Monday 18 February 2019

One Day in KYOTO @ Kyushu, Chūgoku & Kansai

Recap my last blog where we visited Kinosaki Onsen Town where strangers come together wearing yukata and clogs "kik kok" down the streets. 

This coming blog we will be talking about my day trip to Kyoto while residing in Osaka. 
For a better understanding, I decided to have a "stand alone" blog just on Kyoto only. 
Kyoto(京都)
Most visited city in Japan ! And This is our 2nd visit to this place! Mere 40min JR ride from Osaka! Our first visit to Osaka and Kyoto was in 2016, we were very impressed with these two cities. Osaka is so active and vibrant whereas Kyoto is tranquil and peace.


We stayed for a few nights on the previous trip and were travelling deep in this city, to know more please visit : http://followblueginger.blogspot.sg/2017/10/from-osaka-to-shirakawa-go-and-back-to.html



Kyoto (京都, Kyōto) served as Japan's capital and the emperor's residence from 794 until 1868. It is one of the country's ten largest cities with a population of 1.5 million people with a modern face.
Over the centuries, Kyoto was destroyed by many wars and fires, but due to its exceptional historic value, the city was dropped from the list of target cities for the atomic bomb and escaped destruction during World War 2. Today, the city is continuously undergoing modernization with some of the traditional Kyoto buildings being replaced by newer architecture.

Gion (祇園)

Our first stop in Kyoto is to visit Gion. 
We visited these areas in Gion : Hanami-koji, Shirakawa area, Gion corner, Shijo Avenue.

This is the most famous geisha district in Kyoto, it is located around Shijo Avenue between Yasaka Shrine in the east and the Kamo River in the west. It is filled with shops, restaurants and ochaya (teahouses), where geiko(Kyoto dialect for geisha) and maiko(geiko apprentices) entertains customers from all walks of lives.

Direction :
Gion can be reached from Kyoto station by bus number 100 or 206 (20 minutes, 230 yen). Get off at Gion bus stop. 


From here we slowly walked 5 minutes from Gion Bus stop to Gion Shirakawa.
The first thing to see here is this river.

This is Tatsumi Daimyōjin(辰巳大明神) which is located next to the river.
Right path lead you to Shinbashi-Dori and left path lead you to Gion Shirakawa. 

We start the walk from Shinbashi-Dori and walk a slight bigger round to Gion Shirakawa. 





Here is Gion Shirakawa.


 From here we stroll our way to Shijo-Dori, where the snow start to fall. 
See my boys, they are so excited!


 The snow is getting bigger now. And we reach Shijio-Dori.



OMG, even Pokémon-Go is snowing.. my first time seeing it in digital world.






We carry on walk further ...



This is my must buy snack in Kyoto.
But the life span is short thus I am not able to buy back to Singapore.





Despite our next destination is merely across the road but my boys are hungry so we went back to Kyoto station to fill up our tummies first before we head back to this place again. Boss had targeted a restaurant here so we must come back Kyoto station - one of the restaurant in Pronto Dining.


Higashiyama District

People been telling me,  a visit to Kyoto is not complete without a walk through the charming Sannenzaka & Ninenzaka. The path will eventually lead us to Kiyomizu-dera shrine (清水寺).We are so lucky today, it is snowing here. There are many people visiting this area and I felt it is abit over-rated and rather commercial. No doubt, I agreed with most people's view that these famous streets in Kyoto, lined with old wooden houses, traditional shops and restaurants in Japanese style buildings is indeed very charming. I think next time I should come here again early in the morning to beat the crowd to feel this place again. 











Kiyomizu-dera shrine (清水寺)
This is a UNESCO Heritage site! This temple is founded in year 778 and the building on current site was built since 1633. There is an amazing fact that there is not a single nail used in the entire structure. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, Kiyomizu means clear water. 









 The world's first tatami Starbucks is located here as well! But due to the huge crowd, we left the place early without locating this place. 

Direction : 
By Bus, from Kyoto station, about 15 minutes to Gojozaka stop, about 17 minutes to Kiyomizumichi stop, by bus with route No. 206, 208.
ps: it is walkable from Gion area. 



Sushi No Musashi
Address: 440, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto 604-8005 Japan
Located inside Kyoto station ( take note : Kyoto station is very big )



Just too much to chose from ....





















BF had 15 plates, Boss and me each had 13 plates, total 41 plates at SGD80! What a great deal for super fresh sashimi. 



Avanti Store

Address : ３１ Higashikujo Nishisannocho, Minami Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 601-8003, Japan

Located opposite of Kyoto Station's Mcdonalds. 

There is a store in the basement of Avanti that I always patronise for the bags. 2 years ago, I bought 6 Anelleo from here. This round, I bought 3 Legato.. 

I like this shop not only they have the "up to trend" bags, the staff here are kind and helpful too. 

See their collections .. all newly arrived that you cannot get in Singapore yet











Bonus : AE86 Specialist Shop(カーランド86) for Initial D fans

Address: ４５ Kamitoba Kitahananachō, Minami-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu 601-8127, Japan




BF been a fan of Initial D for quite some time. While we were here in Kyoto, he suddenly said want to go to this place and bugged us to go with him. We sorted out the timing and we let him lead the way. 

He told us to take a local line from Kyoto station to Kamitobaguchi station and walk 10 minute before we reached this place. BF was granted permission by the staff here to take photos here and he start clicking all the way on his camera. Even Boss also cannot contain the excitement when he saw the car with this label :"藤原豆腐店-自家用“.






We have reached the end of my One Day Kyoto trip.
Please continue to visit :
1) Osaka : brewing is still in the process







5) Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kitakyushu, Onomichi:     
6) Kinosaki Onsen Town:
https://followblueginger.blogspot.com/2019/01/kinosaki-onsen-town-2d1n-kyushu-chugoku.html
Overall for past 18 days, we spread our footprints :

If you are still keen to find out where are the other parts of Japan we had visited, please continue to browse through the main menu of the blog.

Thank you for dropping by.
Wish you good luck.



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