Kyoto (Japan)

Kyoto: 

Kyoto did not disappoint.  The city is arguably the most picturesque spot in all of Japan.  Many travelers claim it’s their absolute favorite city in the country, and I can tell you right now, it lived up to the  hype.  As more than a million foreign visitors discover every year, Kyoto seamlessly serves up zen gardens, cool temples, world-class shopping, mouth-watering cuisine, and some of the most diverse accommodation options anywhere on the map.

Bullet Trains

The high-speed Shinkansen train ride from Tokyo took about two and a half hours, marking the very first leg of our 21-day unlimited JR Rail Pass.   If you’re lucky enough to score a window seat on the Tokaido Shinkansen on a cloudless day, catching a glimpse of Mt. Fuji is the absolute highlight of the trip.

The train was fast, unbelievably comfortable, and efficient.  The entire journey had me wondering why similar high-speed rail lines aren’t crisscrossing the major cities back home in the USA.  It would be the absolute ideal way to shuttle passengers between western hubs like Las Vegas, San Diego, LA, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco.

The ride really brought to light, once again, how America’s antiquated public transportation infrastructure is embarrassingly far behind most other first-world nations we’ve visited.  If the Hyperloop ever comes to fruition and doesn’t just turn out to be a total pipe dream, hopefully, Elon Musk’s vision will eventually rectify this.

Settling down in the Gion District

When it came to picking a base camp, we narrowed our choices down to the flashy downtown area on the west side of the Kamo River, or the historic Gion district.  Downtown has most of the action, shopping, and heavy food options, but you can tell it has lost a bit of its old-world charm to modern development over the years.  All the flashy neon signs around were likely hand-painted wood decades ago.

Instead, we elected to stay in the quieter, atmosphere-oozing neighborhood of Gion (specifically the Rokuhara neighborhood in the Higashiyama Ward).  It just felt like a far more authentic alternative, well away from the commercial shopping district.

Our Airbnb was perfectly situated just down the block from a really good specialty supermarket called Happy Rokuhara.  That market absolutely delivered pure happiness to us daily with the freshest, highest-quality prepared foods, sushi, and mouth-watering sashimi.

Honestly, the food offerings here made us a little too lazy.  We found ourselves buying heaps of premium prepared market food and simply heading back to our apartment to chow down, completely skipping the chore of venturing out for dinner.

The historic Gion district happens to be Japan’s oldest and most famous Geisha district.  The entire area is packed with ancient wooden buildings, and if you time it right, you can get a firsthand glimpse of a real Geisha gracefully heading to work.  It is an unmatched spot for Geisha spotting.

By basing ourselves here, we were right in the heart of the most beautiful ancient temples and shrines Japan has to offer.  The famous pedestrian streets of Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka are touristy, but in a highly tactful, preserved way.  They are lined with old-school wooden storefronts, cozy traditional teahouses, and local restaurants.

The quaint, historic atmosphere gave me serious flashbacks to the old town of Hoi An, Vietnam. From what I observed, major global brands have shown remarkable respect for Kyoto’s traditional aesthetics and have invested heavily in blending in.

Big Doug Note: A prime example of this local preservation is the world’s first Tatami-styled Starbucks, located right inside a two-story Japanese home built over 100 years ago. It easily goes down as one of the coolest Starbucks to loiter at for an extended period of time.

After sucking down our cup of java, we headed just down the alleyway to the nearby, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist temple.  The walk up the narrow, rising laneways to the temple was incredibly festive because we had the good fortune of timing it perfectly with the Blue Dragon Parade, a spectacle that only happens five times a year.

We also dropped by several other heavy hitters in the area, including the Kenninji, Kodai-ji, Sanjusangen-do, and Chion-in temples.  Big Doug and Flashpacking Barbie aren’t exactly massive temple purists—we got seriously “Wat-ed out” after months of exploring Southeast Asia.  But I have to admit, these Kyoto temples, along with the shitload of others spread across the city, are genuinely cool to check out.

The Kyoto Hit List

The absolute best way to take in Kyoto is to either walk it or rent a bicycle.  It is an extremely bike-friendly city.  Here’s a breakdown of the activities that kept us busy during our stay:

• Kamo River: A massive local hangout. It’s the perfect spot to take a long walk and just chill out along the riverbanks with the locals.
• Pontocho Alley: A stunningly long, ultra-narrow alleyway packed to the brim with local nightlife and tons of hidden restaurants.
• The Shopping Strips: If you need a retail fix, Kawaramachi-dori, Kiyamachi-dori, Gokomachi-dori, and Shijo-dori are the main arteries, alongside the famous Nishiki Market for wild street eats.
• Arashiyama District: Located about 30 minutes outside of the city center in the northwest corner, this is where you go to get back into nature. Beyond the famous Bamboo Grove and the quaint town shops selling local snacks, the undisputed highlight was a steep 20-minute hike up to the Iwatayama Monkey Park. We got to hang out face-to-face with wild snow monkeys—the only breed of monkey on earth capable of surviving freezing terrain for extended periods.
• Owl Cafe Redux: Barbie and I previously loved playing with the birds at an Owl Cafe back in Tokyo. Personally, I was perfectly content with my single owl encounter. However, the second we walked past another Owl Cafe in Kyoto, I knew my animal-loving partner was dragging me in for round two. In we went, and I actually ended up having a killer time staring into the trippy, magnificent eyes of these creatures.  The owl guy below was my favorite and he goes by the name of Mr. Yamashita.

 

Thru the Binocs

Our time is officially up in Kyoto, and we are heading south to Osaka—a lightning-fast 20-minute Shinkansen ride away.

Right before we packed up our bags to leave Kyoto, we caught wind of some crazy news: Typhoon Talim had slammed into Taiwan and was tracking directly toward us in Japan.

Of course, we had absolutely no clue this was happening.  Because almost nobody speaks English out here, and because the Japanese are notoriously cool as a cucumber, there wasn’t a single sign of panic or concern on the streets.  To add to our total ignorance, every Airbnb we’ve stayed in has a TV, but not a single English-speaking news channel exists.  We were completely in the dark.

It turns out ignorance really is bliss.  We never spent a single second worrying about the weather, and the typhoon fortunately steered clear of our sushi-eating butts.