How to Have a Good Trip in Kyoto

In this article, what I want to do as your erstwhile tomo in Kyoto is let you in on a few tips that'll make your trip go a little bit more smoothly and safely. This is going to be less about things that you need to do for content, and more things that will, at the very least, leave the locals with a positive impression of you. A lot of these tips aren't going to be specifically for Kyoto, but I'd say of the main tourist areas of Japan, Kyoto's the city that's least built for an influx of tourists. That means that little faux pas (fauxs pa?) will be viewed more harshly here than they would in Tokyo or Osaka.

This is going to be a list of things that spring to mind off the top of my head, and I'll probably have a part 2 to this article at some point.

Use Your Inside Voice

This isn't going to be in listicle format, because that's not really how we roll here. These aren't in any particular order, but, this is definitely the most important thing I'd like to impart upon you. Japan, in general, just does not have conversations at a volume level that are typical in America, India, China, Europe, etc. I felt the same kind of vibe riding the trains in England as I do here. Most everyone would keep to themselves, and if people engaged in conversation that was above the "read the room" volume level, I'd notice people giving them the stink eye.

While there are some loud Japanese youngsters or the occasional drunk folks, the loudest you'll hear people get in Japan is usually when you're watching people on TV. Do not mistakenly think that's what people real life get away with. Use your inside voice when you're in Japan, it'll be loud enough for the people you're with to hear you.

Kyoto Drivers Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Since we started with the most important thing being a little shade thrown in the direction of tourists, we'll get another important thing out of the way, and this'll be at the locals' expense. Kyoto's literally the worst place I've driven so far. I remember driving in California, and maybe once or twice a month, I'd have a "what the **** are you DOING?!" moment when another motorist or pedestrian pulled something incredibly stupid.

In Kyoto, that happened, no cap, literally each of the first 10 times I drove my car. Whether it was drivers swerving around me into oncoming traffic just so they could go a few KPH over the speed limit, or cyclists crossing into my lane because they're trying to maneuver around one of the ever-present illegally parked cars, something crazy would happen every time.

Streets that are normally narrow enough to jaywalk if you've just got enough gumption are near death traps in Kyoto, because you can bank on someone going too fast down those tiny streets. There's a Not Just Bikes video where the dude talks about how much better Taiwan's gotten in the last few years because he doesn't see cars rolling up and encroaching upon the crosswalk during a walk cycle, like pedestrians are inconveniencing the drivers. Bro, I see that every time I use a croswalk in the daytime here. Keep your head on a swivel. Just because hospitals might be cheaper here doesn't mean you should try and visit one.

You Are Unlikely to Find a Trash Bin Anywhere You'd Normally Expect to See One

You probably expect to find a trash bin out front of every grocery store, convenience store, or restaurant that you visit. Japan's not built like that. If you wanna be a good tourist, carry around an extra plastic bag (or just hold onto the one you probably got when you bought the stuff) and tote the garbage around with you until you find a trash can. Big train stations will usually have one...and that's honestly like the only place I can think of where you have a better than 50/50 chance of finding one. Just be mindful of the fact that when you're in Japan, the burden of properly disposing of trash is on the consumer of the products, not the supplier. And when you do actually find a trash can, make sure to separate out your rubbish into the proper categories.

Consider Shipping Your Luggage

Pretty much every day I'll see someone walking through residential areas toting their rolling luggage along. Most of the time it's fine, though if you're heading to an Airbnb and it's late at night, it can be kinda inconsiderate to others in the neighborhood.

If you're coming to Kyoto in the summer, fall, or winter, you're probably not going to be ready for the heat, humidity, or the rain and snow. Do a little bit of extra planning, and treat yourself by spending a couple thousand yen to get your luggage shipped from the train station or airport to your hotel, and vice versa.

Kaiten (conveyor belt) Sushi Chain Ratings in Kyoto:

For my money, the rankings are:

1) Hama Sushi

2) Sushiro

3) Kura

The reason I have these rated as such is that Hama Sushi's superior in terms of fish quality and they have better side dishes. They also have like 6-7 marginally different soy sauces that they put out at the table, but most, if not all, of them are sweet. Little bit off-putting, but still best of the 3. My wife says she doesn't like the chawanmushi at Hama Sushi as much as she likes the one at Kura, but I don't think that's going to be an issue for most incoming tourists.

Sushiro is 2nd, even though I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning there once. They don't have as much of a selection as Hama Sushi or Kura, but I usually feel like I'm getting decent value there, unlike...

Kura. The thing Kura is best at is Bikkurapon. After you put in 5 plates, you get a chance to win a capsule toy. It used to be that once you got to 10, you were pretty much guaranteed to win, but like everything else at Kura, this has been shrinkflated to a ridiculous extent. French fries went up in price, and simultaneously decreased in serving size. Kura also doesn't serve gari (pickled ginger) anymore, they serve pickled daikon, and the taste of daikon gives me a headache. The slices of fish on the 120 yen servings of nigiri don't even extend past the rice in any dimension any more, and the slices have gotten thinner. The last few times I've been to Kura, I haven't been satiated, but instead of going for 1 or 2 more plates, I'll just decide that it's not worth it, and I should grab a snack at the conbini or some fruit at the grocery store to fill me up. Which is a WILD thought to have about something that's supposed to be a cheap and affordable meal out.

Recently, Kura was very proud to announce that they'd just been recognized by Guiness as having the largest number of "continuously running" conveyor belt sushi stores in the world, as opposed to Hama Sushi and Sushiro which don't run the conveyor belts if people are just ordering from the menu tablets. They celebrated this hair-splitting achievement by...putting up banners outside their restaurants and not having any kind of sale. Do yourself a favor and put in the legwork to find a non-Kura if you wanna hit up the kaiten in Kyoto. It honestly feels like the other 2 chains are about giving the customer a good dining experience, and Kura's has decided to focus on marketing and bean counting.

Get a Sun Umbrella, Invest in Cooling

On average, 1500 people in Japan will succumb to heat strokes each year. If the only time you have to visit Japan is the height of summer, you might want to make sure you've always got a nice bit of shade with you by picking up a UV-reflecting sun umbrella. A hat won't cut it, and while the good sunscreen you can get here can block the UV, it won't keep you cool, and you just end up sticky.

You could also get yourself a nice fan vest, which looks ridiculous, but also somehow works. I don't have one myself yet, but I've tried one on and it worked better than I'd have figured. Maybe I'll review one at some point.

Please Don't be in the Way, Take Note of Your Surroundings

There's a lot of stuff going in Kyoto. If you happen to be in the city during Gion Matsuri, you're going to see all kinds of stuff going on in the middle of the street, and you might not be aware of everything that's going on. Please resist the urge to just stop right where you are and whip out your phone or selfie stick to try and capture the scene. If you do that, you're probably blocking the view of an elderly citizen who has been standing in that semi-shaded spot for over an hour, maybe 2, and you've now blocked their entire view.

Another example, there's a sweets shop in Demachiyanagi that always has a long line of locals waiting to pick up treats. Due to the fact that the sidewalk in that area isn't really set up to have that many people waiting, and all the shop employees are busy serving customers as fast as they can, nobody's really policing the line. I've seen unaware tourists accidentally jump half the line before someone finally lets them know that they need to actually go to the back of the line. So, be mindful of everyone else around you. If you're in a situation where need to find your bearings, stop and figure out how to get out of everyone else's way first, then go about trying to solve your problem.

Going to Fushimi Inari? Bring Some Insect Repellent

The first year I lived here, I wanted to go and get some cool photos at Fushimi Inari during sunset, which is a specific enough window of time that it'd be tough to do on vacation unless you made a very dedicated effort for one photo. So, my wife and I went out and got the photos I wanted, while also serving as a walking buffet for mosquitoes. These things are so used to getting free meals, they don't even try and be sneaky. They're basically feral. I saw one just fly slowly and directly towards the back of my wife's neck before I put an end to that mosquito. If you're going to head out there, I wholeheartedly recommend some kind of repellent, whether it's the ultrasonic stuff, spray, whatever you can make work.