I had pre-booked us into a Kyoto Free Walking Tour focused on the Gion District for 10:00 am. I’ve rarely been disappointed with a free walking tour and I like doing them on our first full day whenever we go somewhere new to get a lay of the land.
To get to our meeting point we used a Kyoto city bus and it was great. Per usual Google Maps gave us the details we needed to find our stop, get on the right bus, and know where to get off. We were able to easily use the Suica card we obtained in Tokyo to pay our fare.
The simple rules for bus travel in Japan that seem to differ from a lot of our American bus experiences were:
- Don’t vandalize or litter at the bus stop. That’s rude, immature, and stupid.
- Get on at the back door. You don’t have to wait for passengers to exit the bus because they aren’t getting off through that door. It’s called a system, people.
- Shut up while you’re on the bus and make sure your electronics are silent, too. No one wants to hear you. However, if you’re a French or Chinese tourist in Kyoto this rule doesn’t seem to apply to you.
- If you need to pay in cash and don’t have change, there’s a machine at the front of the bus to use. Because Japan implements things that just make sense.
- Leave out of the front door. It’s that system, people.
- Pay your freaking fare on the way out. It’s reasonable at only 230 yen/$1.50 USD. You don’t leave without paying because you understand you’re a capable and responsible member of society.
To be honest I’m not terribly bothered by bus usage in Seattle, and use it frequently during hockey season to get to our 1,000,000 home games. It’s the environmentally, socially, and fiscally responsible thing to do when you can even if sometimes you need to plug your nose or pretend you didn’t see something. But international travel often reminds me that Americans could really benefit from getting their shit together in just the smallest, most obvious ways.
We found our group at our meeting point at the edge of Gion at the statue of Izumo-no-Okuni (the founder of Kabuki Theater). The group had a nice international blend of tourists as has been our experience with other free walking tours in our travels. Scott enjoyed overhearing some German spoken during our tour, harkening back to memories of his dad.
Our guide was Swiss. Huh? He had been enjoying Japanese culture from afar for most of his life, including studying martial arts, and had been living in Kyoto for 18 months to further his studies. To be honest at first I was a bit disappointed we weren’t getting the inside scoop of a lifelong resident of Kyoto, but in the end I was happy to have this fellow Westerner’s perspective.
The walking tour started in the the geiko/maiko/teahouse area of Gion. Very quiet, clean, tranquil streets. Our guide had the opportunity to point out the real deal women vs. the tourists dressed up in costumes. He educated us on how young girls get started in the trade as apprentices (maiko), what their lives look like both early on and long term, and took a moment to help us question the morality of male behavior in teahouses. The traditional arts that these women produce is gorgeous and important. But And at the end of the day this is a highly misogynistic subculture of Japan, catering to only the most powerful and rich men in society. Unsurprising reports of maiko abuse are out there with a simple Google search.
We walked around the beautiful Kennin-ji Buddhist temple complex…
…and Yasaka Shrine with its iconic pagoda seen in every single tourist’s photo album (including ours of course).
We finished the tour in the shopping area of Gion. Crowded, of course. Delightful, of course. The reason that Japan is such a shopping temptation is that in an area like this in the other countries I’ve traveled to, the vast majority of shops would be selling silly souvenirs manufactured in China with maybe a couple of attractive local stores. In Japan this ratio is reversed and the shops are teeming with gorgeous little things that YOU NEED.
One thing to note is that Gion (as well as other places in Kyoto) is full of tourists dressed in kimono. It’s the perfect outfit for that photo memory with a religious and/or historic backdrop. You see people primarily of Asian descent doing this, but occasionally you see a whitey. This feels wrong to a liberal caucasian girl from America who has been taught about cultural appropriation. But I heard from multiple sources online and in-person while in Japan that Japanese people typically are not offended by seeing white people dressed in kimono and more often say that they take it as a compliment that we would want to do so. Does that mean I was about to do it and take photos and post them online? Um, no. Also, it was so fucking hot that I couldn’t begin to imagine tolerating all of those layers, much less walking in those wooden shoes for thousands of steps. To each their own.
Walking tour highly recommended. Fantastic itinerary, great insights (even from a non-local), and a taster of some great areas to go back to and spend more time. We also got bonus advice out of it from our guide who gave us his favorite ramen spot recommendation, as well as a way to enjoy Fushimi Inari with less crowds. Stay tuned…
We were ready for a spot of lunch so we quickly found Gion Tachinomi Yamaneko – a craft beer & izakaya place – close to where the tour ended. Comfy environment, A/C at the right temperature, lovely employees, good Wifi, yummy beers, a bunch of tasty snacks, left full and satisfied for $34.
The rest of the day we just did a lot of wandering. We went back to the shopping district to browse at our own pace. We had more snacks and drinks. We walked along the river. We took photos of random things.
I promise I’m having a good time – I think the sun was just in my face. Or maybe Scott was taking too long snapping the pic. We found coffees in a vending machine that said FIRE on them. #iykyk
It’s a man personhole cover. #cutejapaneseshit
A preview of something we are doing on the 17th.
One of just a handful of stamps I got on this trip. I might try harder on future trips.
A serene spot tucked below a busy intersection.
And to finish it off, a bunch of random photos from the day. If you look closely at the last photo you can see Kyoto Tower which was near to our hotel, and gives an idea of how much walking we did today.
Kjar-ied Away 
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