Kyoto in March — Records of Roam

Kyoto was our gut/top choice for where our home base should be for the month, but it was really a shot in the dark for us. It worked out in our favor! We were grateful for the opportunity to spend time visiting other cities in Japan during our stay (Osaka, Kanazawa, Tokyo), but in the end, we were happy we chose Kyoto as our home.

We stayed in a guesthouse, a unique situation for us. Japan accommodations are tiny, and we found a trade-off in staying at a B&B; although we didn’t have our own kitchen and living room (only a shared space downstairs), we had a brand new, full-size bedroom with a separate bathroom, larger shower, and huge outside patio.

Here are some of our highlights!

SHRINES & TEMPLES

Kyoto was the former capital of Japan, and its history is well-preserved; the city was spared from destruction during World War II.

There are over 2,000 shrines and temples in Kyoto, including 400 different shrines and about 1,600 different temples. We didn’t know the difference between a shrine and temple until we arrived in Japan: Shrines represent Shintoism, and temples are for Buddhism. The famous red “torii” gates are associated with Shinto shrines, while pagodas are found at Buddhist temples.

We had the opportunity to visit many shrines and temples during our month in Kyoto, including popular heavy hitters like Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji, and Fushimi Inari, as well as many smaller ones we would pass daily on our walks around town.

On one of our first days of sightseeing, we visited the Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu-dera. We saw many young Japanese women dressed in rental kimonos, snapping photos in front of iconic shrines and temples.

On the way to Kiyomizu-dera, we walked up through a maze of charming old streets within the Higashiyama district, leading us to a beautiful view of Kyoto and the mountains in the distance.

We loved stumbling upon new shrines and temples, like the Yasui Konpiragu Shrine, which we found while walking through the Gion district. It features an odd stone sculpture with a hole, covered in white paper wishes. We participated in the ritual of writing a wish on a piece of paper, then crawling through the hole in order to bind good relationships or sever bad ones!

KYOTO BY BICYCLE

Kyoto’s center has flat streets and a grid system, which was very bike-friendly! We noticed that bicycle was a popular mode of transit for many in the city; Jeff rented a bike for a couple weeks, and one day, we rented one for me, too, for us to enjoy a day together on bikes.

We started our bicycle day by cruising along the Kamo River northward to a temple that was having a monthly craft market that I wanted to check out. The market was bigger and busier than we expected, (especially in the middle of the day on a weekday!), but had nice handmade goods. We picked up a couple souvenirs, then biked to a nearby lunch spot called Masugataya, a locals spot which was known for its daily lunch special of a bowl of udon + two saba sushi nigiri for $10.

After lunch, Jeff suggested we bike to Kinkaku-ji, a popular temple that was still on our checklist to see. It was almost 4pm by the time we arrived there, so we thought the temple would be less crowded, but there was still a steady flow of people walking through! The temple was quite a sight, covered in gold. The scene was truly beautiful, set in a garden with pond and little islands with trees.

Jeff was inspired to find a “golden beer" to cap off the day, so our next stop was a spot he had found called Bungalow which served Japanese craft beers and a variety of small plates. The first beer on the menu was a “golden pilsner," which was too perfect! We ordered a couple dishes to start, and they were so tasty that we ordered a few more and made it our dinner. The food was really good, and the items we ordered were a refreshing change from the oodles of noodles and sushi we had been having. We loved their potato salad topped with egg, lamb curry, and fried chicken.

Before dropping off my bike, we stopped for dessert at Cafe Independants. I had a tasty hefeweizen from Osaka’s Minoh Brewery, and Jeff had a chocolate stout. We ordered a “matcha” tiramisu, which was delicious!

A DAY IN ARASHIYAMA

One day, we took the bus to Arashiyama, a neighborhood known for its bamboo forest. We hopped on the bus, which took us on an easy 40-minute ride to Arashiyama in western Kyoto. Our first stop was %Arabica, a popular coffee shop we had been wanting to try. We walked along the river to it and had great timing - the line was short! We ordered a couple lattes, then set off walking down the river. After walking up to an observation point, we found ourselves entering the bamboo grove through the backside, which turned out to be perfect - we walked against the traffic through the forest!

The bamboo grove was beautiful. Even with other tourists, it still felt serene. We loved looking up to see the light, yellow canopy swaying in the breeze. It was busy but not insanely crowded, and the other tourists passed through pretty quickly, snapping photos and moving on (not even stopping to look at the actually trees!). Jeff commented that the roots almost resembled little soba noodles, and it was fascinating to touch and knock on the hollow trunks.

After passing through, we stopped to pick up a few beautiful hand-painted postcards from a friendly old Japanese man, then decided to bypass the crowded nearby Tenryu-ji temple and Nonomiya shrine. Instead, Jeff led us to an amazing temple that a friend had recommended (thanks, Justin!) called Otagi Nenbutsu-ji. Our route there took us on back streets which were charming; it felt similar to Higashiyama, but the streets were vacant.

We continued walking the quiet streets until we arrived at Otagi, which was a special experience. We had the good fortune of not only enjoying a quiet walk alone to the temple, but we nearly had the temple to ourselves during our visit! The temple was amazing, our favorite yet. It features 1,200 hand-carved statues, all with different expressions - so incredibly fascinating! The statues revealed such personalities and were each individual characters, found in organized rows throughout the temple grounds. Many were weathered with moss. We could have spent all day admiring each unique statue!

After an incredible, surreal experience, we were hungry for lunch. Jeff led us to the restaurant he had marked for the day, Arashiyama Yoshimura, which specialized in soba noodles. They sat us upstairs at corner seats overlooking the river, which was perfect for gazing and people watching! We both got the set order which featured two types of cold soba, including one for dipping, along with tempura shrimp and veggies over rice. It was amazing - by far the best soba noodles I’ve ever had!

THE BEST IN TOFU

Kyoto is known for its tofu, and we enjoyed a variety of versions of tofu in the city and across Japan! Some of our favorite tofu dishes included chilled tofu with ginger and lime at Sake 336, the tofu burger at Mumokuteki, and sweet fried tofu with udon noodles.

MARKETS

Kyoto’s main daily food market is Nishiki Market, which we were eager to visit. WOW! We were in awe as we passed through the narrow, covered alley filled with vendors selling crazy seafood (little octopus on skewers! giant oysters!) and food on sticks, along with dessert shops selling mochi and random shops selling chopsticks and other goods. It was amazing! We tried flame-grilled scallops on a stick, fried chicken topped with green onions and cod roe mayo, and takoyaki (octopus balls)! The Japanese sure love fishy flavors coupled with squishy textures!

We also discovered many monthly handicraft and flea markets, each located at different shrines/temples.

RAMEN COOKING CLASS

We enjoy taking cooking classes while traveling, and we thought it would be fun to learn to cook a Japanese classic! There were more cooking class options in Tokyo, but after some research, I found a ramen class in Kyoto. It was a cold, rainy day when we took the class, which was perfect!

The class was fun and low-key, and we had the chance to prepare the chicken, broth, and handmade noodles from scratch. Jeff and I devoured our bowls of ramen! It was a good time, and we enjoyed the similarities in pasta-making with our Tuscany class.

PHILOSOPHER’S PATH & SAKURA

We had hoped to catch the arrival of cherry blossoms (known as sakura) during our visit to Japan, but were not optimistic when we found out that they don’t bloom until the first week of April. Fortunately, we were very lucky - the cherry trees began to bloom a week earlier than average, allowing us to enjoy the first blooms!

During one of our last days in Kyoto at the end of the month, we spent the afternoon along Philosopher’s Path, a popular stone path along a canal which is lined with hundreds of cherry trees. We loved our leisurely walk along the path, hopping back and forth over the bridges to different sides. We were so grateful to have the opportunity to see the cherry blossoms and to have beautiful weather to enjoy them.

We also ventured off the path to visit the nearby Honen-in Temple. It was located in a beautiful wooded setting; we loved the lush moss and the exposed roots of the trees.

Our next stop was a return visit to our favorite udon noodles at Okakita. We took our time on the walk there and experienced a lovely moment as a result. While sitting on a ledge for a rest, a Japanese man on a bicycle came up to talk to us; he asked if he could practice his English with us, and we happily obliged, having a conversation with a very upbeat, positive stranger. It was a reminder of the unexpected joyful moments we can encounter when we take time to stop, and not be too narrowly focused on navigating from point A to B all the time.

We devoured our delicious bowls of udon at Okakita; Jeff ordered beef and onion, while I tried the deep-fried tofu (delicious!). On the walk home, we encountered more beautiful cherry blossoms along the Takasegawa river canal.

FOOD

I’ve already mentioned the amazing tofu, udon, and soba noodles, but there was so much more! We had fantastic ramen, okonomiyaki, yakitori, sushi, gyoza, and delicious wagyu beef. We also tried oden, a traditional Japanese stew, which was another good dish on chilly nights.

On nights that we didn’t go out for dinner, we often picked up takeaway items from a nearby grocery store that had a great selection of sushi, gyoza, and more goodies.

FRENCH OBSESSION

An unexpected delight of Kyoto (and Japan) was the presence of French bakeries and restaurants. Although we discovered that Kyoto was full of boulangeries, our favorite was Liberte, where we fell in love with a chocolate banana croissant. We also enjoyed trying a Japanese specialty called kare pan which was a savory bun filled with curry, topped with cheese.

Another treat was having crepes for brunch a couple times - a fun break from Japanese cuisine!

COCKTAILS & CRAFT BEER

We found some unique bars in Kyoto including Chez Quasimodo (a cozy “grandpa’s house”-style bar spinning old jazz records), Before9 (a hip craft beer bar serving small plates), and Bunkyu.

Bunkyu was a small, dark one-room “bar” with just eight seats around a big wooden table. The bartender was a soft-spoken Japanese man named Nao who collected handwritten recommendations from tourists, which he put into little notebooks; we were happy to contribute our own list for San Francisco, and in return, we received his Kyoto recommendations! It was a fun, intimate experience. We even tried his house-made specialty drink, a green tea-infused Japanese whiskey!

GOODBYE, KYOTO

On our last day in Kyoto, we had some errands to run, but there was one more place on our checklist to see before leaving: Fushimi Inari.

Fushimi Inari is one of the most famous and popular shrines in Japan; it's dedicated to the god of rice. The shrine is famous for its thousands of torii (red gates) lined up along a path to Mt. Inari.

We were surprised by how crowded Fushimi was when we arrived; we expected the crowds to be lighter since we got there at 5pm and the sunset was at 6pm. The beginning section of the famed torii had us feeling like cattle in the herd, but we stuck it out and were rewarded with a thinner crowd further along. It felt magical to hold hands and walk through the tunnel of torii, like walking through a secret passage to another world. We were surprisingly able to snag a couple good photos with just a little bit of patience.

As we walked back toward the entrance, we stopped on the steps to enjoy the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset over the mountains in the distance, perfectly framed by a large torii gate...truly a perfect farewell to Kyoto.

We loved living in Kyoto for the month of March. The old, preserved neighborhoods and historical sights gave us a taste of the Japan of our imagination, and the quieter pace suited us better than Tokyo.