🇯🇵 Japan Trip 2026

Domestic Morning

On our schedule, we had planned to see Fushimi-Inari - the thousand tori gates and a major Kyoto Shinto site of interest. However, we knew that we needed to get there super early, because this place gets busy, and the visit involves a reasonable length walk.

Both of us were feeling a bit broken after all of the activity so far. And the laundry was piling up. We had decided to travel on hand-luggage only, which meant that clean clothes were running out. We woke up a bit late and decided that we would skip Fushimi-Inari and take the time to take advantage of the hotel laundry. Ro went and got some detergent from reception and headed to the laundry room. All of the washing machines were in use, so he hung around for 15 minutes or so until one became free. Popped the washing in and set a timer to come back in 40 minutes. Grabbed an iced coffee out of the vending machine, popped on a podcast, and headed for the massage chairs.

Returning to the laundry room after a long massage, Ro emptied the washing machine and looked for a free dryer. One of the dryers was marked as out-of-order, so there were only three available and all busy. So he waited. And waited. One of the dryers stopped, but a sign said not to touch anybody else's laundry. Eventually a member of staff came in to do some cleaning and checked the laundry in the dryer that had stopped. Not dry, he said, and put the dryer back on. More waiting. The frustration was starting to build. Eventually the owner of the laundry in the dryer that had been restarted arrived and was puzzled that the dryer was still going so she left again. Someone else came and emptied their washing and joined the queue for the dryers. Eventually a dryer came free and Ro loaded the washing for drying. Another 45 minutes to wait.

We killed some time in the room reading and waiting. When we eventually checked on the laundry it was still damp and had picked up a terrible smell. Also it seemed that a tissue or something was either in our laundry or in the dryer or something because there was fluff everywhere. We brought the laundry to the room and hung it around the room and turned the air conditioner up. Enough waiting around...

Journey to Kiyomizu-dera

Okay so after all of the wasted time faffing with laundry, and after missing Fushimi-Inari, we were keen to do something reasonably local that would make up for missing the spectacle of the thousand gates. Kyomizu-dera was on our list of things to check out, and it seemed a reasonable 20 minute journey from the hotel.

We caught the 202 bus right outside our hotel and it took us most of the way to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. We hopped out after the interesting bus journey, and found ourselves walking up an incredibly busy and steep street towards the temple. The street was full of souvenir and food shops. The sheer number of people and all of the activity was a bit overwhelming after such a quiet laid-back morning. We had to stop and buy some candied strawberries on a skewer and boost the energy levels. These were delicious, and at least moderately healthy. Fruit and some vegetables like sweet-potatoes seem to be a common sweet in Japan - much healthier than our candy and chocolate!

At the top of the street, we found the steps up to the temple area. The weather was starting to look like it was going to rain.

The view from up here was amazing. The Shinto shrine that accompanies the temple looks out onto Kyoto.

As you move from the shrine towards the temple, you become more aware of the surrounding forest and mountainside.

And as we got to the temple the rain came down... in buckets. Fortunately we found a bit of shelter, and the timing was great because we got to see the rain-chains in action.

The rain felt fortuitous. It seemed to feel right for this visit. I was turning the name of the temple over in my head... Kiyomizu-dera... I remembered Maria said that the Japanese word for water was mizu... I had to look the temple name up! Sure enough, Kiyomizu-dera means "Pure Water Monastery". The rain was a Buddhist blessing, and I felt pleased for the dry botanical gardens at Nara that we had visited yesterday.

The Temple Experience

Kiyomizu-dera is old. Dating back to the 700s and recognised officially in the early 800s, the temple is dedicated to the worship of the Kannon bodhisattva. Funny that... remember the temple that Maria and I went to in Ueno Park in Tokyo, where we took part in the ceremony? That was the Kannon Sutra everyone was chanting. It seems that we were on some kind of unintended and serendipitous pilgrimage.

As we entered the temple complex, we were greeted by Daikokuten, one of the seven lucky gods of Japan. A syncretic deity that merges a Hindu Buddhist god of darkness and time with a Shinto kami that is a god of love and good matches. Good news, apparently this deity helps those seeking financial help and jobs. Ro needs help from this one...

The temple felt cozy. Lots of wood and lanterns and dark nooks. They discourage cameras within the temple itself, so the best we were going to photograph was some lamps and some traditionally dressed people inside the temple, who were ignoring the no camera signs and trying to do a bit of a photo shoot.

There was a giant singing bowl (rin) within the temple. People are encouraged to strike the bowl with the mallet to allow it to ring out. Maria donged the bowl and the sound resonated through everything. Maria says you don't just hear it, you feel it too.

By now the rain was coming down pretty hard. We looked out from the stage platform to the pagoda across the valley. That looked like a damp and long walk!

As we left the temple to walk along the path to the distant pagoda, as if the gods were watching over us, the rain lifted for a bit so that we could take in the view. This scenery seems to be the big attraction here. It really is stunning.

Interesting point about the stage platform in front of Kiyomizu-dera. There used to be a Japanese expression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu", similar to the English idea of "taking the plunge". Although the practice is banned now, during the Edo-period people used to leap off the 13-metre high stage. If they survived their wish would be granted. Apparently lots of people did this, and there were several deaths, but a surprisingly large number walked away with granted wishes. Most likely their wish as they plummeted to the ground was to survive the fall.

We walked along the path until we came to the distant pagoda. Surprise. It is just another pagoda!

But from here, you can see Kiyomizu-dera in all its majesty. And also that crazy drop that those Edo folks were leaping from.

Our reprieve from the rain had run out. Suddenly the heavens opened and we were in a torrential downpour. Two good things: first, we took a courtesy-umbrella when we left the hotel; and second, we were near a small Buddhist temple alongside the pagoda, where there was a little shelter.

We decided to take a run for it, and walked another path down back towards the temple. We were getting soaked. Running past features, that we barely had time to take in properly.

We found shelter again down near the 'waterfall' which was more of a trickle that ran off the roof of a platform. It is considered good fortune to drink from the water, but it looks a bit of a health hazard.

But the tradition at the waterfall also brings the kimono-wearing observers.

More torrential rain! We ducked into Cafe Chuboku Chaya, which is within the temple complex. Ro had Zenzai (sweet red bean soup with mochi) and hot green tea. Maria had Matcha dango and hot green tea. Both dishes were an extension of our culinary exploration that was revealing a completely different palette to anything we had any real previous experience of. Definitely something we enjoyed but also found so strange in terms of flavour combinations and textures. Still, it felt warming and good to be out of the rain.

After the rain had eased up, we went back out to find the 1,000 Stone Buddha statues, behind the temple that we had missed on the way in. Notice something about that figure... everything spiritual in Japan seems to require a thousand. A thousand lanterns, a thousand year old tree, a thousand stone buddhas. Important number that... a thousand blessings to you all.

Street walking, Kenny G Temple and Gion District

And just like that, we left Kiyomizu-dera, and started walking down that market street again. This time, somehow floating and feeling super chilled out. We stopped into a spice shop and tried some chilli powders and snacks. Ro bought some sansho pepper seasoning. Across the road, Maria bought some crane origami earrings and a nice hair clip. We also stopped at a pickle shop and sampled some of the many pickles and ferments - we bought a few pickles to eat later, and also some cinnamon-wasabi treats (weird, but you don't know until you have tasted them). We also bought some pickled cucumber on a skewer - like a whole cucumber each - and ate that. Pickle Rick, ftw!!!

We roamed far, slowly heading towards Gion district, famous for its geisha community. On the way we walked past some quiet suburb housing.

Looking at our map, we started aiming towards Kenninji Temple. Ro started calling it Kenny G temple and we had visions of cheesy saxophone blaring out onto the street. In the end it was a nice peaceful area with a good looking temple complex. But it was fairly late in the afternoon and many of the temple buildings were closing up. That was a little sad because apparently Kenny G temple has a really fantastic white dragon painted on the ceiling or something.

Not too far from Kenninji temple is Gion, the geisha district. This was special to walk through, because Maria and I had watched the Netflix series, The Makanai, which was filmed and based here. We didn't have any intention of stopping particularly, so we just passed quietly through and enjoyed the traditional style tea-houses and the signage.

Dinner at Zirael

Our street-walking wasn't completely aimless. Aside from passing through Gion district, which we wanted to see, we had pinpointed a well-reviewed vegan restaurant called Zirael which was somewhere in the area. This was interesting because despite having navigation we walked past it twice, because it was up a tiny alleyway and was itself a teeny-tiny place with very little in the way of signage. Vegan restaurants in Japan always seem to be hidden away!

Zirael seemed popular. We arrived and there were some benches outside with several people waiting to go in. We joined the queue and waited hopefully. Fortunately, the rain was holding off. Eventually a large family came out from the restaurant, along with the owner who counted the people waiting and fortunately there was just enough space that we would fit in as well.

The restaurant consists of a single counter that is shaped in an L-shape around the kitchen, where the food is prepared. The menu is pretty fixed and most of the dishes are the same, with the primary protein dish changing depending on your order. But the food was delicious and we accompanied it with a citrus flavoured beer, each.

Tomo, the owner of the restaurant, and chef, spoke fluent English, and several other languages. Including some German. He was massively entertaining and managed to get everybody at the counter engaging and chatting together. We chatted to an American woman who was travelling with her young son, to a Turkish man who was visiting the restaurant for the second time during his stay in Kyoto, and a German couple. Tomo had us all discuss our travels, things we liked, reasons for coming to a vegan restaurant, and shared stories about his previous marriages and travels. He also let us know that he wasn't vegan (apparently no Japanese are vegan), but that his Russian wife is vegan and he opened the restaurant in honour of her.

We had a fabulous evening.

We caught the bus back to the hotel, where we were greeted by a jazz guitarist and our free drink of the evening. The jazz guitarist also seemed to know his stuff. Excellent musician.