Our hotel bathroom in Kyoto was filled with conveniences that were a testament to Japanese ingenuity: a warm toilet seat that sprayed water, a portion of the large mirror that remained clear even after an exceptionally invigorating and steamy shower, and a sophisticated hair dryer with more settings than I had hairstyles. However, as I was to discover on our hike through the countryside, these benefits were not always available. A stop at a teahouse illustrated another pervasive element of Japanese culture: the precision with which they do just about everything. The preparation of a simple cup of tea can be a time-consuming, labor-intensive, rule-bound, and ritualized ceremony. The same is true of a cocktail at a bar. Whether you prefer your drink shaken or stirred—and if shaken, the procedure resembles a professional maracas concert—an air of pomp and circumstance surrounds its presentation. From Kyoto and its 2,000 temples we …