Uji: 20 Mins from Kyoto, Off the Beaten Path Day Trip! ⛩️🍵 Byodoin Temple & Matcha Snacks 💚

Uji is an easy half day trip from Kyoto to a slightly off the beaten path area where you can avoid the crowds! See beautiful Byodoin Temple and try all sorts of matcha snacks.

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Uji is south west of Kyoto, on the way to Nara. It takes only 20 minutes to get there on the rapid train or 30 minutes on the local train. The main attraction is Byodoin, which is the temple on the 10 yen coin. It looks so perfect in real life! The street leading up to the temple has Japanese street food and so many matcha snacks, because Uji’s known for green tea. The riverside area’s lovely and peaceful, and you can walk to various shrines and temples. There’s a museum about the Tale of Genji, and a Nintendo Museum opening later in 2024. You can also take a tour to see the green tea fields, and I visited Ujigami Shrine, which is a rabbit shrine! At certain times of the year you can take a boat trip on the river. It’s a chill place to visit that’s quick to get to, to escape the crowds of central Kyoto.

00:00 Intro
00:36 Arriving in Uji
03:17 Where to get matcha snacks
04:32 Byodoin Temple
08:57 Rabbit shrine
10:00 Back to Kyoto Station
11:00 How to get there

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UI is a relaxed halfday trip less than
half an hour from Kyoto that’s slightly
off the beaten path it won’t be as
crowded as the central areas of the city
it’s known for green tea and we’ll be
visiting bin the temple from the 10 Yen
coin and a rabbit shrine at the end I’ll
tell you how to get there on the train
but first things first don’t judge us
we’re at coca for breakfast again it’s a
good breakfast I’ve gone for my favorite
vegetarian curry with vegetables and
cheese
and the smaller serving of rice and
Phil’s also got his favorite B katsu
with
vegetables we’ve just arrived at UI
station and they’ve got a stamp at the
station it’s one of these big heavy duty
ones like they had at
arashiyama Oh that’s come out really
well it’s bodoin Temple the woman on the
is Lady Murasaki who wrote The Tale of
Genji in around the year 1000 it’s
considered to be the world’s first novel
welcome to U City this must be their
local mascot they’re carrying some green
tea leaves and is that one of those
things they used to swell up the green
tea on their head it’s a chen a green
tea whisk today we’ve come to UI as a
quick little day trip from Kyoto it only
takes about 20 or 30 minutes depending
which train you get UI is best known for
green tea there a lot of green tea
fields around here so I’m expecting to
see lots of matcha snacks and loads of
matcha ice cream it’s also known for
bodoin temple which is the big elaborate
temple on the 10 Yen coin and that’s
also my calendar this year on my 2023
calendar the page with the fireworks has
my drawing of Bodo in so today we get to
see it for real not sure why this post
box by the station looks like a big pot
it’s a green tea n uji matcha is
considered a the best in Japan because
of the area’s microclimate if you want
to visit the tea fields and factories
it’s best to book a guided tour uji is
also home to a Nintendo Factory that’s
being turned into a museum it was
originally scheduled to open in March
2024 so it seems like it’s been delayed
so look out for updates about that it’ll
be in my Japan news so make sure you’re
subscribed we have special manall covers
here you do see that quite often
celebrating what’s local to the town buo
and the river are just a short walk from
the station you can also walk to a
museum about the tale of Genji and
various temples and shines when you
first arrive UI does look quite plain it
is a working City and the whole place
isn’t historic if you want to come here
take the Bodin exit from the station and
then keep going until you hit the river
which is where we are now and then we’re
going to turn right IGI Bridge one of
the oldest bridges in Japan it’s been
damaged again and again by Wars floods
earthquakes and restored several times
that seems to be true of so many
buildings in Japan they get destroyed
and rebuilt and here’s our first view of
the river it looks a lot more
picturesque the other side of the
river the water looks nice and cool it’s
so warm today in the Sun as is often the
case with major temples and shrines
there’s a street running up to it with
lots of snacks souvenirs and restaurants
it’s called Bodo inot Sando and it’s 300
M long I used to dismiss these sorts of
places as being touristy and they are
just for tourists foreign and Japanese
but they’re not necessarily tourist
traps you can find some good things
especially street food this one in
particular is known for green tea and
matcha everything on the menu is green
already right from the start I’m seeing
so many green tea snacks and matcha ice
cream you’re never more than 10 m from a
matcha ice cream in Kyoto but here
there’s even matcha takoyaki that’s
octopus in batter with matcha sauce
matcha GZA Ramen with matcha noodles and
you can have extra matcha sprinkled on
as a topping I don’t think there’s
anything here that doesn’t contain green
tea or matcha today’s a Saturday about
lunchtime and it’s early March so it’s
not busy cherry blossom season yet and
it is quite busy there’s quite a few
people here but it’s not crazy it’s not
rammed it’s a really warm day today the
sun is so warm so I think people are out
and about to enjoy the start of the
springtime my drink of choice P to great
it’s nice and cool from the vending
machine the entrance to buildo in is
just at the end of the shopping street
for adults it’s 600 yen to get in you
can pay an extra 300 Yen if you want to
go inside the hall we’ve just got the
outside tickets here’s my tickets and
they also give you a leaflet which has a
map on the back they said you get the
best views if you walk all the way
around the lake we just walked through a
short bit of garden and straight away
here it is the main view let’s go around
and have a look
it is a very beautiful building it’s so
detailed it’s kind of strange seeing it
in real life after I drew it from my
calendar I looked at every tiny bit of
this building this main building is
known as Phoenix hall because of its
shape and the Phoenix is on the roof
it’s one of the few original wooden
structures that survived over the years
it’s never burned down or been destroyed
although it has been renovated which is
why it still looks so perfect we’re fish
trying to get something tasty on the
bank that’s where we first came in so if
you pay the 300 Yen extra for the ticket
to go inside you have to queue up there
and then you can go across this bridge
and into the hall and that’s the extra
section you can look around while we
were there it seemed like a nice
location to take some photos with my
Japan guide book if you want one you can
get it from cakes with faces. co.uk it’s
good that it’s not so crowded that
everyone can get a good view of the
temple and over this other side past the
halfway point there’s no one really over
for this part so Bodin is the temple you
can see on the 10 Yen
coin and here it is in real life not
only is this temple on the 10 Yen coin
it’s also featured on the 10,000 Yen
note the Phoenix on the note is from the
roof of Phoenix hall there’s another
bodu in Temple that looks just like this
in Hawaii I’m not sure why I’m going to
have to look up why there’s an identical
one over there the other bodu in Temple
is in Oahu it was built in 1968 to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
first Japanese immigrants arriving in
Hawaii it’s actually scaled down to half
the size of the original in contrast the
original Bodin in Japan is over 950
years old it’s made entirely of wood
without using any nails look at these
guys up on the roof corner there’s so
much detailing on the roof we’re
following the route around and next is
the museum which is included in your
ticket back there was a big queue of
people queuing up for the temple stamp
which I think is the goshuin where you
get a special stamp and some calligraphy
that you can only get at this Temple
they have them at most temples and you
can go around collecting them if you
want sorry no pictures allowed in the
museum and no sketching either so inside
the museum are various Buddhist artworks
there’s paintings screens and sculptures
it said they’ve renovated the temple so
many times over the years so I think
everything that’s in the museum must be
the parts inside that that they’ve
replaced with new ones on the current
building my favorite parts were the old
Phoenix’s which are on top of the
building which is called Phoenix Hall it
said the building was originally a villa
that was converted into a Buddhist
temple in the year
1052 there’s a sign saying please do not
ring the bell some people were
definitely ringing the bell earlier I
heard it here’s some Plum blossoms that
are out it early March so we’re before
CH Blossom time but I have spotted quite
a few Plum blossoms around and there’s
the phoenixes on top of Phoenix
these ones look a lot more shining and
golden than the ones in the museum that
were the old ones that were replaced by
these they’re actually bigger than they
look when they’re up close there’s an
audio guide for 480 Yen it’s good that
they do audio guides on your phone now
instead of having to borrow a device and
some headphones like you used to in a
way visiting Bodin reminds me of the
golden temple King khakii the main part
is the view of the stunning Temple you
walk in and there it is then you have a
little walk around The Gardens of course
here there’s the museum as well so
there’s not a whole lot to do or walk
around what you’re there for is to enjoy
this beautiful view and here we are back
at the river we’re going to cross over
and look for ujigami Shrine which is a
rabbit Shrine oh there’s a pretty Red
Bridge over that way as
well this is a nice view of the Rushing
Water and all the trees on the mountains
somewhere around here they also do boat
trips I can’t see any boats at the
moment
though the first
rabbit let’s go
up a nice bench sponsored by Coca-Cola
these all the bad fortunes people have
tied here to make them go away or you
can tell your good fortunes here too
here’s all the Emma or Emma boards where
people write their wishes you can buy
them at the uh the shrine gift shop is
probably got a better name than that I
like how these ones have a rabbit face
and people have filled them in all
differently there’s actually a lot lot
of cute rabbit stuff and good luck
charms in the shop these ones are really
cute if I’m honest I had hoped this
Temple would have more rabbits but I did
get this good luck amulet and I picked
up a rabbit charm and Emma as presents
for back home if you like rabbits or
kazaki Shrine in Kyoto has more of them
and there are many other fascinating
animal shrines around Kyoto this is a
nice quiet Lane going back to the river
it looks so clean it’s always
interesting walking down these
residential streets you don’t normally
we strolled back to the station and took
the train back to Kyoto where we had a
shinan send to catch we just fed a
little exhibition in Kyo station just in
the corner of the main Concourse looks
like they got some uh tapestries and
historical
artifacts we got a bit lost in Kyoto
station but completely by chance that
gave us an extra special surprise it’s
Dr yellow is that really him or
it yes Dr yellow do yellow is a special
shinkansen that’s used to check the
tracks and if you see it it’s supposed
to be good luck in all the times I’ve
been to Japan this is the first time
I’ve seen it everyone’s excited amazing
that so lucky I didn’t think we’d see it
byebye Dr yellow
byebye I can’t believe we saw a Dr
yellow and we weren’t even really
supposed to be up here we got lost
trying to get to the other side of Kyoto
station so my great good luck Fortune
from the restaurant last night came true
here’s how to get there uji is southwest
of Kyoto on the way to Nala it’s
actually the same train on the Jr Nala
line it takes 20 minutes by rapid train
or 30 minutes by local train which just
stops at more stations it costs 240 Yen
each way once you’re there everything’s
walkable from the station so that was UI
it’s a lowkey relaxed place for a
halfday trip from Kyoto you’ll enjoy it
if you like green tea and you can see
that iconic bodoin there are more ideas
for things to do in Kyoto in a playlist
on my channel and I’ll see you next week
on a Thursday with more Japan videos
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