I have been taking over the Mitsuki’s blog and Instagram account for over 3 months now, and I really enjoyed to share with you all my tips about what to do in Kyoto… As I prepare my suitcase for my next adventure, let me give you my last advices for a beautiful stay in Japan !
When you are foreigners like me and you just landed in Japan, you might feel overwhelmed at first but then you realized that everything here is cleaner, quieter and more poetic ! Here, it’s only my thoughts but as I talk to tourists and expats from all over the world this is what comes out when we bring our first days in Japan.
My first question when I arrived in Kyoto in the middle of October was : how can I avoid the crowd in the temples and shrines ? Well… That is very easy to answer, visit the temples and shrines very early in the morning or at the end of the day to enjoy the sunset, the colors will be very beautiful and your picture even more ! My favorite shrine was Fushimi Inari, as I said before, go straight to the top to take pictures as a lot of people will stay at the bottom of the hill, but the more you climb the more it’s mysterious and beautiful… And I really loved Kinkaku-Ji, the golden temple.
I visited a lot of cities during my stay like Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Nara, Kanazawa, Hikone, Uji, but Kyoto has a special place in my heart as the vibe and the architecture is beautiful around here. While you are walking around into the city (May i say that Kyoto is very walkable and I recommend you to take the subway or the train as the buses are often very busy) you will see a lot of Machiya houses. That is a traditional wooden townhouses, a huge testimony of Japanese history. On this day, there is not so much rules to protect this patrimony and I found it really sad. In my opinion, those masterpiece must be protected as it is very enjoyable to walk around those streets.
One last practical advice that I can give you, is to always have a translator with you to communicate (there is a lot of apps on the app store for free), sometimes it can be difficult to talk because of the languages but in most of the tourists places you will find an English speaker… And no worries, every Japanese that I’ve meet were really helpful because that’s the Japanese style around here !
The thing that I have loved the most in Japan is that everything you do as a sense or a purpose. Let me be more clear… Here, when you do something, you do it to make it easier or more convenient for you, the person that will come after you or your guest. Also, when you create or arrange something, is to find peace and balance not only with yourself but with nature and your environment.
I really found peace during my stay in Japan and I am looking forward to my next adventures, it is not a farewell to Japan but only a very small goodbye.
If you want to experiences what I have experienced, book your next stay here :