I was told by several people that Kyoto was their favorite place in Japan and they spent 3-4 days there and it got me thinking that maybe there was more to Kyoto then what Alessia and I covered in our quick stop there a few days prior.  This was also a starting point for my train pass and was the same price as taking the bus to Osaka.  I arrived super early in the morning and spent the first part of the morning figuring out what I wanted to do for the day.  I opted to head outside of town for a Brewery tour of the Suntory Brewery Kyoto.  The tour was in Japanese but they had english audio guides.  Pretty standard tour and, but we did get three free tastings after.

The three beers they made there were “The Premium Malts”, “The Premium Malts Master’s Dream” and a special edition of the “Premium Malts”.  They were all pretty lackluster, but really tended towards the Japanese pallet which typically likes lighter beer styles.  It was a fun experience and worth the trip outside of town.

I jumped back on the train and headed towards the bamboo forest which was another area Alessia and I did not cover.

I got off the train, grabbed a sandwich from the 711 and then headed towards the forest.  The number of tourists hanging around increased quickly, so I knew I was close.

The forest itself was pretty neat, but was basically just a path through a forest with hundreds of people taking selfies, instagram photos and general touristing. I took part for a little bit, but quickly got tired of the crowds and opted to get out of there.

There were a few temples and shops and what not in the area, so I wandered around checking out the sights of the area.

I jumped on this weird little train which promised to take me back into the city.

When I returned to town, I decided to go for a walk and explore some of the areas Alessia and I might have missed.  The river area was hopping with locals hanging out and so I decided to chill for a bit by the water as the sun went down.

I cruised through the old entertainment district (Gion) in search of a possible Geisha sighting as well as to check out the temple that was in the area.  The Yasaka shrine was pretty cool at night and was all lit up and inside there were hundreds of hanging lanterns all lit up which was pretty cool.

On my walk back towards the hostel, I did see a group of three Geisha/Mako’s jump out of a cab and head over to their evening engagement.  I didn’t get a great look, but took this super blurry photo.

I retired for the evening and got ready for a nice long run in the morning.

I woke up and decided to do a longer run along the river.  It was a beautiful day and there were several people out running.

I managed to get in 17km along the river, which was a longish run at that point as I hd not done many long runs since Boston.  It felt great and it was a beautiful run.

After the run, I went for a wander and decided that I felt like some Curry, so did a random google search and found a place to check out.  There ended up being a few video game stores along the way, so i decided to stop in and see what they had.

I eventually got my curry and was very happy, after developing an appetite post run.

After refueling, I continued my wander and ended up at another arcade (Shocking) and focused my attention on the adult games this time.  Horse racing was particularly popular even though it was not real horses.  They were either mechanical or a video game type and you weren’t betting real money as gambling is illegal, you just get credits which you can keep for the next time you come in.  It was crazy to watch.  Some of the games allowed you to brush the horse and feed it before the race in order to increase it’s chance of winning.  The whole thing was a little strange to me, but there were a decent number of people playing mid day.

coin pusher machines are also super popular and there were several different kinds and these were also super popular.  I read that the coins you win can be kept at the desk for next time and used when you return, but cannot be traded in for money.  These are all entertainment devices and are used to kill time.

After my wander, I headed back to the hostel for some down time before heading to my evening plan.  I had heard from some other travellers that they had stumbled across this local bar which doesn’t really seem like a bar from the outside and is more like a warehouse.  When you go in, you grab a tray and then grab whatever drinks you want from the fridge or shelves as well as any food snacks available and then just keep the wrapper or bottle on the tray and they count it up at the end.  I headed there with the German fellow I had met in Hiroshima, who had arrived earlier that day. (I can’t remember his name, I know that’s bad)

It was run by this wonderful old couple who came by and chatted with us for a while.  We also started chatting with this death metal musician who was in town for a gig.  We had a great time drinking and chatting with the locals.  This is my favorite type of bar, because there was no tourist in site and everyone was a local who were super friendly and had great stories.  He was chatting with a bunch of other patrons and then disappeared in the back, coming out with a large frame which contained an award he had been awarded from the military.  He was so animated and had so many stories.

We continued to chat with the musician and another guy who was also interested in hearing more about the musical story.  He showed us some of his stuff on youtube and we had a great time!

It was a perfect night of chill, locals and really cool location.  I have been very fortunate so far in Japan to find really cool bars that are perfect for the type of evening I am looking for!

We were a bit hungry as neither of us had had dinner so we went in search for Ramen, which I craved at almost all times when I was in Japan.  We found a small hole in the wall place which had really great cheap Ramen!

After we filled up with Ramen, we headed to an arcade as German dude (I feel so bad for forgetting his name) had not been to one yet.  We played a bunch of games including a train simulator and had a grand old time.

That more or less sums up my second Kyoto experience.  Overall there weren’t that many things I missed the first time, but certainly found new and exciting things to do.  Kyoto was the first stop on my 7 day train pass through the mountains, so the next few locations are a little bit more rural in nature which is right up my ally.

I now had unlimited train travel availible on certain lines along an arch route from Kyoto to Tokyo, including the high speed Shinkansen and various other lines that spread out from the main line.  It’s called the Hokuriku Arch pass and was a little bit cheaper than some of the other rail passes and had the benefit of being able to be purchased within Japan instead of ordering it ahead of time.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do in between Kyoto and Tokyo, but at some point i saw random things that looked interesting and decided to just explore some of the smaller places in Japan.  First stop was Fukui!!!