Kyoto

You could spend weeks in Kyoto and still want to see more, but with our limited time in Japan we only had time to do a couple of day trips there from Osaka and tried to squeeze in the highlights.  It used to be the capital city of Japan and has so many beautiful temples, shrines and palaces and so much history and tradition. 

I did consider staying there for a couple of nights, but I didn't want to stress about having to change accommodation again, waste time getting to and from more accommodation or travelling with our luggage. I also knew that we'd enjoy staying in Osaka more because we could go out at night and see and do more there. I also knew that Kyoto wasn't as easy to get around as Osaka and that you had to catch buses to most places anyway, so we may as well just do day trips on the train from Osaka. 

It is just a half an hour train trip from Osaka but it's still a big city, so I divided it up into two areas so that we weren't travelling right across the city in one day and wasting too much time. 

 

Our first day in Kyoto we went to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. When I think of Japan, I think of the thousands of red torii, so I knew that was one place I really wanted to visit. There was a train station right outside the area, so it was very easy to get to. As soon as we got off the train there were people everywhere. 

I didn't realise that the whole area was going to be so big. 

There were a lot of people dressed in traditional kimonos, which you can hire from nearby shops. They always look so beautiful. 

Right at the entrance is an alley way of food stalls and lots of shops for tourists. We bought food there for lunch before we left. 

To walk from the bottom to the top takes around one and a half to two hours. but we weren't planning on going all the way to the top.  I just wanted to go far enough to get away from the crowds. 

It was very busy at the start of the Torii gates. 

But the further you walked up, the less people there were around.  I had read that if you wanted it to be quiet that you should go really early in the day, but I'm so glad that we didn't because it just got quieter the further you walked up. We enjoyed sleeping in a bit each morning instead and just going out when we were ready. 

There were a few moments when there was no one around and we quickly took a photo before people were in the back of our photo again. 

When we got about a third of the way up there was an area with a shrine. It was nice to stop there and take photos as no one else was around for a while. 

We didn't go any further up as there was a lot that we wanted to do that day, and didn't want to run out of time but we were happy we were able to get to an area with less people. 

As we got down to the bottom there were so many people around again. 

We grabbed some food before walking to a bus stop which was close by.  

We got separated at the train lines as a train was just about to pass.  The whole time I was in Japan I just kept looking at the simple things like trains going past or people speaking in Japanese and was just amazed that I was there. 

There was a group of people near the bus stop, dressed in beautiful kimonos which they had hired.

At the bus stop we quickly learnt that you don't hesitate to get on the bus, even when it looks full.  We were near the front of the line and a few people go on before us and we thought that there was no way that we would fit on, so we stood back and thought we'd wait for the next bus.  Some Japanese people that were also waiting for the bus then decided that they were going to get on instead, and everyone kept cramming onto the bus. We then realised that we just need to push ourselves onto the next bus, even if it looks totally full. 

Before our trip I learnt that you had to board the buses in Kyoto from the back door, but you need to exit from the front, because that's where you have to pay as you get off. You either had to just push your way through all the people, or some people would just jump out of the back door and then walk to the front to pay. I would often find myself getting a bit stressed on the buses because of all the people and having to figure out what to do, but it was easy enough after our first bus trip. 

We got off at the Gion district which is known as Kyoto's geisha district with beautiful, traditional wooden houses and shops. 

There were a lot of people dressed in kimonos and the whole time I felt like I was on the set of a movie scene. 

Everything was so beautiful and there were men pulling tourists in rickshaws around the streets. 

We actually found it hard to find Pepsi in Japan, but whenever we did, I always made sure I had one for Aaron and loved seeing the different cans and types that they had. 

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This was the view as you came out of one of the toilets - looking over the city of Kyoto with a cemetery right there. 

I am not a shopper and didn't plan on doing any shopping while I was in Japan as I'd rather spend my money on experiences, but I bought a very cool mug from this Starbucks (on the left) which has pictures all about Japan all over it.  I love using it now and thinking about where I got it from. 

This whole area had so many beautiful shrines and things to see, and you could spend hours and hours there if you wanted to. 

As you enter the shrines you are supposed to wash your hands so that you are pure. 

We split up our days in Kyoto as we went to Universal Studios in between. We did another day trip from Osaka to Kyoto as it's so close and easy to get to on the train.  On our second day in Kyoto our first stop was the Arashiyama bamboo forest. The train stops very close by and as soon as we got off, there were a lot of people around. 

There are two paths - one for the pedestrians and the rickshaws can take a different path on the side that isn't so busy. 

Within the forest are shrines and also shops for tourists to buy souvenirs. 

We didn't stay at Arashiyama for very long as there were so many people and I when planning our trip, I had read that there were better places to visit that were close by, so we kept walking so that we could get to Saga Toriimoto preserved street which is a beautiful area with traditional houses and some have been converted into shops such as coffee shops.  
These wooden carvings were on a fence of a house that we walked past. 

No public cars go up the street, so we had such a beautiful, quiet walk just enjoying seeing all the traditional houses. It seems like all the tourists seem to go to the same places and most of the time it was just us around, or a local Japanese person or just one or two other tourists. 

Harri actually got a bad leg injury from all the fast walking that we were doing in the first couple of days and was struggling to get around a lot of the time.  I felt so bad for him as I think he pulled a calf muscle and was in so much pain, but we also had so much to do and see, so although we would slow down for him, we still had to keep doing lots of walking. 

Along the streets there was often plastic bottle filled with water. I looked up what it was about and apparently the light reflects off them and deters cats and other animals from coming into the area. 

After we walked through some of the preserved street area, we visited Adashino Nenbutsuji. I had seen it on lots of Reels on Instagram and people often suggested going there rather than Arashiyama as it had its own little bamboo forest, without all the tourists. 

You have to pay a small entrance fee which I think it was about $5 Aus dollars.  In the area are 8000 stones of Budda which were originally made as gravestones for people buried in the area. They were scattered and covered with bamboo forests, but about 100 years ago they were found and dedicated in the precinct of the temple. 

Right by the temple is a beautiful little bamboo forests and there was only a couple of other people there with us. 

Another tourist kindly offered to take a photo for us. 

We then walked another five minutes up the preserved street as I had heard about another awesome temple to visit, that not a lot of tourists go to. 

Just past these torii gates was Otagi Nenbutsuji which I was really looking forward to seeing. 

You also have to pay a small entrance fee to visit this temple which has 1200 statues which are raken, the followers of Budda. 

Every single statue is different and has their own personality. One is even holding a tennis racquet. 

Whenever I visited the temples in Kyoto it felt very sacred, and it was always so peaceful. I felt like I needed to whisper the whole time, even when no one else was around. 

The walk from Arashiyama to Otagi Nenbutsuji was about half an hour, and it was getting late in the day, so we decided to catch a bus from the temple back to Arashiyama station.  The bus was so much quieter than the other ones we had been on, as not many tourists come up to the temples we went to. 

At the train station we grabbed some food and had a quick look at the beautiful kimono forest, before catching the train. 

We got off the train back at Kyoto station and then caught a bus to Kinkaju-Ji which is also known as the Golden Temple. 

We got these at the perfect time as the sun was starting to go down and it reflected right off the temple. 

I absolutely loved the tickets that they gave you when you paid to go in. 

It was a very quick walk around the beautiful gardens near the temple. 

We then caught the bus back to the train station and then the train back to Osaka which was very crowded on the way back.   We absolutely loved our couple of day trips to Kyoto and would love to go back and see more there. It amazed me that it was so close to Osaka, yet so different,