Located in Pontocho alley, this is one of my favorite beer bars. Great selection on tap and bottles/cans, and reasonable prices for Pontocho. Usually pretty lively with an international crowd, the bartenders are also cheerful and chatty, and speak great English. The 15-seat bar is covered in bills of all different currencies with notes written on them which is a cute touch. A good place to start a night.

Bastet Coffee is a sweet little coffee shop in the Ichijoji area. It’s what I think of when I imagine “coffee shop” — cozy, quiet, dim, relaxed, and surrounded by book stores. They have a fairly wide selection of beans to choose from, as well as bags of beans available for purchase if you really like it. The cute designs are a plus (they have merch too).

The owner is very friendly, and speaks Japanese, English, and Chinese! I’ve not had their sweets yet, but I hear the tiramisu is great.

A world class record store, with a lean towards electronic/ambient. Mainly new records, as well as a handful of tapes and CDs. Well organized, no filler, always up-to-date on new arrivals; it’s difficult to leave empty-handed.

Slightly hard to spot the entrance, but there is a sign. It’s up on the third floor. Close to Que Pasa if you are in need of a great burrito. Also close to the Legal Affairs Bureau if you need some bureaucracy.

Quite easily the most interesting beer in Japan (admittedly perhaps a low bar). They have a few staple brews, but I adore them for their unusual experimental batches that they rotate through regularly. You can occasionally find their cans at liquor stores around the city, but it’s always best from the tap. Founded in 2018, their brewery is not far from Kyoto Station, where they usually have about eight or so options on offer. They have great karaage (fried chicken) as well!

Kuoe is a watch microbrand founded in Kyoto that has absolutely blown up in a few years. They’ve steadily expanded their locations in Kyoto, and have expanded to other cities including a major store in Omotesando, Tokyo. It’s rare to pass their store without seeing it full of customers. It’s a comparatively relaxed store layout however, with a few long countertops displaying all their watch faces and straps, allowing you to pick them up and mix and match to get a feel for their sizes and styles.

The founder, Uchimura, went to London during university and became enamored with an antique watch store, specializing in pieces from 1940s-70s. After returning to Kyoto, he worked in the watch industry before founding Kuoe.

I haven’t picked one up yet, but I like their Royal Smith 90-006 model a lot. Details vary by model, but are good specs across the board. Miyota 9000 series automatic movement, Super-LumiNova lumed dials and hands, domed sapphire crystal with AR coating.

Sou Sou is a contemporary, recognizable Kyoto fashion house founded by three Kyotoites in 2003. They have a wide range of playful contemporary patterns and generally work with more Japanese forms and silhouettes. They have a cluster of stores downtown, with each store catering to a different line (men, women, kids, shoes, socks, bags, etc.). They also consistently do collaborations with other companies across various fields.

I’ve got some of their double-collared shirts, and a pair of tabi-boots! You can spot their numbers motif on clothes and accessories on people all around the city.

Tottori is the least populated prefecture, and home to the Tottori Sand Dune. Also the author of Detective Conan was from there. That’s why their airport is the Tottori Sand Dune Conan airport or something like that.

The sand dune is nice! It is truly a singular dune, not plural, but very unique landscape, especially where the sandy stretches meet the greenery at the very ends of the dune. There are two camels from the local zoo who come out to play (one of them is named Lisa).

The real highlight was taking a small boat tour of the nearby coastline. We went first thing in the morning, which turned out to be ideal as the lighting was fantastic. There are larger boat tours, but the smaller boat was able to navigate closer to the coast and even peek into some of the natural caves. Incredibly picturesque, and easily one of the best activities I’ve experienced in Japan. Highly recommended. Fun snacks in the gift shop. Also a pickled onion store? Pickled onions are the Tottori specialty.

We also checked out the Tottori Karo Crab Aquarium, which was very nice! And free! I felt like I understood crabs better after visiting. If you want to understand crabs better, it is the place to go.

Shirakawa-go (and the surrounding villages) are emblematic for their thatched roof houses. A good number of them are rented out as lodging, which is the ideal way to visit, but requires booking well in advanced since they’re quite popular. Still, the villages are very pretty, and we received many warm welcomes. The bigger villages of course cater more towards tourist groups (bus parking, house museums, etc.) but the small villages are generally just regular villages, maybe with a cafe or trinket shop.

I liked Suganuma village, both because it has a funny name and it was a good size. Afterwards we went to Restaurant Takachiyo which specializes in bear meat! There was a very friendly dog out front, Tora-chan. I’ve heard the bear fat sashimi is fantastic. I wouldn’t know, I got the bear-and-egg bowl.

We found this place along a drive back to Kyoto and stopped in on a whim. It’s a fairly small squirrel habitat/preserve located a little ways into the forest. The animals are clearly well cared for and treated ethically which is often a concern in Japan. For a small fee you get a cup of feed and can enter the habitat to feed the squirrels! They are pretty active up until sundown, and are accustomed enough to people to eat out of your hand.

I love the horse races! The nearest track is naturally the Kyoto Racecourse, which was renovated in 2023. They make it very easy to spend all day there. Free coin-lockers, plenty of seating, air conditioned, water stations, free wifi, food court, food trucks, events, etc.! The energy of the crowd is great, and it’s overall a very laid-back atmosphere.

When in season, races are held on weekends, with twelve races in a day and about 30min between each race. Between races, the horses for the next race parade around in the paddock, and people flock to the various food and drink vendors. There is a long stretch of greenery where people will lay out blankets and have a picnic. Of course you can also bet on the races, with betting starting from 100 yen.

Be sure to visit the gift shop and get a stuffy of your favorite horse to support them!