
Hi, darling!
You look so sweet! It's so good to see you!
[Monica] Love you.
Love you. Muah. Thank you so much, you guys. [laughs]
Ah! [laughs]
So should I hang up now?
[all laughing]
[Phil] Fran Drescher, everybody.
[clapping]
[Phil] One more thing.
We need our reunion dinner,
one last dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Lurra.
Lurra is Jacob Kear's restaurant.
-Hi. -Hello.
[Phil] Hi. Hi. Hi.
How you doing?
Oh! My new friends.
This is Shoto, one of our favorite local crew members.
And here's my friend Andy Marsden, the best food tour guide in Osaka.
How great is this staff?
-Jacob. -Hello!
-Nice to see you. -[kisses]
-Look, I get a kiss. -[Monica] Aw!
[Phil] We kiss now.
-Kampai. -[all] Kampai.
-Do you want some whiskey? -[Monica] Already?
-After this? -After this.
For the first course, what we have here,
we have an oyster from the Hiroshima region,
and there's a sauce made out of roasted yeast and smoked butter.
-[Phil] Thank you. -[Jacob] The oyster's already cut in half.
I see. So, two bites, people.
[Reiko] This looks so good.
[Phil] Mm!
For our next course, trout from the mountains of Iwate.
We took the kelp, we made a bag and placed the trout in there.
-Okay. -[Reiko] Wow!
Oh.
I mean, we've had some meals this week.
[laughing]
[Phil] Bravo.
-[Reiko] Mm. -Delicious.
[Reiko] It's so good.
[Jacob] The concept behind this dish
is the sun that I see at the farm every morning.
We made this little galette out of eggplant.
-So, when you put this in the middle… -Ah!
-It looks like a little… -[laugh]
It looks like sunflower.
You made the sauce look like the plate.
[Jacob] Yeah.
[gentle music playing]
[camera shutter clicks]
-You kids with your Instagram. -Exactly.
[laughing]
[Phil] Wife and husband. Do you like it?
-Wife and husband. -Oh!
-Shoto, you good? -Love it.
[laughs]
[indistinct]
I have never tasted this kind of food in my 94 years.
[all exclaim]
-[Phil] Bravo. -[Monica] Special.
And I love it.
And he loves it.
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Thanks to you.
Really?
Without you, I won't be here.
[laughs] Okay. That's even.
[all laughing]
If you need me to slice fruit later, he showed me how.
-[laughing] -[Reiko] All right.
[Phil] This dinner is everything I love about Kyoto.
Alongside a meticulous reverence for beauty and order,
there's warmth, connection, and even welcome surprises.
Oh!
This is my friend René, everybody.
Sorry, I'm crashing the party.
I'm so happy you came.
I mean, that's a nice surprise. René was packing up all of Noma Kyoto.
This was his last day, and he still found time
to come over and say hi.
-We're leaving. -It's sad, isn't it?
You've been here for months, I've only been a week and I hate to leave.
-I can imagine how it feels-- -Five months.
Yeah? This is the most special place.
It's a good place with a lot of good people.
-[Phil] Yes. Mm. -[chuckling]
[peaceful music playing]
[Phil] I've been to some beautiful places. You've seen them here.
But Kyoto,
I-- I… I mean, from the second I got here,
it was the most exquisite place I think I've ever been.
The temples.
The nature.
The shops.
Every bite of food.
If you look at it long enough, you might cry.
As good a time as I've had all week, I've been thinking about my last day here.
And I've been a little melancholy.
There was something that I felt the moment I got here,
which is even while living in it,
I know I'm going to miss it.
[tranquil music playing]
[Phil] And I'm not the first person Kyoto has affected this way.
I found a poet, named Matsuo Bashō,
who lived in the 1600s.
He wrote this haiku.
"In Kyoto, hearing the cuckoo,
I long for Kyoto."
In Kyoto, I'm longing for Kyoto.
He said that in the 1600s.
I'm saying it now.
[giggles]
[music fades]
[upbeat end theme music playing]
♪ Come sit at his table ♪
♪ If you're happy, hungry Willing and able ♪
♪ To see how breaking bread ♪
♪ Can turn a stranger Right into a friend! ♪
♪ He will drive to you He will fly to you ♪
♪ He will sing for you And he'll dance for you! ♪
♪ He will laugh with you And he'll cry for you! ♪
♪ There's just one thing He asks in return! ♪
♪ Somebody feed Somebody feed Phil! ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil! ♪
♪ Somebody feed him now! ♪ Phil! ♪