The Winter Arashiyama Lantern Festival

Kyoto has been cold at nights and in the mornings since I had come back from a one-week holiday in Melbourne, Australia.

The winter is coming here and reddened tree leaves are seen and some of them are scattered. It's a busy peak tourist season here once again!

Reddened tree leaves

An annual winter lantern festival is being held at Arashiyama, the famous as the bamboo forest, between 8th and 17th December.

The Arashiyama Winter Lantern Festival (picture taken in 2015)

It will bring you a precious holiday here in Kyoto.

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I am announcing that I have decided that this post will be the last one here on the Kyo Sensational Blog. Now I have found I had more things to write rather than just Kyoto.

These would include my travel experiences, sports, public issues.

I am launching a new blog soon and will release the name and concepts once the progresses have been done.

Thank you for wonderful supports on this blog and viewing blogs and leaving comments on the new blog page would be much appreciated.

I wish you (my awesome, loyal and encouraging readers) all the best.

My tips travelling to tourist attractions

Many City buses are crowded and often over crowded. Do you want to experience facing such crowds on your holiday when you want to relax and enjoy?

Kyoto City Council is examining collecting fares on board on the Express 100 buses that are busiest bus route in Kyoto. But in my opinion such movements won't ease travel times, unless prepaid services like all Melbourne public transport services with Myki card.

I was about to write more about this issue here, but instead give you some tips to make your trips to your favourite tourist attractions easier and more comfortable.

To be honest riding a bike is the best way to explore Kyoto. I am providing tips for travellers who want to use public transport to explore Kyoto.

Arashiyama - JR Sagano Line's local or rapid train is the best from Kyoto Station as it's much faster than bus. If you are in the city centre such as Shijo Kawaramachi or Shijo Karasuma, catch Hankyu train to Umeda. Transfer at Katsura for an Arashiyama bound train.

Kiyomizu Temple - Long queues are formed at the bus dedepot at Kyoto Station for services going through Gojo Zaka, the closet stop to the temple. Walk to Shichijo Station on Keihan Railway for ten minutes from Kyoto Station and catch a Demachiyanagi bound local train and get off at Kiyomizu Gojo. Then walk to the temple.

Fushimi Inari - Even the shrine is covered with a one day bus pass, never catch a city bus. You will end up waiting ages to board a bus after visiting there. Local train on JR Nara Line or Keihan Railway is the easiest, fastest and most comfortable way to travel from Kyoto Station or city centre.

Nanzen-ji and Eikando - Travelling on the Route 5 bus is for nightmare as it's travelling through the congested Shijo Street and buses are packed during peak seasons. Catch underground train / subway / metro from Kyoto Station to Keage on the Tozai Line (transfer at Karasuma Oike) and walk to the temple. It's much faster and more comfortable.

Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) - City Bus Route 17 is the least crowded to get there from Kyoto Station, comparing with the Express 100 and Route 5 services. If you get fit, you can walk to the Keihan Shichijo Station getting a train to Demachiyanagi and then walk to the temple.

Gion - If you want to avoid over crowded Express 100 or Route 206 bus, try Express 110 or Extra bus services. Alternatively take a Keihan Railway train to Gion Shijo and walk.

Do you have any suggestion? Or want further advice?

Please comment below and I am happy to take your advice or answer your questions.

Happy travel planning!!

Event Information - Kyoto Nippon Festival

Hi Kyo Sensational fans,

I apologise for not updating the blog for a while and my laziness.

Recently I have found an event post on the community notice board near my home.

It is called Kyoto Nippon Festival being held from 21st October to 3rd December. The event is the mixture of traditional culture, art, foods and music.

Their slogan is handing over Japanese beauty to the future (younger generations).

You will feel the traditional and unique Japanese culture by attending the event in the world's popular and unique tourist city of Kyoto.

The main programme is the solo exhibition of kami no Mani Mani. drawn by the modern artist of Chihiro Nagashima. Other featuring events include the exhibition of Marika Ito, an exclusive restaurant run by Kyoto Kiccho and flower arrangement workshops.

Ito is a member of the girls band of Nogizaka 46 and creates the mixture and unique crafts of fashion, art, movie and radio. Her exhibition is a collection of her crafts made of views of her brain with her talents.

Kyoto Kiccho offers traditional Japanese foods with ingredients harvested and grown in Japan. They also create unique atmosphere and services so that their customers enjoy meals with five human senses.

You will have autumn Japanese flowers at the flower arrangement workshop. Joining the workshop would be your wonderful Japanese experiences with unique flowers as a memorial present.

The venue is Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in the north west suburb of Kyoto.

City Bus is the best way to get there. Catch Route 50 or Express 101 at Kyoto Station Bus Terminal stop B2. If you are in the city centre (Shijo Kawaramachi), the Route 203 (the anticlockwise) is convenient.

Their official website (www.kyotonippon.com) is only in Japanese, so please don't hesitate to ask me for further information.

Don't go to Ki Bar in Kyoto!

I wish I could only write positive stuffs, but today have to write negative issue because I don't want anyone to have bad experiences during your stay in Kyoto.

DO NOT GO TO KI BAR IN PONTO-CHO!!!

On my arrival, I was not greeted or welcome or asked anything even it was the first time to drink there. The male bartender who has tattoos in his arm (I think is American) was so rude. Even when I tried to order beer, he told me to wait with non verbal communication (body language) as talking to his colleagues/mates.

Drinks are bloody expensive. 500 yen Edamame wasn't cooked properly and its proportion is so small. It's much under valued.

There are better pubs in Kyoto. But drinks there are so expensive. The hostel bar near Kyoto station is quite cheap and a good place to drink, I reckon. Alternative Geal in Gion is a good Irish pub although drinks are still expensive.

Cheers/Kanpai

Noodles with cold soups in the hot summer

At first, my apology for not providing the blog specialising in Kyoto. But I offer the tips what to eat on hot and humid days in Kyoto and other parts of Japan.

Your appetite might be low due to the hotness and humidity. Then noodles with cold soups are for you.

Cold ramen, also called hiyashi chuka in the Japanese language, is served with toppings that can be sliced cucumbers, hams, fried eggs and tomatoes. The popular sauce is soy sauce based, followed by sesami flavoured one.

Cold ramen cooked by the author

Other options are cold soba and udon. Soba can be hard to be seen in Kyoto and expensive, but is my favourite noodle. You can find cheap udon restaurants in town.

Enjoy touring around Kyoto in the summer with nice cold noodles.

Quiet Peace Places to Visit

You will see many tourists in most of tourist attractions in Kyoto. Are you sick and tired of visiting these sites? If so, visiting the Kamigamo Shrine on the north is ideal.

Even a world heritage site, the shrine is quiet and tranquility. Maybe it is not known well or it is far away from the central railway station or city centre?

I visited the shrine on a Saturday and was surprised to see it was so quiet. You will have relaxing and peace times with fresh air. Then Japanese experiences add.

Unusual roundabout in Kyoto (actually whole in Japan)

Kamigamo Shrine

The beautiful Kamo River is flown around the Shrine. The river bank pavements around there are quiet too and are good places to walk. You will enjoy the quiet suburb visit and some nature stuffs. And surprisingly it takes only twenty minutes to the closet subway station of Kitaoji.

Kamo River Pavements

Duck on the Kamo River

Buses run frequently to Kamigamo Shrine from Kyoto Station and City Centre (Shijo Kawaramachi / Shijo Karasuma).

Catch Route 9 bus from Kyoto Station and get off at Kamigamo Misono Bridge and cross the bridge to the shrine. Bus services are available every 10 minutes in the day time.

Alternative Route 4 buses will take you to the shrine directly from Kyoto Station and Shijo Kawaramachi.

Route 46 buses are running every 12 minutes in the day time from Gion, Shijo Kawaramachi and Nijo Station.

Deep fried beef - New Kyoto Cuisine

How are you travel lovers?

Probably you have heard tonkatsu (deep fried pork), the popular Japanese dish. How about gyukatsu (dep fried beef)? If the answer is no, don't worry as it's unique and we need to make it be aware publicly.

And let me to write about the new Kyoto cuisine.

You will go to a gyukatsu restaurant to get the unique meal. Katsugyu has several premises in Kyoto (city centre, near Gion and Kiyomizu Temple, and around Kyoto Station) so try one of chain restaurants. Then a combo meal will be served in a tray - main dish deep fried beef and sliced cabbage are on is coming with rice, miso soup, spice and sauce.

Gyukatsu (large deep fried beef of 160 grams) combo meal

The authentic meal is cooked in a fryer for a minute basically, so it is a deed fried version of beef steak.

Chain restaurant's first choice of enjoying the new cuisine is putting wasabi on the red meat at first and then dipping into soy sauce (the lighter colour sauce in the white dish on the left bottom).

Dipping gyukatsu into soy sauce

Putting wasabi and soy sauce is the way we eat sashimi (raw fish), so it's like eating sashimi and reminding me eating a  traditional Japanese meal. Diffetence between sashimi and gyukatsu is texture.

Then putting deep fried beef into the Japanese peppers (the middle spice in the white plate) reminds me western dining although westerners would put beef streak into sauces afterwards. The taste is good with salty and bit spicy.

Wulster sauce (dark coloured one in the white plate) is a smooth sauce specialising for deep fried pork in Japan and provided at Katsugyu too. Its sweet texture suits deep fried beef too and wasabi's spice brings fresh ideas to dine and makes interesting.

Dipping deep fried beef into wulster sauce

Graced yum brings cremy tastings and matches deep fried beef well. The combination relaxes me for a while even I like spicy foods and love wasabi. Also it's a good topping on rice.

Dipping deep fried beef into graced yum

Graced yum on rice

Curry and rice is a popular meal in Japan. It's everyone's favourite and you can't miss it! The curry sauce comes with the combo meal. Its moderated spicy texture once again is a good partner of deep fried beef. The spicy smooth texture makes the deep fried beef attractive and me wanting more rice. Indeed dipping sauce on rice is the same as eating curry and rice.

Dipping deep fried beef into curry sauce

Curry sauce on rice

I hope you will enjoy foods in Kyoto too. Happy planning guys! See you later!

Walking in Kyoto: Horikawa

Walking in Horikawa in the western suburb would be unique and you will find a less tourist place.

River bank footpath is located alongside Horikawa Street between Oshikoji Street (near Nijo Castle) and near Horikawa Imadegawa.

Nijo Castle

It's a small river and you will hear calm sounds of flowing water. Then you will relax and it's a good place to read as peace and quiet.

On hot days, putting feet onto the water would be nice to cool down yourself.

Stairs towards river bank footpath

Horikawa riverbank footpath

Also seeing an old arch bridge close to the north end could be interesting making walking the unique one.

Old arch bridge

Enjoy your Kyoto my loyal supporters!

Ryokan in crisis?

It's a shocking title but we have to act to keep traditional Japanese culture that is a positive one.

Ryokan, the Japanese Inns have serious problems, a local newspaper reports early last week.

They are struggling to find employees and to fund for the building maintenances.

Working hours are very long and most of these premises are family runs. They get up early to cook breakfasts and stay late to wash up after dinner and to look after premises.

Then these long working hours with such a lot of commitment push away young people to take over the positions. It's understandable because I got stressed due to long working hours and felling under the pressure a lot.

As the premises are small so employers cannot afford to hire many people, I assume.

Working conditions need to be improved to keep such good cultures that Western people will be attracted with.

I guess many locals would be sad to see Ryokan ceasing, so why not setting foundation up to keep nice traditional Inns? Tourism organisations can lead the project and ask relevant organisations such as tourist atttactions and transport operators to help Ryokan.

It's sad to see many independent shops are closed everywhere and losing uniqueness, but Ryokan can be owned by chains so that they can afford to hire more people to reduce working hours and stresses for their valued employees, I think.

I wish Ryokan survives forever.

Walking in Kyoto: City Centre and Imperial Palace

In the afternoon on another day in March, I went on a walk from Kyoto Station to Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Today's story is walking around City Centre and Imperial Palace. From Kyoto Station to City Centre (Shijo Kawaramachi), you can just walk alongside Kamo River that I have written about in the previous blog. Alternatively you can take Kawaramachi Street on the east of Kyoto Station where buses numbered 4, 17, 104 and 205 are travelling, or Karasuma Street (the main street adjoining Kyoto Station) and Shijo Street.

Shijo Kawaramachi is extremely busy on weekends with shoppers and tourists. And traffic around there is so busy too.

Busy Shijo Kawaramachi Intersection

Heavy traffic on Shijo Street in the city centre

Loads of department stores, restaurants, cafes and shops are located in the city centre and you can buy presents to your family and friends. Kimono, yukata (Japanese dresses similar to kimono; mostly wore when seeing firework displays and joining obon dances) and geta (Japanese shoes) can be purchased.

Roofs are installed on Shijo Street between Karasuma and Kawaramachi, and arcade shopping malls are located, so don't worry about getting wet!

Shinkyogoku Shopping Mall

Not only traditional Japanese items but also owl cafe and Japanese restaurant where you will be served by ninja are very unique at Shinkyogoku Shopping Mall.

The Owl Cafe

A Shrine called Nishiki Tenmangu is located alongside the shopping mall and you can visit to pray your wishes. And the famous Nishiki Market is located on the other side of the shrine over Teramachi Shopping Mall.

Nishiki Tenmangu 

Nishiki Market 

Teramachi and Shinkyogoku Shopping Malls are established south to north. Another arcade shopping mall called Sanjo Shotengai runs from west to east and adjoins those two shopping malls.

Sanjo Shotengai with streamers of cherries

It only lasts a few hundred metres between Kawaramachi and Teramachi but has nice restaurants, cafes and shops too.

At the north end of the Teramachi Shopping Mall, you can visit Honnoji Temple where a famous Samurai Nobunaga Oda was killed by the fire he lit up. Oda had been staying at the temple and was attacked by Mitsuhide Akechi who had served as a warrior for Oda but ended his loyalty and faithful to Oda. Oda set a fire attempting Akechi's attacks. The historical event is called "Honnoji no hen" in Japanese.

Also Kyoto City Hall (Kyoto City Council Office) is located across the road from the north end of the Teramachi Shopping Mall.

Kyoto City Hall

Even the arcade shopping mall is ended, shops, restaurants and cafes are still established on Teramachi Street towards north until Marutamachi Street that connects with Kyoto Imperial Palace Park.

Shop built as traditional Japanese building on Teramachi Street 

Turning left onto Marutamachi Street, you will get in Kyoto Imperial Place Park in a few minutes. Big black gates with roofs welcome you.

A Gate at Imperial Palace Park

The park is approximate 700 metres width and 1,300 metres length. It's a good place to relax and get refreshed as well as picnics. As there are many benches and some with benches, you can have meals in the park.

Imperial Park - Good place to relax

Visiting shrines and dropping by the lake will calm down and soothe you. It's a good relaxation in the post dealing with the busy city.

Nice views over the lake

In the north of the park, the Imperial Palace, the former residence house of Emperors (13th Century to 1869) is located. The palace is open to view to the public. You can view from 9 am to 5 pm Tuesday to Sunday except 28 December to 4 January. The last entry is 4.20 pm. In the autumn and winter, early closure may occur due to early sun set.

Please note that the Imperial Palace is closed on Tuesday when a public holiday falls Monday.

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Throughout the park, greeny trees bring you fresh air and relaxes you. Foods will be more delicious with fresh air in the park.

Plum trees and blossoms

Leaving the park in the north end near Doshisya University, I still saw trees planted between the park and Imadegawa Street that I was walking. It was a nice end of walking before boarding a bus at Kawaramachi Imadegawa going back to Kyoto Station.

Trees on Imadegawa Street

Walking in Kyoto: From Kyoto Station to Ginkaku-ji

I am a bike guy exploring Kyoto - mostly for exercises in many cases though. But on a Sunday in March, I spent a day walking around Kyoto to see places from different angles.

Today, I am writing the walking journey from Kyoto Station to Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion).

Walking on the river bank brings fresh air and relaxing. Does it happen in your city or town? I feel refreshed while walking alongside Kamo River, the biggest one in Kyoto streaming from North to South.

Snowy Mountain and Kamo River

Kamo River

Off the river bank pavement and bike way, Gion is the must to see place as you may see Geishas walking around.

On the way to the traditional dining and entertainment suburb, I walked through a temple called Kenjin-ji. Over there, Geishas were photographed walking around with photographers.

Kenjin Temple

Geishas at Kenjin Temple

Then Gion was just at the corner. I entered the suburb at Gion Corner that is the theatre offering daily Geisha shows throughout the year except some days off. Tickets are available at their ticket office.

Hanami koji Street stretching Gion offers many luxury local cuisine restaurants (ryotei in Japanese) and red flamed street lights keep the street safe at night. Ryotei is the place where VIPs enjoy meals and entertainments, as well as to hold meetings for politicians.

Gion

After walking on Hanami koji Street, I walked on Shijo Street, the busiest street in Kyoto to go back to Kamo River bank footpath. The pavements are packed with horses of tourists at the weekends.

Unique traditional buildings with wooden balconies are the symbol of Ponto-cho, the other side of the river between Shijo Street and Sanjo Street.

You can enjoy foods and drinks at restaurants with wooden balconies from spring to autumn. These balconies are called Kawadoko in Japanese. Not only Japanese cuisines but also western foods are served at the restaurants with Kawadoko.

Restaurants with Kawadoko

Walking alongside the river bank for another 15 minutes, I got off the footpath and walked east towards Heian Shrine. It adjoins the Okazaki Park where flea markets are open occasionally. The shrine is quiet and peace.

Heian Shrine

Having sandwiches with coffee outside a convenience store near the shrine, the next destination was Nanzen-ji Temple. I went through the street surrounded by trees and a small river and a zoo was across the river.

Across the main street called Shirakawa Street, we can see restaurants located along the street and traditional region cuisine of yudofu, putting tofu and vegetables into the boiling water in a pot and taking out into soy based sauce.

Yudofu Restaurant near Nanzen-ji

Nanzen-ji is a quite big and relaxing temple. At the main temple building, you can light incents by kind donations and flow its smoke into your head praying for good.

Nanzen-ji 

A traditional Japanese Garden is adjoining the temple (admission fee will be charged), and waterway is on the small hill right to the temple.

My walking journey continued to the north heading to the Philosopher's Path. Surrounding area is peace and calm. In the middle way to the path, another calm temple called Eikando is located. Don't miss out if you go around there!

The south end of the Philosopher's Path is surrounded by a small shrine and trees with benches under trees. It's like a small park. Also you may be able to see cats at the 'park'.

Small Shrine by Philosopher's Path

A small river alongside the path relaxes and calms you. You can sit on the bench seeing the river and resting from a long day exploring Kyoto.

Small River alongside the Path

Also cafes in traditional Japanese buildings are located along the path to relax with coffee or tea, plus restaurants. You might find some lovely presents for your family and friends at one of shops alongside the Path.

Restaurant alongside the Philosopher's Path

Finally you will get to the small street towards Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion). It's time to see more and more people heading to the temple and who enjoyed seeing the temple.

Busy Street towards Ginkaku-ji 

As I had been to the temple before, I didn't get in this time. I just walked around to see how the area was busy. My long walking for day was supposed to end at the sign of the Philosopher's Path. But warm weather made me wanting an ice cream, so I ended up going to a supermarket hundreds metres down the road before catching a bus to Kyoto Station.

The sign of the Philosopher's Path 

How do you think about walking in Kyoto? Quite many western tourists do, especially young people. Or are you rather a cyclist? Riding a bike is great in Kyoto. Or do you rely on public transport? No matter how you travel, enjoy exploring Kyoto!

See you next time. Happy planning!!