central coastal and city japan | kansai and chūbu region

Nagoya, Wakasa, Kyoto, Gion, Uji, Nara, Ikoma

For me, an overseas travel is not complete without some city sight-seeing. As much as I love nature and mountains, I feel that seeing the towns and cities are an important aspect of getting to know the culture better. I admit I am not great at immersing myself in the culture but I do believe there’s no single way to experience a new destination so long as you’re respectful and keep your mind open. I bunch together several areas around Kyoto here.

I include 2 extra Chūbu region (central Japan) instead of in the Nagano Prefecture blog because of it’s physical location and since they are less mountainous. This is where I’ll also talk more extensively about the public transportation. So check out the first blog before reading this one!

Chūbu Region

Nagoya

The majority of information I’ve shared is in the Japanese Alps blog. But funny enough, Nagoya by the southern coast and Wakasa on the northern (or western) coast is also part of the central region just by a margin. After the Japanese Alps, we traveled by train to Nagoya primarily because it was the best way to get to Kyoto and the general area. Sometimes it’s preferable to go to a big city for more options for lodging and food. The one thing I will point out about Nagoya is that it just feels like another large east asian city, but it reminded me a lot of Hong Kong where you have lots of great restaurants in the commercial buildings right next to a major metro station. The cheap lodging was nothing to note of but the dinner we got was incredible especially for the price. It’s called Suju Masayuki next to the Nagoya station. Looking it up, it is actually a chain restaurant all the way to Singapore and originated in Karuizawa, which we were a few days prior to Nagoya. Everything was just so well made and refreshing to eat. Also by the way, if you get a chance, visit the Piyorin Shop for me! It’s got cute chick desserts and have a relatively early closing time/sell-out time. It’s located in the metro station.

Wakasa

The next stop before heading to Kyoto would be themed by beaches and seafood. As an island country, Japan has so many beaches and their southern islands look practically like Hawaii, a much different tropical look than the main northern part of Japan. We had sent our luggage from Matsumoto to Wakasa (skipping one night) just so we didn’t have to do luggage storage and lug everything around as we traveled point to point. It was a great decision! I can’t remember exactly how much it cost but it seemed price effective, maybe like $20/item. The first stop of two along the coast was the town of Obama. It’s one of the more major areas. Another option for you to check out is Tsuruga, which is along a shinkansen line. Only a local train runs through the area between Tsuruga and Maizuru. So it’s slow to say the least. Obama is worth stopping for its large seafood hub. I found it primarily for the Wakasa Fisherman’s Wharf, but actually the Wakasa Obama Fish Center had more fresh fish to look at. There’s plenty of sushi options nearby and we put our names down in many places – honestly just eat lunch early to avoid the waits. We ate at Goemon, which seems sort of a grungy place but felt local and everything was cheap! It was something on the order of $7-15 for a sashimi plate. We split one cooked mackerel and one sashimi assortment and it was so filling. It was fun seeing everyone get nearly the same order. Consider checking out the Food Culture Museum, which is primarily free.

We stayed at a ryokan by the Wakasawada Beach, which seemed like a hot spot for surfing. This town screamed local vacation town. You wouldn’t see any foreigners and as an Asian woman I sort of blend in. You can get around enough not knowing Japanese, but it was a cool experience immersing ourselves away from the more English speaking cities and tourist areas. Our inn was called Umi No Mieruyado Muramiya. The goal was to eat seafood at our ryokan and being a bit cheap, we opted for a crab hot pot instead of some of the other fancier options that were double the price. We still had so much seafood it was amazing. And per usual for all the ryokans, we got a breakfast in the morning, also heavily seafood-based. It was wonderful staying right on the beach. Before you go, check out the local bakery Hello Bakery Please. The bakers were so nice and even though there was a language barrier we still communicated well and they were so excited to explain their pastries to us, which was delicious, by the way.

Kansai Region

Kyoto

There’s a few transfers to get to Kyoto, depending on your train schedule. Too many variations that I won’t even explain the best way. Just make sure you get the right tickets. There’s sort of two regions in Kyoto you’ll likely visit. The Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and the Gion old district. Truthfully, I did not explore much more than that either. The free bamboo forest that is now Instagram famous is literally this one short pathway. My camera was broken at this point to take low light photos, but definitely go right before sunrise and you’ll have it all to yourselves (and maybe 2 other groups), whereas if you went even an hour later, it will get crowded. I highly recommend taking the Sagano Scenic Railway. But make sure you book a day or two in advance to have more options of seating. It takes you along the Katsura River and drops you off at the other side of the mountains at Torokko Kameoka Station. There’s not a whole lot to do here as a mostly residential town. Of course I had to check out another bakery. Ordinary Day had many options and was quite tasty between more french style pastries and purely asian pastries. From here you can take the scenic trail back or the normal JR train. Our trip was flexible so we ended up going to Uji, just south of Kyoto for the birthplace of matcha.

But first I want to share about Gion. This was one of the most touristy areas I visited and it can be very overwhelming. I loved getting up at sunrise to go. It was very empty, the shops weren’t open, but the streets were lovely. An hour or two later, it was shoulder to shoulder crowded. The entrance to the Kiyomizu-dera temple is free to enter but the main parts of it are paid entry. I opted just for the porch views. If you’re looking for the cool-looking old streets, you’re probably thinking of the Sannenzaka path. The path makes an L-shape and if you continue from south to north to west, you’ll stumble on the Yasaka-dori path and find that view of the Yasaka Pagoda that’s also very famous. A little less crowded is the Ninenzaka path and I quite liked this one too. There’s plenty of spots around here to spend your money on food and souvenirs. I happened to find a tofu house by chance. They do a set meal where every course includes some sort of tofu and by the end I was pretty tofu-ed out. We even got a sweet soy milk drink for the end of the meal. If you go early, you won’t have to wait but you can also make reservations. The setting is so beautiful with a garden in the back and a tatami (floor seating) style. I highly recommend just wandering around here. We also wandered over to the Kodaiji Temple. Some of the stuff felt gimmicky but try it all out if you want! There’s gong ringing and wishes you can write down too.

Okay so about the food. Obviously there’s plenty of incredible food you can try but these were the ones I really enjoyed! Kikushin Coffee is the tiniest coffee shop that the kitchen access is through another door to get to the main seating. Everything is made to order and super cute. Gion Negiyaki Kana (east location at least) is a little okonomiyaki restaurant, meaning they cook the food on the table in front of you, think teppanyaki at a Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse back in the US. Gion Duck Rice (or noodle) has incredibly delicious duck. It’s got a cool concept like you’re in a lab but it really is quite tasty despite being all over social media.

Not quite Gion but adjacent is the Saiseki-dori street which is super cool and hip at night. Looking for food after too many waiting lists, we stumbled on Ponto, an izakaya restaurant, meaning they serve bar food, or small dishes like tapas. This was quite delicious and I’m sure all the other nearby restaurants are just as good. Try also looking for set menu or kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto. And lastly I want to point out Pâtisserie RAU, an upscale bakery that’s well worth your money for the novelty and taste. There were so many other bakeries I wanted to try but didn’t get a chance to because your stomach can only eat so much in a day!

Uji

The birthplace of matcha is Uji. At least as far as people know. There’s not much particularly special about it from what I could tell except that literally every store sells matcha. Take your pick where to go, or take a class on making matcha or enjoy a matcha tea ceremony. These all cost money so I viewed from afar. There’s a fair number of tourist trap places that sell matcha ice cream or lattes, so pick wisely. I enjoyed the matcha soba at Renge Chaya. Originally I was searching for a dessert but ended with a hojicha latte from Matcha Roastery, which was surprisingly pleasant. If you ever wanted to try different kinds of matcha this is your time to try in Uji!

Nara

As you go further south down the JR line, you’ll end up in Nara, famous for the wild deer. Don’t worry because they are everywhere and not afraid of people. I thought you had to head all the way to Nara Park to find them but they are anywhere win the parks and next to museums. They’re pretty aggressive with grabbing things and ate a paper out of my hand. I tried pulling the paper out but they’ve got strong jaws. I think they’re conditioned to eat paper-like objects because lots of vendors sell wafers that you can feed the deer. Honestly you can still get close to them without feeding them which allows you to have more distance. Otherwise they start chasing you like ducks. We originally wanted to go somewhere else for food, but of course the most popular google map restaurant would have the longest line. So we went next door to a pickle restaurant which I had my doubts but it was surprisingly fun and great to eat. But on the other hand, I wanted nothing to do with pickles for the next month. Tsukihiboshi uses a buffet style where you can enjoy all you can eat pickles of many varieties. There were over 20 different side dishes! With your meal, you also get unlimited rice from a rice machine that measures the weight you pick and miso soup. To end your meal, make your own dessert by adding red bean paste in a fish shaped wafer.

Ikoma

This little town was found randomly as a halfway point between Nara and Osaka. However, we didn’t end up going to Osaka due to laziness and the hassle of getting there. It seemed like Ikoma was trying to make it big with its amusement park but the town was very sleepy. We stayed in the Monzen Okagero ryokan and were the only people staying there. There’s not a whole lot to do, but you can take the tram up from the train station, which is fun! It’s a funicular where the seats are at an incline so you can sit upright on the ride up. There’s also a buddhist temple that is fun to walk through and I think it has the prettiest entrance with its lanterns. The only other thing we did here was eat a south east asian restaurant Casa de Té Maharak. Honstly though, the best thing about Ikoma are the views! We enjoyed sunrise and sunset from our room. And per usual we had a breakfast before leaving. This time we took the bus down instead of waiting for the tram.

Onto the next stop: Fuji!

Photos taken on Canon 5D Mark IV and iPhone 13mini