It’s the end of the year, and a lot of people are moving left and right around Kyoto. Everyone is in anticipation of finishing 2025 and having fun entering 2026. We just posted a new blog entry suggesting a few things to do for the end of the year and the beginning of the new one. We hope you’ll enjoy it.
We’ll try to post photos and news regularly to show you how Kyoto is looking, changing according to the seasons. Enjoy!
Akiko & Patrick
Portrait of a Geiko, Miyagawa-Cho
As already mentioned, whenever I can, I try to be at Miyagawa-cho when the Maiko and the Geiko go to their work, walking quickly along the street. This is both to admire them, and of course, like everyone else, to try to catch a good photo. The more I stay in Japan,...
Hanami — A good start
March 28th, things are suddenly moving fast. Yes, Hanami (flower viewing) is about enjoying the "transient beauty" of flowers. Three days ago, we had almost no flowers, and today, they are starting to blossom around the south of the city. ...
Rickshaw Tour
How about a Rickshaw Tour around one of the numerous touristic spots of the city? I’ve seen them around a few times and always thought we too should try that. It does look like fun and a great way to look around spots such as Arashiyama, Kodaiji or Miyagawa-Cho.
Seasonal Sweets – Sakuramochi and Ohagi
As the Hanami season approaches, we start to find seasonal sweets around the city. We're usually not very eager to eat sweets, but we enjoy these two, the Sakuramochi and the Ohagi, very much. Sakuramochi (桜餅)...
Hanami-koji by night, Gion
Friends are visiting us and we had a great dinner together next to the Yasaka Shrine in Gion. As you may know, Gion is Kyoto's most famous geisha district. It is filled with shops, restaurants and is a great place to spend an evening. The most popular area of...
Maiko in Miyagawa-Cho
We're really fortunate to be located about 5 minute walk away from the Miyagawa-Cho geisha district. This is one of the five Hanamachi (Japanese geisha district) of Kyoto. It's a couple of small streets featuring a number of Okiya (geisha houses) and Ochaya...
Beginning of the Cherry Blossoms
Today, we had a beautiful warm and sunny day. On the way back from the Kyoto Station, we realized that the cherry trees along the bank of the Kamogawa River were starting to blossom.
March 21 – Kobosan Market day
March 21st — this is the day of the Kobo-San market at the Toji Temple. When in Kyoto on the 21st of any month, we always try to go there. It’s usually better to go there early as it gets VERY crowded quickly.
