I’ll Live in Kyoto One Day…

During my Japan trip, I spent three short days in Kyoto and decided it’s where I want to move to live someday in my 30s.

First Day in Kyoto

We took Shinkansen to reach Kyoto from Tokyo. We booked our seats in the legendary Japanese bullet train a day earlier and didn’t have to do anything as the Japan Rail Pass covers it.

The train ride was smooth, with beautiful scenes reappearing in the window. It’s one of the things I love most about Japan. Japan has a top-notch railway system. The trains are clean, fast and on schedule. Three hours, a few Onigiris and a box of Ekiben later, we arrived in Kyoto.

Kyoto is a historic city located in a valley, the roads are perfectly lined, and the streets follow grid patterns, which is pleasant for the eyes.

Okonomiyaki

We left our bags in the hotel and headed for Okonomiyaki lunch at a cozy little restaurant called Warai-Warai. Okonomiyaki is a savoury Japanese pancake that I declared Japanese pizza.

The waitress was quite impressed with her hospitality skills and basic knowledge of conversational English, which was quite different from what I used to experience back in Singapore.

We cooked and played with our food before adding lots of Katsuobushi and devoured it.

Nishiki Market Kyoto

Nishiki Market is a shopping haven. Unfortunately, we went into too many stores screaming the variations of “cute”.

This place has everything to shop for. Souvenirs (Omiyage in the Japanese culture), photo-box, the Japanese equivalent of Western Slurpee, tour services, cartoon character socks, hippie store and high-end goods on the other side of the road. It takes around 5 minutes to walk from Gion-Shijo station.

There was a Kawaii little store where I bought souvenirs for colleagues and a rabbit Kami for Amma. It is supposed the bring good luck, and good luck for her means good luck for all of us. Vi and I also got hanging kitten home decor which is now hanging on my room window beside the dream catcher I got from Malaka years ago.

Gion

Later at night, we explored the Gion area, Kyoto’s famous Geisha district. We spotted a couple walking briskly yet gracefully inside those wooden houses at Hanami-koji street. A fascinating view and experience. After sometimes we got hungry; since no more Geisha passed by, we went for dinner at a restaurant that sells unagi don exclusively. The girls couldn’t believe that it was my first unagi. It was, like all my food experiences in Japan thus far, delicious.

Our hotel, Kyoto-Shijo hotel, is located in a friendly little neighbourhood. It has a family mart nearby, Lawson, where we bought our breakfast, fun food items and midnight snacks. Once we settled in our room, we started drinking and talking about anything and everything.

Minutes before we went into a deep sleep, I told my besties, “I like Kyoto better”, and they agreed.

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