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A walk through the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest at night
Book a midmorning Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto—the high-speed bullet train can get you there in under two and a half hours. Make sure to sit on the right-hand side of the train; if you get lucky with the weather, you’ll have a good view of Mount Fuji on your way down. Enjoy dinner that night in Ichijoji, Kyoto’s ramen district. You really can’t go wrong anywhere, but the thick broth at Gokkei is a standout.
Wake up super early for a drive around Arashiyama, a district on the western edges of town, dense with temples and sweeping bamboo forests. You can book a tour for the morning, but the MK Taxi drivers are excellent guides in their own right and can bring you from stop to stop. Kick off the circuit at Arashiyama Bamboo Forest; it will become unbearably crowded later. The other area sites won’t open until a bit later in the morning, so kill some time at Coffee Shop Yamamoto for sandwiches and house-roasted coffee, and then drive back to Tenryū-ji, the Buddhist temple next to the forest. You can see much of the temple complex from outside the main gate, but the meditative Zen garden is worth the (nominal) admission. After, walk back along the main pathway of the bamboo forest to get to Ōkōchi Sansō Garden. It’s a ticketed entrance, but it is much quieter than some of the other Arashiyama sites and was the home of Denjirō Ōkōchi, a jidaigeki (period drama) actor. Pop in to Ōtagi Nenbutsu-ji on the drive to your last stop, a temple with more than 1,200 whimsically carved rakan statues. End the morning at Saihō-ji Temple, famed for its carpet-like moss garden.
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Head back into town for an afternoon of walking around downtown Kyoto. Start at Nishiki Market, a covered street filled with food vendors and shops, and then work your way north, pausing for a coffee at Blend, where he baristas border on alchemists. Hit Kapital if you’ve been hunting for denim, and then end the day with dinner at Kashin, a female chef–led kaiseki restaurant.
Start your second day in Kyoto with a daybreak hike at Fushimi Inari Taisha, passing through a rumored 10,000 torii gates as you work your way up the mountain. It should take you roughly two hours to finish the summit circuit. Ride the metro about 45 minutes north for soba at Juu-go: The six-seat restaurant is staffed solely by its chef, who also grows and harvests his own buckwheat. Spend the afternoon strolling down the Philosopher’s Path and end the day with a visit to Gion, Kyoto’s historic geisha district, and dinner at Tempura Kyoboshi, for a vegetable- and fish-forward tempura omakase.
Paulie Dibner is the Executive Editor of Oprah Daily.
AloJapan.com