When you see images or videos online of over tourism in Japan. Gion is one of those places that gets packed with people throughout the day which is why I haven’t prioritized seeing it the last two visits I’ve made to Kyoto.
I was determined to go today to get some photos of the small traditional streets and the pagoda. We managed to wake up early before sunrise and get there just as other people were also showing up with their cameras and selfie sticks.
The 75-300mm telephoto lens that I picked up in Tokyo was perfect for this job as it made the background closer than it would on a normal phone camera.
Phone camera
Canon camera
The heavy snow last night melted on the warm ground then refroze overnight creating a sheet of ice on the uphill walk through Gion. Considering we have experience with uphill battles while dealing with ice we were fine, however there were a lot of people slipping and falling. One Chinese guy slipped while crossing the street and went shoulder first into a wooden fence. I think it knocked the wind out of him bad enough where he had to sit down. I checked to make sure he was ok with my broken Mandarin. We saw two other guys slip and fall twice down the stone steps. Eventually they gave up and just slid down the rest of the way on their butts.
A small Toyota sedan drove past us but hesitated at the very top of the hill when he should have sped up where the ice was thickest. We stood there watching them literally spin their wheels for a few minutes while going farther backwards. The driver’s friend got out and tried pushing while wearing Crocs…
There wasn’t very much left to see once we got to the top as the shops didn’t open for another 3 hours so we made our way back down and to an aquarium themed cafe I had bookmarked after seeing it on Instagram.
Upon opening the door, a curtain of humidity draped over us as we walked in.
The vibes in the cafe were great. The aquariums were so beautifully cared for with lots of colorful fish and reptiles. The drinks were expensive and not very good though, but it was nice to hang out for a bit and warm up.
The rest of the day was spent shopping along Kawaramachi Avenue, the main shopping district in downtown Kyoto. Joanna didn’t get a chance to visit a store in Ginza as it was closed the day we planned to go. There was another smaller store selling similar hand made washi paper lanterns here that we did visit to pick up a small lamp to take back to our Japandi styled home.
The last thing on my list for the day was to take the family to a restaurant called Gyukatsu Motomura. I thought they were headquartered in Kyoto but it’s actually out of Tokyo. I’ve been to the restaurant in both cities and I actually like the Kyoto branch more because it’s not as busy and I feel like they give you more food.
There are only a handful of set dinners you can choose from. They deep fry a wagyu steak medium rare and serve it with a hot stone for you to finish off to the doneness you prefer. The meat just melts in your mouth and is balanced well with the salad and miso soup. It’s a great price for less than $45 per person.
We spent the rest of the night at the arcade where we played games while Joanna sought out more gatchapon machines until 11pm.
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