Kyoto: A Must-Go

Kyoto is called Japan’s most beautiful city almost universally, but until recently it was also Japan’s most important city. From 794 – 1868 CE, Kyoto housed the seat of the Japanese emperor was in Kyoto – making it Japan’s capital. Tightly knit roads housing almost 1.5 million people and more than 2,000 sacred shrines sprawl across this city nestled into a valley.

The Richest History

Kyoto was more than just Japan’s capital on paper. It was, and still is, home to so many quintessential tenets of Japanese culture – and with its diverse sightseeing and preserved culture, it tells a chronological story of Japan. For example, the “old town” called Gion has hardly changed since the Feudal era. On top of the 2000 shrines that have popped up over 2000 years, it houses Tofuku-ji Temple: the headquarters of Japan’s own Pure Land Buddhism. The city has built itself around the Philosopher’s Path (Tetsugaku no Michi), which was named after a famous scholar who took the same walk every day and crosses most of the Eastern side of the city from top to bottom.

Plentiful Natural Resources

While the architecture is incredible, the natural habitat of Kyoto is a testament itself to Japan’s quintessential climate. The city is surrounded by lush forests. Big rivers and small canals force their way through it, and have been built around in areas such as Kurashiki (nicknamed the Venice of Japan) and the Ukyō-Ku ward. A magically massive bamboo forest borders the city in the northern Arashiyama area, and just nearby is the equally impressive Gio-Ji moss garden. Although the city is large, it’s recommended to travel around by foot, because there is so much to see on the way to anywhere – and there are hundreds of natural hot spring bathhouses, called Onsens, to wind down in after a long day.

It is estimated that over 80 million households have a dishwasher in the kitchen. However, only a small percentage of those dishwasher owners truly know what their machine is capable of doing. Believe it or not, a dishwasher can be used for more than just washing dishes every day. Here are some of the weirdest yet most useful dishwasher hacks for you to try out!

As you probably already know, a toothbrush can contain harmful bacteria that get collected over time. It is crucial to keep your toothbrush clean to avoid any health issues in the long run. What you didn’t know is that you can wash your toothbrush in the dishwasher!

All you have to do is place the toothbrush in the cutlery rack and run the quick wash program on the machine. However, make sure not to use detergent, as the toothbrush wouldn’t be usable after that.

Just like toothbrushes, hair brushes are something we use on a daily basis to maintain personal hygiene. With that in mind, it is likely that your hair brush is going to collect dust and bacteria over time.

In order to keep your scalp clean, you will need a fresh and dirt-free hairbrush. Simply put your used hairbrushes in the dishwasher and give them a good wash instead of throwing them away. This way, you won’t have to buy new brushes every few months!

Perhaps you never thought of putting your flip flops and shoes in the same place you put your dishes and cutlery. However, there is no harm in cleaning your shoes in the dishwasher, as the hot water and steam are going to sanitize all of it.

Simply line up your shoes and flip flops on the top rack of the machine and give them a quick wash to remove sand and filth from the outdoors. The wash cycle is going to sanitize the shoes and remove any harmful bacteria.

Rinsing potatoes might be one of the most annoying meal prep tasks in the kitchen. No one likes dealing with dirty potatoes that had just been dug out of the dirt. Luckily, you no longer have to wash potatoes by hand, as long as you have a dishwasher.

This culinary trick is going to change the way you cook forever. Instead of washing the potatoes one by one, just place them all in the dishwasher and turn on the rinse cycle without any detergent. You will be surprised how sparkling clean the potatoes will look.

A dishwasher is not made for your dishes only! We are sure your pet wants sparkling clean food dishes too. You no longer have to scrub the pet bowls all day to get them clean (we all know how nasty those can get).

Instead, just put the bowls in the dishwasher and set the high heat setting to make sure all the bacteria and microbes don’t survive. After all, there must be a lot of germs on there after your pet eats from it.

Hot dogs are arguably one of the most versatile food items in the entire kitchen. So, as strange as this might look, it shouldn’t be too surprising that one can also prepare these tubes of meaty goodness in the dishwasher.

This is because hot dogs are just as tasty heated up as they are when cooked. The key is to put the dogs in a jar of water and turn on the dishwasher for a short period of time.

Who wouldn’t want to make soup in their dishwasher? The following person made themselves some delicious beef soup by sealing all of the ingredients into a jar, turning on the dishwasher on the highest heat option available.

Then, once the cycle is complete, one must let the jar cool down inside the dishwasher, before blending the mixture in some sort of processor. “Have u ever cooked in your dishwasher? I did!” this person wrote in the caption of this photo.

Fridges can get smelly very quickly and a lot of that can be associated with failing to clean its shelves often enough.

While it can be a tedious job, putting those shelves in the dishwasher will actually save you a lot of time. In fact, one can do the same thing with the bins and drawers too. Just make sure that the shelves don’t have integrated LED lighting and that any plastic bins aren’t too thin for the heat.

Before you go crazy, let’s give a little warning. We aren’t suggesting that one could cook a whole turkey for Thanksgiving in one’s dishwasher, like in this photo. However, famous chef David Burke has successfully cooked turkey breasts and legs using this unorthodox method.

The key is to place these parts into containers and to put them on the top shelf of the dishwasher. After three full cycles, which should last for about three and a half hours, let the turkey pieces sit for 25 minutes before broiling to get crispy skin.

Not everyone in the world is so passionate about cars to the point where they’ll put blingy rims on their tires. For those who are though, they’ll be excited to hear that they can actually clean them in their dishwasher (if it fits, that is).

In order for it to work in the slightest, you have to be prepared to put some car shampoo into the machine. We’d recommend giving the dishwasher at least a couple of extra cycles before washing any kitchen utensils.

Let’s face it – ice cream can be kind of boring by itself, so why not make some compote to add to it in the dishwasher?

All you have to do is put chopped strawberries, maple syrup, cinnamon, and water in a sealed jar and let the machine run for whatever cycle you please. Just make sure to let it cool for a bit before removing the lid, it’s going to be very hot! But if it’s a little warm, that will be a nice foil for the ice cream.

If there is one food item that is surprisingly good to cook in the dishwasher, then it has to be couscous. After a cycle in this unorthodox machine, the end results of extremely fluffy.

For this particular dish, one must put a cup of couscous, a tablespoon of lemon juice and one and three-quarters cups of stock into a sealed jar. After making sure it’s all mixed up, put it through a cycle and it will be ready to go.

Here is another piece of proof that meat can go down a treat after being put in the dishwasher. The key is to cover the chop in butter, cumin, and ground coriander to give it that extra something.

After a full cycle, the chop should be ready and succulent to perfection. The man who prepared this in the dishwasher was actually very pleased with the end results. It did not even touch the sides.

That’s right, you can even make salmon in your dishwasher. If steak or chicken sounds too simple for you, try making some really unique salmon without using the oven or the grill.

Just wrap the salmon in tin foil and make sure water cannot get to it from any direction. However, don’t forget to season it first if you want the best flavor out of the dishwasher cooking session. Let the salmon cook on a regular cycle for about 45 minutes and you’re good to go!

We have already made lasagna, shrimp, and steamed veggies in the dishwasher so why not try chicken as well? Cooking chicken can now be easier than ever as long as you have a dishwasher with all the regular washing features.

All you have to do is season the chicken the way you normally would and wrap the pieces (or the entire chicken) in aluminum foil. Place it in the dishwasher and run the normal cycle to prepare the meat. Once done, you will have a perfectly cooked chicken to serve.

This hack probably won’t apply to everyone. However, for those who do like to think of themselves as a poor man’s Tiger Woods, this might be one of the most useful hacks ever (kind of).

While it’s not imperative to clean one’s golf balls, you can never be too hygienic, especially in times like these. You never know where those golf balls might end up so if you stack them in a dishwasher for a cycle, they’re going to be as good as new.

When cooking meals, both big and small, rinsing fruit and vegetables can be a tedious chore, to say the very least. However, if you have a dishwasher, you can be two steps ahead of the game.

As long as you don’t use dishwasher detergent, your produce will be germ and bug-free once the cycle is over. In order to speed up the process, add some white vinegar to where you would usually put the detergent. Done.

Just because our dishwashers get old and obsolete, it doesn’t mean we just have to throw the entire thing out. Like how certain people who die can donate their organs to others, a dying dishwasher can lend their parts for other purposes.

Take the racks, for example, which can actually be used for all sorts of purposes. One can put books in them or stationary equipment, essentially anything that needs to be held up or organized!

This might be one of the easiest hacks on this list and it’s definitely one of the tastiest too. Apples are great and so is cinnamon. When you put them together, it’s absolute heaven.

When it comes to using the dishwasher for this, all you have to do is dice an apple, put it in a jar with some cinnamon, water, sugar, and butter. Then, you shake it up and put it in the dishwasher for a full cycle. Voila!

Living in the US of A isn’t the same without some good old mac and cheese. While there are a plethora of ways to prepare this easy dish, not many have tried making it in their dishwasher.

And yet, the following people managed to make this possible…well, kind of. They admitted that the first attempt at making this classic American staple wasn’t perfect, but hey, what is on the first try? While this might not look amazing, it is possible.

Many people debate which is the best of the two, mashed potato or mashed sweet potato. We’d prefer to stay away from politics and simply break down how to cook the latter in a dishwasher.

Simply dice this root vegetable into small pieces, place it inside a plastic bag with some butter and put it on the top rack for a full cycle. When everything is said and done, one should be able to simply crush it into a mashed texture with their bare hands.

You’d think that cooking ribs are something that can only and should only be done on the grill. However, some people online have proven that the dishwasher is a perfectly acceptable way to cook them too.

On a low steam heat, this is actually a healthier method. Just put all your desired seasonings on the ribs, shake them around in a plastic bag and stand them up on one of the racks. Vegans can even use the same recipe for meat substitutes such as seitan.

If you really dedicate yourself to the task, you can prepare an entire meal in the dishwasher. The dishwasher can be used to cook an array of food, even steaming vegetables as the side dish for your dinner.

Put the veggies in an airtight glass jar and run the normal cycle. As soon as it is done, you will be left with a portion of perfectly steamed veggies. If you think about it, this is a great plan B if your oven suddenly breaks down!

While this is not something any IT brand would recommend, it is actually a functional hack. You can clean dirty keyboards in the dishwasher, as long as you do it right! Keyboards are a nightmare to clean, especially the ones with elevated keys.

However, all you have to do is place the keyboard in the dishwasher and make sure to detach any cables first. Then run the regular cycle but don’t use any detergent, as this could damage the keyboard. Let it dry off and it will be as good as new.

How many times did you think about cleaning the vents? Not many, we assume! However, if cleaning vents is something you have been thinking about lately, then this hack will save you time and effort while you’re at it.

Simply place the vents in the machine and run the regular cycle without detergent. This will remove any dirt or dust from the vents and allow you to maintain your household dust-free. However, don’t forget to dry the vents as soon as they are out of the machine.

As you can imagine, trash cans are the one place that holds most bacteria in your house. As much as you try to clean trash cans, they will always have a layer of bacteria on the surface. It is important to keep trash can lids clean to avoid catching any of these germs.

You can disinfect the lids in the dishwasher by using the high heat setting and a regular cycle with detergent. This process will clean the lids thoroughly and remove any bacteria or odor from your kitchen.

As you can imagine, car floor mats tend to get dirty very quickly. After all, we stomp on them in all sorts of weather conditions and we rarely think of cleaning them. However, this needs to be done at some point to maintain a clean car interior.

One of the easiest and most efficient ways to give your car mats a good wash is to put them in the dishwasher. Run the regular cycle for best results and your mats will come out looking shinier than ever.

Mops are usually used to clean around your household but do you ever think about cleaning the mop? Mop heads can get extremely dirty after wiping all those floors so you need a good cleaning routine to keep them fresh and germ-free.

A good way to avoid bacteria pile-ups and bad smells is to place the mop head in the dishwasher and run the high heat setting. This will not only wash the mop thoroughly but it will also disinfect it and kill bacteria.

Buying avocados can turn into a nightmare, especially if you cannot find the ripe ones. When you look for avocados in the store, they are either too soft or completely unripe. However, you can solve this issue using your dishwasher.

Buy some unripe avocados and place them on the top rack of the machine. Then turn on the normal cycle for ten minutes and the avocados will come out soft and perfect for use. Try this hack now and thank us later!

Besides warming up your food, it is sometimes a good idea to warm up your plates first. Only an experienced chef would know of this hack where you need to warm up your plates before serving food to prevent it from going cold too quickly.

Simply place the plates in the dishwasher and activate the plate warmer setting. If your machine doesn’t have this mode, then use the good old “dry/heat” cycle. That way, your plates will be able to maintain the heat of the food instead of cooling it down.

Nail clippers are one of those items that you don’t really think of when planning a cleaning session. However, even nail clippers need a good wash from time to time to ensure there is no debris or bacteria hiding under there.

You can sanitize the nail clippers with the high heat setting in the dishwasher. Simply place them in the cutlery rack and run the regular cycle at high heat. However, make sure to dry them off after the wash to avoid rusting.

Shower faucets are likely to catch a lot of calcium sediment, especially in areas with extremely hard water. This can lead to damage or malfunctioning, which is the last thing you want in your shower.

Luckily, you can use the dishwasher to decalc the shower faucets with ease. Not only will the dishwasher remove any sediment stuck to the faucet but it will also disinfect it and remove any mold or bacteria.

We just cannot get enough of these cooking hacks with the dishwasher. It is so fascinating that you can use these machines to prepare food. This time, you can try your hand at cooking steak in the dishwasher instead of using the grill.

Put the steak in vacuum-sealed packaging and place it on the top rack in the dishwasher. Activate the high heat setting with a 90-minute cycle to prepare the meat. Get ready for one of the most uniquely cooked delicious steaks you’ve ever tried!

Just like hair brushes, hair ties can get pretty dirty too and they are one of those items we don’t think about cleaning that often. However, even hair ties can accumulate harmful bacteria over time, which is the last thing you want to sit on your head.

You can clean your hair ties with ease by placing them in a small bag and putting them in the cutlery rack of the dishwasher. Run a quick cycle with a small amount of detergent to give the hair ties a nice fresh smell without damaging them.

Zip-lock bags can always come in handy in the kitchen or around the household. The only problem is that they are wasteful since we usually throw each one away after using it. Luckily, there is a way to be more eco-conscious when it comes to this matter.

You can easily clean the used zip-lock bags in the dishwasher using the low heat setting. Make sure not to turn the temperature up to the highest setting, as it could melt the thin plastic bags. Once the cycle is done, dry the bags and they will be ready for use.

You probably never thought of putting garden tools in the dishwasher but that day has finally come. If you have garden tools and they are a bit too dirty, it is time to give them a thorough wash in the machine.

With steam and hot water generated in the machine, your garden tools will be clean, disinfected, and as bright as new. However, make sure to run a separate wash cycle for your garden tools and don’t mix them up with your actual dishes and kitchenware.

Did you ever think about cleaning the dishwasher itself? Imagine that, even the dishwasher needs a good cleaning every now and then! If your dishwasher is getting a funny odor, make sure to pour in some clear vinegar at the beginning of an empty cycle.

Start the cycle and let the vinegar do its thing. It will clean any remaining grease or oil on the walls of the machine that are causing the bad smells. You will be left with a shiny dishwasher, just like it was when you bought it.

If you don’t mind a bit of screwdriver work, you can use the dishwasher to clean your cabinet knobs. If you think about it, cabinet knobs are one of those things we touch every day but we always forget about them when cleaning the house.

Now that you remember that you have cabinet knobs, you can use a screwdriver to gently take them off and place them in the dishwasher. After you give them a good wash in the steamy dishwasher detergent mixture, they will surely be ridden of any unwanted bacteria.

You wouldn’t think of a dishwasher as something you can cook in, right? Well, you can actually use this machine to cook shrimp quickly and conveniently. As weird as it may sound, a dishwasher can serve as an oven as well.

For best results, put the shrimp in a glass container and make sure the lid is fully closed. Then run the rinsing cycle on the machine to steam the shrimp and prepare the perfect meal. Next time you have guests over, serve them some dishwasher shrimp!

There are already around a million ways to prepare eggs but we are just about to add another one. As one of the most popular breakfast foods around the world, people are constantly looking for new ways to cook them.

You can be the first one in your friend group to start this unique trend. Just place the eggs inside the washer and set the right washing cycle. If you want to go for a hard-boiled egg, choose a hot temperature. For a soft boiled egg, go with the colder settings.

Baseball caps can get dirty over time, especially with all the sweat accumulated on hot summer days. You can easily freshen up the fabric of your baseball cap in a dishwasher since many people wouldn’t recommend you to use an actual washing machine for this.

Just put your caps in a dishwasher and you will be surprised by the outcome. They will come out looking bright and fresh as they were when you just bought them. However, don’t use any harsh detergent to avoid discoloration.

Here’s another convenient way you can give your dishwasher a thorough cleaning after you’ve tried out all these hacks (especially the one with the potatoes). Add some Kool-Aid to the machine to get the best results.

The citric acid from the Kool-Aid will help remove stubborn stains and add some shine to the interior of your machine. However, make sure to explain yourself before doing this as your household members might think it’s rather odd.

If you know how tiring it is to wash makeup brushes all the time, you are probably looking for an easier solution. Did you know that you can just put them in the dishwasher and let the machine do all the hard work?

The hot water will help remove all the dead skin and bacteria off the brushes and thus disinfect them for the next use. However, make sure not to use the highest temperature setting to avoid any damage to these delicate products.

Okay, by now you might think we are joking with all these cooking tips but we are as serious as we can get. If you’ve tried the chicken or the shrimp hack, you will love the lobster cooking trick with the dishwasher machine.

If you want a fancy dinner prepared in a rather strange manner, do the following: cut the lobster into small pieces, season them and place them in a glass jar. Close the jar tightly to prevent air from going inside and run the normal cycle on the machine. Voila, your dinner will be ready soon!

When an old dishwasher just stops working, it doesn’t mean you have to get rid of it. There is always a way to reuse old things and give them a new purpose. In this case, you can use the old dishwasher as a garden bed.

Fill it with dirt and compost, plant some flowers and you will be surprised how beautiful it can look after a while. You can even go a step further and grow veggies in the new garden beds if gardening is your thing!

Dryer filters tend to get dusty and they sometimes collect lint too, which makes them very difficult to clean by hand. However, you can clean the dryer filter by placing it in the dishwasher and using the hot water settings to get all the dirt out.

This will remove any debris that might be blocking the filter and make your dryer work better than ever. What a way to use one machine to get the other machine to work more efficiently! Talk about household hacks!

Cleaning your toothbrush in the dishwasher isn’t the only way these two items can work together. This hack can go both ways, as you can also use a toothbrush to clean the dishwasher. Before it gets too confusing, we’ll break it down.

Dishwashers have a lot of small parts that might not be as reachable as the majority of the interior. These are the parts that can accumulate the most dirt and debris over time, which can cause bad smells and malfunctioning. Instead of letting your dishwasher get too dirty, give it a good cleaning every once in a while using a toothbrush to reach those hard-to-reach places.

One more thing you can wash in the dishwasher are cleaning brushes. After sweeping the entire household, your brushes are likely to get dirty and filled with dangerous germs.

Place them on the top rack of your dishwasher and run the load on a normal cycle to wash all your cleaning tools and accessories. This way, they will be fresh and ready to use the next time you have to clean the house.

If you are cooking a dishwasher dinner for multiple people, consider adding more kinds of dishes to it. For example, you can prepare lasagna in the dishwasher the same way you would in an oven. The only difference is that your guests probably never tried a dishwasher lasagna.

Prepare the meal the same way you would in an oven, just this time wrap it tightly in aluminum foil. Place it in the dishwasher and activate the normal cycle with the “heated dry” option. The additional heat will cook the lasagna perfectly.

While this is not as shocking as cooking in the dishwasher, it is a great trick to keep your household clean. Light fixtures are one of those items that get dusty the most but we rarely have time or patience to deal with them.

Luckily, you can place your light fixtures in the dishwasher and get amazing results with little to no effort at all. Make sure not to include any electrical pieces and don’t forget to set the dishwasher on a low temperature.

Here’s one hack that will help improve the efficiency of the machine. Sometimes, dishwashers cannot access hot water right away so it takes them time to heat it up and complete the cycle while delivering the expected result.

However, this little trick will help the machine run with hot temperature right on the first cycle. Before you turn it on, run the faucet in the sink until hot water comes out. That way, it will be readily accessible as soon as you turn on the machine.

Kitchen sponges are constantly submerged in water and cleaning supplies. No wonder why they get soggy and smelly so quickly. However, you don’t have to throw away the soggy sponges every time.

You can use your dishwasher to freshen them up at a high temperature that kills any harmful bacteria. This will remove unpleasant smells and make your sponges look as good as new. Place the sponges in the machine and turn on the rinse feature at high temperature.

A dishwasher can not only serve as a backup oven but it can also serve as a microwave in times of need. That’s right, you can use it to warm up food and leftovers from last night’s dinner and make yourself a very impressive breakfast.

Just place the food in the dishwasher, either wrapped in aluminum foil or closed tightly in a glass jar. Then turn on the “heat/dry” mode without any water and your meal will be heated up sooner than you would expect it!

Some people get rid of their dish racks after purchasing a dishwasher thinking they won’t be washing dishes by hand anymore. However, sometimes you only have one or two pots you need washed right away and it makes no sense to waste water and detergent in the machine on two dishes.

That’s why you still have to wash some dishes by hand even though you own a dishwasher. The only problem is, you no longer have a dish rack. Luckily, you can use the racks inside the dishwasher to dry the dishes you washed by hand and save space at the same time.

We use house keys every day and we tend to place them on dirty surfaces outside our home. When you come back, you most likely place the keys in a drawer or the shelf in the hallway. However, do you ever think about all the bacteria that can pile up on these keys?

A good way to disinfect house keys is to place them in the cutlery rack of the machine and run the regular cycle. However, instead of letting them air dry, make sure to take the keys out right away and dry them to prevent rust from forming.

Faux flowers are a great decorative solution for people who don’t have a green thumb. Sometimes, maintaining plants gets so difficult that you wish to replace all of them with plastic decorations.

The only downside of having faux flowers is that they accumulate a lot of dust over time. However, you can clean them easily on the top rack of your dishwasher but make sure not to use detergent during the cycle.

Vacuum parts are a true nightmare to clean, especially if you haven’t cleaned them in a while. With all the dust and dirt that gets sucked in every day, your vacuum probably looks like a disaster.

Luckily, you can wash vacuum parts in the dishwasher and remove all the dirt with ease. The dishwasher will also disinfect the items so your vacuum will be cleaner than ever. Make sure to dry the items right after the wash to avoid any damage.

Baseball gloves, shoes, and other sports equipment can be difficult to clean. Besides the dirt from the outdoor terrains, these items are often covered in sweat and bacteria, which is why they need a thorough wash after use.

You can wash your sports equipment in the dishwasher by turning the machine on to the highest speed without any detergent. That way, you will sanitize all the equipment and give it a thorough wash without damaging it.

Did you ever think of washing your pet’s collar? They get dirty quite easily and you need to wash them on a regular basis. Luckily, you can just throw them in the dishwasher to save time and they will come out looking as good as new.

However, make sure not to use detergent while washing the collars, as this could cause irritation on the pet’s skin. When it comes to pet products, washing should be kept natural and odor-free. One more thing, make sure not to wash leather collars in the dishwasher.

Cleaning children’s toys can be a tiring task, especially if you have a full box of them to go through. Luckily, you can just place them in a dishwasher and get it over with all at once. Run the regular cycle with detergent to make sure the toys are thoroughly cleaned.

However, try not to put any small parts or toys with detachable parts in the dishwasher, as these can get stuck in the drainage system. Overall, cleaning toys in the dishwasher will become your next favorite household task!