Fall Vacation - Day 05/06 - Kyoto

Kyoto has to be my favorite cities within the Kansai region, and it was once the ancient capital of Japan. Kyoto is famous for many classic aspects of Japan, such as having various Shinto and Buddhist Shrines, and the very well-known Geisha area Gion. Geishas are Japanese female entertainers that are experts in traditional Japanese songs, dance and performing as hosts for the ancient Japanese tea ceremony. They are mainly found in the Gion District of Kyoto!

My first visit to Kyoto was back in 2017, and my last visit was in 2023. This city is actually my favorite city within the Kansai region among others. I decided to re-visit this city again by staying here for 3 days.

We made use of our JR passes, and we took the JR train from Osaka to Kyoto which took about 45 minutes of travelling on the special rapid train service. We purchased the famous Butaman buns from Horai 551 from Shin-Osaka station before boarding the train. We ate them as our lunch. The Butaman and Shumai tasted delicious and it was definitely worth the wait!

Upon reaching Kyoto JR station, we headed straight to The Thousand Kyoto Hotel which was just a stone's throw away from the JR Central Entrance. 

I loved how I had to walk through a tunnel-like path that lead to a spacious lobby area with a high ceiling, as it gave me a calming and relaxing mood. Each night, the hotel will showcase a few minutes of a light show on the grand staircase at the lobby area. It was pretty eye-catching and entertaining.

I loved the design of The Thousand Kyoto Hotel, which seamlessly blends traditional Japanese elements with modern architecture.

I was pleasantly surprised by my stay experience. The sizeable bed was undeniably comfortable. 

Rokujuan is a historic Kyoto tea house known for its beautiful, traditional setting in a former artist's residence and its unique 'Hanawarabi' mochi, which features edible flowers. 

Before leading us to our table, the staff gave us an informative tours of the 100-year-old building. 

The delicious traditional treats like Hanawarabi and other sweets served with tea. 

The mochi was so soft and jiggly I could barely pick it up with my chopsticks. It was the most beautiful warabi mochi I've had. 

A traditional Japanese shaved ice dessert — light, refreshing, and perfect for Kyoto's hot days (available till end of October)

Rokujuan Tea House is a must-visit for tea enthusiasts seeking traditional Japanese sweets, like the famous Hanawarabi mochi. Reservations are highly recommended. 

After desserts, we made our way to Nishiki Market by foot. It is in Downtown Kyoto. It is also known as ‘Kyoto's Kitchen’ or ‘Japan's Pantry’ and is an incredibly popular food spot both with tourists and locals.

We explored the delicious food options under a covered pedestrian arcade lined with 135 open-fronted shops selling seafood, produce, souvenirs, crafts, and Japanese snacks.

It is a must-visit destination for traditional Japanese cuisine! 

One must come to watch the Geisha when visiting Gion. Hence, we went to Gion Corner to purchase our tickets to watch a traditional Japanese Geisha performance from KLOOK prior to our trip.

The show took about an hour, and various kinds of traditional Japanese art was shown. These ranged from a Kyogen classic comedy, performed by male jesters, to the Tea Ceremony, which naturally, was performed by the Geisha. The show is very popular with Japanese and foreign tourists.

I was glad to have attended the show, as it was really an eye opener for me! After the show, we headed for our izakaya dinner.  We settled at Soba-Shubō Tokubei which was located at the Kyoto Station Building.

The interior of the restaurant is cozy and inviting, with traditional Japanese decor and a relaxing atmosphere.

We ordered many items to share among ourselves. The total damage was reasonable at only SGD150 for the 4 of us, which included Sake & beers!

Our hotel included breakfast, and after our brekkie, we visited a unique Japanese-style Starbucks located in the tourist area of Ninenzaka, with a tatami mat section. The building was very beautifully decorated in a traditional Japanese style.

The Gion Kyoto Starbucks officially called the ‘Kyoto Ninenzaka Yasaka Chaya Tea House’ in Higashiyama - is one of the most historical and well-preserved districts in the city. It is also the world's first Starbucks joint with tatami seating.

It's a great place to experience a traditional Japanese atmosphere along with tasty coffee. This tea house is located at a highly populated tourist area, so do expect crowds and long waiting times for tables, especially for the tatami seating.

Kyoto is one of the best-known cities in Japan that is home to many famous shrines/temples, and the Kiyomizu-dera is the most iconic temple in Kyoto, therefore it is a Must-Visit when you are in Kyoto.

Our friends were looking forward to the much-anticipated Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, and on our own previous trip here, we managed to ballot for and purchase tickets online prior to our trip when the museum opened in October 2024. All tickets are released as per a lottery draw system. There are no tickets on sale at the museum's premises. During this trip, the guys wanted to visit this iconic museum as they had never been, therefore we went through the ballot system, and we were fortunate to have obtained the tickets again.

We made our way to visit the museum, as our slot was at 3pm. It is located in the small town of Uji which required us to take the local line from Kyoto Station. After a fairly short walk from the nearest train, we discovered that the entrance to the Nintendo Museum was quite subtle - very understated and not what we were expecting at all. The location is in a very sleepy and old neighbourhood with very little amenities around.

The Nintendo Museum comprises of two floors of exhibits and gaming, a shop full of exclusive Nintendo merchandise, and a semi-themed café. Each Nintendo pass had 10 coins allocated to it, on which we could use to play games on the lower level of the museum. No photos were allowed at the main museum area. 

Without further ado, we began our Nintendo Museum experience. The first thing we did was to take pictures with the different coloured Toads. Various sound effects were played by touching their heads!

First things first! Learning from our previous experience, we highly recommended to our friends that we should head to the Nintendo Museum Gift Shop first, to pick up exclusive collectibles to avoid sold out situations. We learned from our mistakes during our first visit last year. We picked up limited-edition cushion controllers which were exclusively available at the museum. We still missed the Super Nintendo version, but we managed to the classic Family Computer version instead. We also pick up some cool collectibles from the gift shop!

Once we had finished our tour of the main exhibit area of the Nintendo Museum, we went downstairs to the main gaming area to use our credits. 

We also loved playing on the special classic NES, Wii, Super Nintendo Games using big controllers!

Overall, I loved using coins to play games, but I felt that this wouldn't be enough to keep the hype up for me to return a third time. It is definitely not something that I’ll be making a repeat visit to unless they unveil something amazing. I only agreed to come this time, as we went with our friends who are game fans of Nintendo and this was their first visit! Of course, I speak from a non-video game fan point of view, as my Baby and his friends absolutely loved the place. They basically became 'Kids' again while they were here.

We went to the semi-themed café to have a light bites before leaving the premises. 

Before leaving the premises, we took a photo with the iconic Super Mario Green Pipes.

We headed down Shijo-dori Shopping Street to do more shopping! After that, we went for supper heading back to our hotel. We dined at Salada No Mise Sancho Kawaramachi - a Western-style restaurant specializing in fresh salads. 

Salada No Mise Sancho Kawaramachi offers traditional Japanese culinary elements with Western influences. We were in line for 20-25mins before we were ushered in. 

The salads were perfectly seasoned, and every dish was highly satisfying, and we agreed it was worth the wait. It was definitely a great meal for us!

We set off for our day trip to Kobe after our breakfast! KOBE BEEF, HERE WE COME! 

Stay tuned to our day trip to Kobe, Japan!