About the Day
Today, is my first day in the Kyoto for this Japan Trip. In the morning, I went to Arashiyama. After lunch at Arashiyama, I went to Philosopher's Path and Ginkakuji before going back to my hotel and calling it a day.
Kyoto is a city in the Kansai Region that was once the national capital of Japan. It is famous for its classical temples and gardens, as well as its traditional wooden houses called machiya and geishas. As for food, it is known for kaiseki, which is multi-course meals of various dishes like sashimi and tofu.
To get to Kyoto, it is around half an hour to 45 minutes away from Osaka or Nara by train.
Location of the Kyoto in Japan
Location of the Kyoto in Kansai Region of Japan.
Kyoto City Map
More Maps for PDF Download:
Arashiyama
After breakfast at the hotel, I went to Arashiyama. To get to Arashiyama from Kyoto Station, I need to take the JR Sagano Line local train and alight at Saga Arashiyama Station. The local train takes about half an hour with 7 stops.
Getting to Arashiyama
Upon alighting at Saga-Arashiyama Station, the JR Station, I saw some resemblance of a Steam Locomotive. Turned out it belongs to the Sagano Sightseeing Train.
After walking and exploring, I saw a road leading to the Tenryuji Temple, one of the World Heritage Sites of Kyoto. In fact, the entirety of Kyoto City is designated as a World Heritage Site. After exploring the Main Road, I decided to go to one of the restaurants located along the Katsura River, called Kameyamaya.
Miffy Sakura Kitchen located along the road where the Randen station is located.
Togetsukyo Bridge
Mountain and River around Togetsukyo with view of the northern half of Arashiyama.
Lunch at Kameyamaya
At Kameyamaya, I had the yudodu set menu teisoku set meal. Yudofu, which is tofu cooked in soup, is a known Kyoto delicacy. The teisoku set meal consists of tofu soup pot, an orange, a strawberry, a mochi, some beans, a raw salmon sushi wrapped in a leaf, yuba tofu skin, oden squid, and many more dishes where I do not know its name.
Menu from Google Maps
Source: 용스돌이
View of the Katsura with river boats from Kameyamaya.
Philosopher's Walk & Ginkakuji
After Lunch, I proceeded to take Kyoto city bus #93 from the Bus Stop near Togetsukyo Bridge to Kinrin Shako mae bus stop, which is around an hour away from the Arashiyama Bus stop opposite the Riverside. The Arashiyama bus stop that I used to board city bus #93 is indicated at Map 1 below.
Map 1: Board City Bus #93 from this Bus stop.
Map 2: Location map of Arashiyama Bus Stop and Environs
Map 3: Route of City Bus #93
Map 4: Map of the Kyoto Imperial Palace and Heian Jingu Shrines area, where the City Bus #93 also serves.
Map #5: Map of walking route from Kinrin Shakyo mae bus stop to Ginkakuji
After alighting at the Kinrin Shakyo Mae Bus Stop, I proceeded to explore the alley that leads to Ginkakuji. The alley is called Ginkakuji-sando, a portmanteau of "Ginkakuji" and "Omotesando", where Omotesando is a shopping street in Tokyo.
Philosopher's Path in Spring, Kyoto
At the Ginkakuji-sando street, there are cafe and souvenir shops where tourists go to hang out and shop. One particular shop that I went to is the Sumikko Gurashi-do Ginkakuji shop. As the name suggests, it sells Sumikko Gurashi themed souvenirs, such as figurines and food items. Also, inside the shop, there is a Torii gate with a Tonkatsu Sumikko together with an information board that shows what is Sumikko Gurashi.
After that, I went to Ginkakuji Triangle House to have coffee and Matcha anmitsu before going to Ginkakuji. Ginkakuji is also known as Jisho-ji. The name Ginkakuji means Silver Pavilion in English.
Ginkakuji Triangle House
Ginkakuji Temple Map
Sand mound
Torii Gate
Mario plush toy bought along with me to Ginkakuji
Ginkakuji pavilion overshadowed by a tree
Typical picture of Ginkakuji
Typical picture of Ginkakuji with Mario
Signs leading to the souvenir shop
After my time at Ginkakuji, I took City Bus #5 from the Ginkakuji-michi (Ginkakuji Temple) 銀閣寺道 bus stop to Higashiyama Metro Station before taking the subway with transfer at Karasuma Oike back to the Kyoto Station. At Kyoto Station, I went to the Isetan to takeaway bento for dinner back at the hotel. Also, I bought Matcha Jelly from the Nakamura Tokichi, which is also located at Kyoto Isetan B1.
Close-up map of the Ginkakuji-michi bus stop
Bus 203 route to Higashiyama Station
(PDF File)
Advertisement pasted at one of the Karasuma Line stations to petition for the proposed Linear Chuo Shinkansen to be routed through Kyoto.
Kyoto Station Entrance to Central Concourse
Nakamura Tokichi from Kyoto Isetan
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