Recommendations for Japan's must-visit city (Kyoto)

June 15, 2024

Now that we've gone over Tokyo recommendations, let's talk about a city that is quite different:

京都きょうと (Kyoto)！

京都きょうと redefined what a city could be in my mind when I first went there. It's so cool to have this mix of modern big city directly alongside so much history (that I admittedly didn't know almost any of at the time), unfamiliar culture, food, people, and so on.

To help explain what I mean by "modern city alongside so much history", here's a picture from 京都きょうとタワー (Kyoto Tower) that shows a giant temple (東本願寺ひがしほんがんじ [East Hongan Temple]) which is in the middle of the city:

And with that, we have my first two recs: 東本願寺ひがしほんがんじ and 京都きょうとタワー.

京都きょうとタワー is a great way to get your bearings on 京都 and decide where you might want to go based on what looks the coolest. There are 望遠鏡ぼうえんきょう (sight-seeing binoculars) up there that let you see the various お寺てら (temples) and 神社じんじゃ (shrines) in the surrounding mountains pretty well too ^^

Be sure to check out the food court in the basement of 京都きょうとタワー as well! Lots of variety there. My mom got the 担々麺たんたんめん (a noodle dish) there two nights in a row cuz she liked it so much 🤣

After that, you can walk over to 東本願寺ひがしほんがんじ. It's one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. That's pretty cool.

All of this is right next to 京都きょうと駅えき (Kyoto station), by the way. You could take the 新幹線しんかんせん (bullet train) in and be at either of these places within minutes.

As you've definitely already noticed, I'll be giving the names of these places in Japanese.

If the amount of Japanese feels a bit intimidating, no worries! It'll feel easier and easier to digest as you continue pressing this button:

You'll also want to be familiar with the Japanese you're likely to hear while in Kyoto. We have plenty of lessons on that:

Kansai dialect

More Kansai dialect

Even more Kansai dialect

Saying Vぬ or Vん instead of Vない

 Less common ways to say "I" or "me"

Be sure to read a bit about some Kyoto history as well!

The 平安 (Heian) period

Anyway, hitting the Study Now button as much as possible before and during your time in Japan will help prepare you and keep your mind ready to catch any Japanese that comes your way.

If you're open to it, there will certainly be a lot coming your way. In my experience, shopkeepers love to talk to Japanese learners. Especially the smaller, out-of-the-way shops run by おじいさんs (elderly men) and おばあさんs (elderly ladies).

I remember buying some tea from one of these shops and having a fun conversation with the おばあさん there. She gave me two beanbags after I bought tea from her.

I still don't really know what that was about, but I still find it amusing ^^;

If you don't have a NativShark account yet, you can make one for free here:

Continuing with our recommendations…

西本願寺にしほんがんじ (West Hongan Temple) - This houses another one of the largest wooden buildings in the world.

This may sound like a silly follow-up to a statement like "the largest wooden building in the world", but keep an eye out for 八やツ橋はし when you go there.

Normally, 八やツ橋はし are soft mochi sheets that are folded up to hold あんこ (red bean jam) (very tasty and found in any お土産屋さん [souvenir shops]), but there is another type of crunchy 八やツ橋はし that are a bit harder to find, and I've found them at 西本願寺にしほんがんじ a few times.

They're my favorite snack in all of 京都きょうと and I always buy as much as the expiration date allows me to bring home. They look like this:

Also, anything 抹茶まっちゃ (matcha) flavored will be good! I like having a few 抹茶まっちゃ団子だんご (matcha dango) when I go as well.

Next, 錦にしき市場しじょう (Nishiki Market) is a pretty big 商店街しょうてんがい (shopping street).

商店街しょうてんがい tend to be pretty unique to what city they're in, and they're always fun to explore. If you're going to 福岡ふくおか (Fukuoka) after this be sure to make a mental note of the differences!

While you're in 錦にしき市場しじょう, try to find…

錦にしき天満宮てんまんぐう (Nishiki Shrine). It's a smaller shrine that's built into the 商店街しょうてんがい, which is really cool. It also has a striking resemblance to 太宰府だざいふ天満宮てんまんぐう (Dazaifu shrine) here in 福岡ふくおか. I suppose that's not too surprising since they're both 天満宮てんまんぐう.

I'm not too familiar with what sets 天満宮てんまんぐう apart from other shrines yet, but I asked Niko to write a NativShark lesson on it. If you know, please reply to this email or let me know in the #newsletter channel in the community discord!!

I'm barely a third of the way through what I wanted to share! Speed run time:

清水寺きよみずでら (Kiyomizu Temple) - A beautiful temple very worth visiting.

八坂やさか神社じんじゃ (Yasaka Shrine) - A cool shrine near 錦市場. Hosts a big festival if you go in mid-July ^^

Book Off - Because of course 👀 Have to buy lots of Japanese video games and books to practice with, and since it's a second-hand shop, you never know what you'll find.

京都きょうと御苑ぎょえん (Kyoto Gyoen National Garden)- A nice garden that hosts the imperial palace.

鴨川かもがわ (Kamo River) - A big river that runs through the city. Good for relaxing walks. There's also a vegan cafe called Veg Out that overlooks this. The food was tasty and the staff were nice ^^

嵐山あらしやま (Arashiyama) - If you've seen pics of a Japanese bamboo forest, it's probably this one. It's also super busy. I've heard that early morning visits are good for avoiding the crowd (this applies to a lot of things in Kyoto haha).

伏見稲荷ふしみいなり大社たいしゃ (Fushimi Inari Shrine) - My favorite shrine in all of 京都. I'm going to write an entire newsletter about this one day 🙈

宇治うじ (Uji)- A large portion of 抹茶 in Japan is grown here. If you have any 抹茶 from Japan, go take a look at it and you might see 宇治 written on it somewhere.

Now for the places I haven't been to but want to visit:

金閣寺きんかくじ (Kinkakuji)- A famous temple with a golden tower. It has a 鳳凰 (Japanese phoenix) on it and should look familiar if you've played Pokemon Gold, Silver, or Crystal before.

二条城にじょうじょう (Nijou castle) - A castle. Of course it's worth checking out 🤣

京都府きょうとふ立りつ植物園しょくぶつえん (Kyoto Botanical Garden) - Looks like this is beautiful in the fall (but I'm sure it is any season).

比叡山ひえいざん (Mt. Hiei) - Hiking is fun! Looks like there are tons of shrines to find here as well.

The 平安へいあん period

(Quick note: this section will replace weekly prompts for the foreseeable future! We have a few projects I'm helping work on that I hope you'll enjoy, but I need to open up some time in my schedule to allow for it. That said, I've made a new tag for community-based prompts so we can continue to practice our Japanese together! If you have an idea for a situation you want to practice with fellow learners, join the community and then check out this post for more info!)

There are too many interesting things in the lesson about 平安時代へいあんじだい (The Heian Period) so I'll just give you the first example sentence:

Reading other parts of the lesson, we find out that 平安京へいあんきょう is what turned into modern-day 京都きょうと (Kyoto). A nice piece of knowledge to have when visiting!

If the above Japanese is difficult for you, all you need to do is keep hitting the Study Now button and you'll understand it when you get there. When using a comprehensive study resource like NativShark, it's just a matter of time and consistency. The above is a lesson in Phase Three, Unit 230.

NativShark goodie bag

4 new Units have been added to Phase Three ^^

As always, these Units are filled with vocab with their own unique contexts that help you understand Japanese at a deeper level, any relevant new kanji, and natural conversations called Dialogues at the end. They also have the following lessons: