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all right
thank you I think it's safe to say that if you haven't been to Kyoto you haven't been
to Japan this is actually my third time to this amazing City and there is still so many
things that I have not yet done that is why Kyoto is the cultural heart of Japan there
are over 4 000 temples and shrines most of them UNESCO world heritage sites it is nestled
within beautiful nature like the amazing bamboo forest that we are walking through right now
actually speaking of this area it's called arishayama and for whatever reason when people
tend to come here for a weekend trip they never make it out here and that's probably
because it's about an hour-long bus ride outside of the city center but it's a hundred percent
worth it there are so many beautiful sights in this area it's a little bit more relaxed
than downtown Kyoto but that's actually why I wanted to start my video in this area to
give you guys an idea of what arashiyama has to offer so you don't miss out and in general
this video will be be an overview of some of the top things to do in Kyoto as well as
some of the lesser-known ones sprinkled in
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thank you [Music] as you guys can probably see the crowds are quite big here in Kyoto
before this I was in Osaka and Nara and I wouldn't say it was that busy of course we
are about two weeks away from cherry blossom season and and that will be absolute Insanity
as far as crowds go especially here in Kyoto but to be honest I was not expecting it to
be this bad this time of year the two other times that I was in Kyoto was just after golden
week so kind of summer time and there was so few people around like it actually was
a great time everything was green it wasn't too hot and then of course my favorite time
that I was here was in the fall I think it was probably about November time when all
the leaf changing season had happened and it is just magical so as wonderful as it would
be to see the cherry blossoms here in Kyoto I honestly would not recommend coming here
for that season because there's just way too many people there are so many other beautiful
places to see the cherry blossoms in Japan uh where it's not going to be as crowded so
personally I wouldn't recommend coming this time a year
as if I didn't see enough monkeys when I was in Bali I'm back for more because this is
one of the things that I haven't done yet here in Kyoto they have a whole monkey Park
here to be fair though this is a kind of monkey that I have never seen in real life though
these are the kind that usually you can see in the north of Japan in Hokkaido so this
will be a new experience for me and if you like monkeys as well it's a fun thing to do
I think it's only about six Canadian dollars five US dollars so definitely worth it
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[Music] I had such a great time here at the monkey Park would definitely recommend but
speaking of amazing things to see and do here in Kyoto there are so many it is very easy
to get overwhelmed uh with the itinerary so in this video I'm going to include a very
brief overview of some of my top favorite places especially if you are coming here for
the first time now let us begin this list with one of the most famous temples in all
of Kyoto which is kinkakuji otherwise known as the golden Pavilion it was initially a
retirement Villa of the Shogun ashikaga yoshimitsu but according to his will it later became
a Zen Buddhist temple and still stands as that the two top floors are covered in Gold
Leaf giving it an amazing appearance any time of the year the second temple that I would
recommend you guys visit is actually quite close to the golden Pavilion and it is called
ryoanji now why this Temple is especially famous is actually its Rock Garden Rock Gardens
are definitely a staple in traditional Japanese Landscapes and it's actually a lot harder
than you would think to make a rock garden to find the exact right-sized Pebbles and
then to rake them into meticulous shape the temple itself is also quite beautiful you
can walk around the perimeter of it and take in all the beautiful art just like the last
Temple this was originally an Aristocrats Villa During the hayen period but was later
converted into a Zen temple in 1450.
also fun tip that on the property of this Temple there is an amazing soba place I highly
recommend you guys have lunch there it was so good and only ten dollars probably some
of the best soba I have ever had next on our list is something a little bit different which
is nisho Castle one of the most famous castles in all of Japan it was built in 1603 and was
the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa iyasu he was the first Shogun of the Edo period it then
served as an Imperial Palace before being donated to the city and is now open to the
public as a historic site nisho Castle is actually spread over quite a large area there's
a literal moat around the castle and a lot of beautiful gardens but for me the star of
the show is definitely ninomaru Palace which served as the actual residence and Office
of the Shogun you can pay a little bit extra and go inside of the palace but unfortunately
you are not allowed to film or take any pictures but nevertheless I would highly recommend
going inside this is one of the most beautiful palaces that I have ever seen really done
in the traditional Japanese style I've really never seen anything like it and last but certainly
not least I would definitely recommend you visit the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine the
shrine itself is dedicated to Inari which is the Shinto God of rice and you'll see statues
of foxes everywhere because they are thought to be anari's Messengers but it's not the
main Shrine site that is actually the main attraction of Fushimi Inari it's actually
the thousands of orange Tory Gates that scale up the mountain some of you may recognize
this place from the famous movie Memoirs of a Geisha since they had a really memorable
scene here what I think most first-time visitors myself included don't realize though about
this Shrine is that it is a literal hike like it is two to three hours round trip if you
are actually planning to get to the summit of Mount Inari luckily there are a lot of
places to stop and rest along the way you can also get some traditional snacks lots
of drinks there's a literal vending machine at the summit which I think only Japan would
do something like that so I would highly recommend doing the hike but of course you could just
turn back whenever you felt like it as well [Music]
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not least we have come to arguably Kyoto's most famous area which is the gion otherwise
known as the Geisha District this area has been around for a very long time and is of
course very well known for the traditional Japanese Arts geishas are true masters of
their craft in hospitality and also the Japanese Arts most have to start training at like 14
or 15 years old and only become apprentices after like five years sadly the work of geishas
now is a sort of dying art it is believed that there's only about a thousand left in
all of Japan and the majority the majority actually do work here in Kyoto in the Guion
District if you are interested in seeing a show I think there are some tailored specifically
you know towards foreigners it is still of course quite uh expensive because it is a
very rare sort of experience so whether you're coming for dinner or just to walk around I
would really recommend it because this is such a special area and coming at night actually
coming at night is the best because all the lanterns are lit up it just has this cozy
sort of feel to it and it's definitely my favorite area of Kyoto [Music]
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we are leaving the traditional Guion district and entering this much more lively modern
Entertainment District I think if you're looking for a really nice like traditional sit-down
dinner ideally with a few other people so you can share things I find that eating at
some of the restaurants uh by yourself in the Geon isn't the best just because they're
kind of shareable sort of plates like a lot of izakayas so personally I prefer this area
to grab dinner in just because there's much more variety first of all with the kinds of
restaurants that they have here and also the restaurants tend to be a lot more budget friendly
here
thank you
everybody
so this is one of my favorite uh sushi restaurants here in Kyoto it's called sushino musahi and
what I like about it is that you can either grab some sushi off of the conveyor belt or
you can order directly from the menu overall it's fairly budget friendly and they also
have some very unique options you could say [Music]
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so most Japanese restaurants will actually give you free tea and you just press it against
that and eat hot water so this is what I'm starting with today a bit of a weird item
right they have like grilled corn Sushi here but I just got some cucumber rolls some salmon
and then some tuna rolls I'm pretty you know basic when it comes to my Sushi taste
so that is it my friends I hope you enjoyed this video of Kyoto it is definitely an amazing
City and there is so much to see as always let me know your thoughts in the comments
if you have been here what would you suggest and lastly because I was actually told that
I don't advertise this enough but uh if you do enjoy my videos and want to support my
channel I do have a patreon it is actually linked at the end of the video or in the description
of the video and basically depending on how much you want to give per month there are
different things that you get my most popular tier is definitely my postcard club which
basically you get a postcard once a month from all the different places that I travel
to so I thought that I would let you guys know about that now if in case you wanted
to get a card from Japan while I'm still here make sure you sign up at least in this next
month as it comes out but as always I'm sending you guys so much love thank you for tuning
in and keep being your own kind of beautiful bye guys [Music]
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