Kyoto Japan Vlog | Where to Buy Matcha & Souvenirs | Sushi Lunch Along Kamo River | Nintendo Store
[Music] Hey guys, John here. Just want to give a quick shout out for our second channel, Kanto House. There we do a lot of home vlogs, tech content. I do a lot of guides on the Nintendo Switch, too, as well as house DIY setups, and Sarah also posts her cooking shorts on there. Please give us a subscribe. We’re trying to grow the second channel. And yeah, thanks again for watching. So nice walking in the quaint quiet neighborhoods of Kyoto, seeing the Sakura. Probably going to take a chill today. Probably going to go buy some matcha, buy some souvenir shops, and then uh walk along the Kamo River. [Music] Man, these food halls in the basement level are so intense. I feel like so much options here. So many food, gift, snacks, souvenirs. All right, we made it to Ecuador. This is a a well-known chain that sells like a lot of authentic Kyoto and Uchi matcha. So, we’re going to pick some up as souvenirs. Yeah. So, they have the big bags. That’s actually a really long bag.
Mhm. But sadly they’re sold out of the mini tins of the matcha powder. The matcha shortage is real. All right, second choice is probably going to be a drip tea set. We haven’t really seen it or used it, but that’s really cool. You just drip the tea in the bag into your bag. And we got a variety pack. Also have matcha packets. 2 g of 10 that we’re probably going to try too. How much is it? 2,700 going to Ichi. It’s
the one kind of in Centro Kyoto. Popular chain. It’s Sarah’s first time trying it. So, let’s go in.
Should I get this one?
Yeah. Get the classic. This is your first time.
Give me another Give me a se five. Really big.
No. Okay. And
then can I add another Can I add another egg?
Yeah. Okay, that sounds good. All right. And now you get to adjust things like your richness, garlic, green onion, spice level, and noodle texture. Medium or firm.
Up to you. It’s customizable. Have a seating chair up there. You can see people eating in their little boots. I got placed four. I got two eggs when I needed a cup. And here’s the hot water on top. All the utensils. They have cards on the side in case you want to help me for anything. Sarah’s right next to me. Three filming her stuff. [Music] Just as good as I remember. Oh, I like mine’s a little rich. A little bit of spice. I filled out the extra order sheet. I had to pay by cash, but refilling noodles because I still have so much broth left. All right, we got the pork chashu. And then here are the noodles. I got medium spicy and medium firmness for the noodles. Um, let’s see how it tastes. [Music] All right, I mixed everything in. Now, these are the noodles. Let’s give it a taste test. Want to try some of the broth first? I only got medium richness for the frog and it’s already pretty flavorful. Try the noodles. It’s pretty solid. The jammy egg is perfect. And then the chassis, it’s also pretty good. It tastes a lot better than like the ramen we have at home, like their chassis. I finished. Okay, I honestly really enjoyed that. I had low expectations coming in because a lot of people say it’s like overrated. Um, but honestly, it was pretty good and I just selected pretty much like what they recommended. It was like medium for like a lot of them. Um, and then yeah, I’d recommend coming at least once, but I probably also wouldn’t wait in a long line for it. All right, I killed it. Oh, that was so good. And yeah, just like Sarah said, I think my opinion is I think half the ramen I eat in the world. And I don’t think that’s a hot take. I think it’s worth it if it’s not a long line. And if you love to cut, you have to give this a try. All right, we’re actually walking back to our Chuck Hotel, but we’re actually passing by Mishki Market. As you can see, it stretches all the way down there and a bit down here. This is a weekday, so about Friday. I expect it to be more crowded during the weekends for sure. Oh yeah, here’s the Snoopy Ch Snoopy tea house here. It’s kind of like a cafe/tore for Snoopy. Oh my gosh. Snoopy face.
And you can see them making it in there. I got two. I got one strawberry, one custard. About 700 yen. the Snoopy fans. They left a lot of Snoopy merch here. Wow, even ties and houseear. All right, while I was shopping at Snoopy, Sarah’s next door at the Sawa Kyoto Matcha Suits. They’re sweet shop. They also sell some matcha tins, which she got a couple. So, I bought a custard and a strawberry cream. Which one’s name? Ooh, that’s the limited spring and strawberry and cream flavor. How is it? It’s flavorful.
Nice. These are so cute, by the way. All right. Mhm. Let’s go. Nice. How’s the custard? Very good. Very good.
The strawberry definitely has more of like an artificial taste.
Yeah, I think custard is always our favorite. All right, we are arriving at Epoto main tea shop. It’s one of the main matcha places. So, if you want your matcha, this is one of the main shops to get it. Tea bags, drip teas. Hopefully, they have some tins that we’re looking for. It’s
pretty decently sized. Looks like they specialize in just selling tea bags and stuff. Looks like there’s also a tasting counter over there. Two tunes. So, this one’s number four and this one’s number seven.
All right, we walked a few minutes down, found some more soft ground near the Kamo River. And we’re going to go down and walk along the path down there. This is where a lot of people bike and hike and walk their pets and stuff. That should be pretty pretty. If I taught Sarah how to ride a bike before this trip, this is where it would be cycling. It’s so peaceful. Look,
maybe I’ll take a picture here. Yeah, there’s also some stepping stones there. Oh, this is so pretty along the Kyoto Kamo River. [Music] [Music] Just took some pictures at the stepping stones. That’s fun. It’s like a fun experience if you’re not afraid. They’re pretty wide and doable. Just got to do a few hops. Yeah. So, along the Como River, there isn’t going to be a lot of these restaurants. Um, right now they’re probably all closed or maybe like it’s too cold right now, but during the night and maybe some during the lunch, they allow you to sit on the balcony and eat while overlooking the Kamo River. And the river is flowing down over here. We got OG feeding the birds here. He’s summoning all the crows. The kurasus. They’re all here. They’re all here.
Wa! Look at that one.
Oh, look at all the ducks fighting over there, too. All right, we went up a little alleyway. I believe this is Poncho Alley, a straight down. There’s like a lot of like tightly knit shops, bars, restaurants. During the night, this becomes a izakaya alley. So, that’s pretty cool. Found a little area called Poncho Park. has a little playground, but also more importantly, a blooming soccer tree right here for pictures. All right, I’m gonna stop by this place. I did put this on our list. It’s called Kappa Sushi. And I want to try their lunch course because look, pretty good. 13 pieces for about 4,100 yen. It’s about less than $30 USD. And we might be able to get a seat by the window or outdoor. All right, we got in. It’s very cute. They have like a bar counter seating right there where the chef’s making sushi in front of you. Also, we got the window seat right here where we can see the river outside. I wanted outdoor seating, but admittedly, it probably be too cold for us to sit outside right now. So, this is a good alternative. All right, the chefs brought out the sorted 13piece nigiri set that we got for lunch. Oh my gosh, this looks so good, guys. I’m so excited. Dude, these are such fatty pieces, too. So happy. All right, go for it.
Which one should I try? I’ll try the salmon.
Okay, go for it. How is it?
The fish is really good. It’s really soft.
That’s good.
And then the rice is not too sticky either.
That’s awesome.
Try the tuna. Believe that’s the lean tuna. We also have a fatty tuna as well.
And the size of the fish that they cut is really big.
Yeah, it’s really worth it. No words needed. We love tuna. Oh, yeah. The wasami’s inside, so it’s really good.
Yeah, that’s traditional. All right, let’s try the eel. Just eat it straight. That’s a huge eel slice. Oh my god,
we’ve got so much eel.
Yeah, we’ve got so much eel on this trip, but we can’t get enough of it.
Dude, this looks so good, though. Mhm.
Okay. Portion’s really big, but I think the sauce is not that like heavy.
M.
Yeah. You don’t taste a lot of that sauce. Like,
but the fish is good.
All right, I’m going to try the minced tuna. They call this the battleship row uh roll. I don’t know why they call it that, but it’s just the way it is. But anyways, Oh, that’s really good. It tastes so fresh. That’s just so good. I’m going to try the fatty tuna. Oh, look at it. Look at the marbling on that. Oh my gosh. So good. So fatty. It literally melts in your mouth and it’s gone. That’s so good. We’re probably just going to try to enjoy this and we’re going to head off on our next adventure here near the Camel River. All right, just finished lunch at Kawa Sushi. It was so good. That was basically even with the table charge, it was under $30 a person for that 13 set.
Yeah. And the quality was so good. Like, it’s so worth it.
Mhm. [Music] All right, we are now kind of back in Gon. There’s a lot more tourist and walking traffic, but heading to the next tea shop, which should be close by. And close to it, we see a Gon Kyoto by Miffy Kitchen. Oo, it’s another Miffy theme cafe.
That’d be so cute.
So cute. It’s Miffy. Look at the merch. The Miffy
washi tape. And the mugs are actually cute.
Yeah, they’re so cute. See inside the shop. Lot of snacks. Oo, a lot of dry snacks. Oh,
so cute. Red bean.
Yeah. [Music] Second floor is actually just a whole merch floor. Oo, that’s cute. It’s your color. If you’re into Mickey, this is the place to be. [Music] I bought two pastries, a matcha and a cocoa brown sugar.
Yeah, cocoa brown sugar. This is Gon such. It’s the other main matcha shop where we’re going to hopefully buy some matcha tins. Wow, they have a whole wall. Different matchas and teas. Some merch and desserts they sell. whole line of products. Yeah, this is another brand that I really want. Oh, that’s so cute. They have a mini water bottle.
I was looking at that. I was like, that’s what got some snacks. They got tea leaves. Probably tea bags. I just need to find the tins. Here we go. They have some small tins. Uji matcha. It’s probably good grade matcha. This is interesting. This is sakura cha. Literally cherry blossom tin. As you can see, it comes in leaves. So, you just stew this. I might grab one of these. All right. Spent about 6,200 yen for a 10 a 10 pack of stick and a looseleaf pack.
Now, going to get some desserts. All right, we just paid 970 for a swirl of soft serve and a cold matcha. Let’s give a taste of their products. All right, want to give the cold matcha a try. This is just pure matcha without any milk or cream. Kangjiri, how is it?
It’s so smooth. Yeah. No, that’s that’s why this is one of the premier matcha places. You literally don’t taste like that powder texture at all.
Mhm. Strong. Yeah.
So, going to give the matcha ice cream with condensed milk a try. Dude, their condensed milk even looks like matcha. So, it’s going to be interesting. Oh, yeah. It’s like matcha condensed milk. Yo, that’s so good. What the heck? It’s like sweet and bitter at the same time. Um, but yeah, you don’t taste the matcha powder at all. You don’t taste any like bitterness, roughness, um like you do with some other matcha soft serves that have a weird inconsistency and it’s not overly sweet either. This is really good. I like this. Looking at some souvenir shelf in the way. This is a chopstick store. Look at all these cute little chopstick holders and then the lines of chopsticks along the walls. side graphic store, which is the umbrella shop that we bought our umbrellas from in another vlog here in Gon as well. But we’re actually buying a bucket hat for my grandma.
No bag. Okay. All right. We got grandma little like Sakura inspired bucket hat. She’ll probably love it when she’s farming or something.
All right, we’re in the Taka Shimaya Mall and we’re trying to find another matcha store called Maru and I think it’s somewhere here. Just got to find it. Oh my goodness. No, they’re sold out of the tins. So sad. Ah, we at least we got some. But Mhm. So they only have the big tins left and then tea bags and maybe packets. All right, I got intrigued. We bought a matcha soda, which I’m so interested. So apparently you just mix it with water and it becomes like a matcha soda. And then we bought a sencha and hoji ja tea bag. So, couldn’t sadly could not get the tins, but at least we bought a few more things to try from another reputable tea brand. All right. And then on the seventh floor of the same mall, if you follow the signs on the seventh floor, you’ll find Nintendo Kyoto. Always.
All right. After craving through the food court, we found Nintendo Kyoto. Somewhat packed today, but seems like a decent store. Let’s go in.
This is big. M women have their own exclusive t-shirt. Oh, that band is cute. Oh my gosh, it’s awesome.
Wait, they have like little wallets and stuff.
Look at their own purses.
That’s so cute.
Wait, they have so much exclusive stuff here.
Yeah, Animal Crossing, Zelda, Pikmin. It’s really cute. I feel it’s so Japan. There’s a colored fan and a non-colored fan. And it comes in a easy to take home box. I really like that. Oh my gosh. What the heck? This store is kind of huge. Dang. Oh, look at all the merch that they have on display. Oh my goodness. Look at the Mario and Luigi bags. So cool. The mountain of plushies on display. It’s like a fake cartridge just for display. It’s fun. It’s so cute. They have like mints or something in a tin, but it’s like the game art covers. Oh no. Oh no. She’s found the Animal Crossing stuff, guys. She’s found it. We get to see that kitchen scale again. Oh my goodness. [Music] printed amiibo. They literally have almost every amiibo ever printed. Insane. What’d you get?
Apron.
Apron. Ooh, yeah, you should get it. That’s fun. That’s exclusive. All right, I’m going to roll this four times. I already put this in. Hopefully, I get some good controller. Gotcha. All right, got four of them. Let’s see what I got. All right, looks like I got Gamecube, which is exactly what I wanted. Got two of the Gamecube C sticks, which is a repeat. And then I got I think this is the N64 buttons. These are pretty good. I’m really happy with these. Oh, these are um they use real controller parts and then they recycled them into like these like keychain gotas. So, it’s pretty awesome. See, they have all the digital passes. They have some physical games too and controllers and accessories. But what’s cool is that you can actually see the um the NSO online specific controllers too. Now this is cool. They have the new demo of new Donkey Kong Country Returns remake right here that you can play. What do you think? It’s called the guest bedroom. The alarm clock. Huh? The Nintendo alarm clock you can buy here. It’s cheaper here than the US. No, it’s going to be like tup month because it’s cheaper for us here than in the US. All right, here’s the Nintendo hall. Got my anes controller. Had to show them my own ship. Got alarm before they ran out. And all for a total of 2,448 yen. Hokkaido fair going on at this mall right now. Some people are lining up for food that are specifically from Haido. I think like mini food stalls prepared. That’s so cool. Oh my gosh, that’s some crazy seafood. That’s some crazy seafood. Dang, there’s that whole market out here. Look at that. Oh my gosh. People are in line for this one. Believe it’s some sort of fried food all skewers. Look at that. Wow. [Music] I want that one.
Place that sold crocut. You want that one?
Oh, look at all these savory ones. Honestly, they all look good. I’ll I’ll eat whatever you want. Dang, that’s so cool. And then they just have like street food here in the mall from Akaido. We got a scallop coat. And then we also got a was it red crab? Red crab. Cooked.
All right, going to try the scallop. I did not get the scallop. Oh, the inside’s so soft. Outside’s super crunchy. Inside scallop’s buttery, juicy. Almost kind of tastes like a potato texture. Going to try the crab. I still think you taste mostly like the interior filling of the croquet, but that’s pretty good. Stumbled upon another matcha store, Fuku Jen. This is the main branch store in Kyoto. Let’s go check it out. See what they offer. [Music] Okay, it’s kind of a small shop, but they do have really nice packaging actually. Tea bags and everything. It’s actually really cool. Oh, they still have some tins. We have 100 G10 for 4,500, which is actually pretty good amount for what you get. We found some tins. Actually, this is actually matcha powder. So, might buy these instead cuz it’s so hard to find the small tins. About 4,300 yen. This is the Fuj Fu Fuku um hall. This is the last tea shop we’re visiting for the day. All right. Found a Tokyo hand store. Sarah loves Tokyo hands. So many stationary and homegoods to be found here. Oh no. Shima ski. How do you say it? Smei.
Oh my goodness. There’s the toilet series, the cheer series, the glowinthe-dark series. That’s cool. is like kind of the latest trend from like Tik Tok and stuff. Oh, they got some board games. They got Blockus. Got some card games, too. Dang. Oh, it’s Japanese katan.
Oh my gosh. I want this.
A ton of dasha pons too right here. Oh, it’s cool architecture. But then what if I get these?
Yeah,
I want this. or like the architecture is built. But that’s so cute. Wait, this is cute. It’s literally a mini shogi portable one compared to like the big one you can get. It’s so cute. I don’t know how to play shogi. I’ve heard it’s like Japanese chess. I’ve seen it in so many references and things. I’m tempted. I’m going to get this. And of course, if you need skin care, healthcare, makeup, literally, this is a good place to find a lot. And Sarah’s going to be spending the rest of her time browsing here. I know it is not a tea shop, but they also sell matcha stuff. And look, Sarah found a really cool blue set with the whisk and a spoon.
Yeah, we might get it just cuz we haven’t seen another one we really like at any of the tea shops. All right, no tea bag, but 6,830 yen. There’s our haul. All right, we are here at Pokemon Center Kyoto, just a few blocks down.
Oh, that’s so cute.
Oh, so cute. Look at that. Pikachu and traditional clothing. Oh my gosh. So Kawaii. Oh my gosh. The line is there. It’s like halfway around the store. Well, that’s cool though. Look at this Lugia. Oh, they have the arcade machines over there, too. Uh, I might not buy anything. Probably just going to walk around cuz that’s a super long line. So cute. I would say merch wise it’s kind of standard. It’s not the biggest. It’s not the smallest, but it’s definitely super crowded though. Here they have um AirPods cases. Look at that. That’s so cute. Honestly, that store is so crowded.
You can’t even like see anything because it’s so crowded.
Yeah. I mean, we’ve been to enough PokΓ©mon centers, so we don’t need any more merch. I don’t think I saw any exclusives, though. If so, there probably sell out.
But I think they do have like some items that are different, but it’s not I don’t think it’s like exclusive like
So, I would check out maybe at an off hour.
Yeah.
Thank you guys for joining us on our tea shopping adventures here in Kyoto. See you guys on the next adventure. [Music]
Hop on John and Sarah’s shoulders for the 18th vlog in our Japan 2025 series! We have a packed day as we explore the neighborhoods in Kyoto. We hunt for matcha (during the matcha shortage) and try Ichiran Ramen. We also found a sushi lunch spot with a view! Finally, we stop by Nintendo & Pokemon Center Kyoto to see if they have exclusive merch.
Watch our entire Japan ’25 series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5mDwydd3h9nNGAG2GQeUUGY-22FsWUZP&si=mFTbenDujmQniDMb
View our Wanderlog itinerary: https://linktr.ee/cantoexplorers
Watch our 2nd channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CantoHouse
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
0:57 Ippodo Tea Co (Daimaru Store)
1:51 Ichiran Ramen
6:00 Nishiki Market
7:52 Ippodo Tea Co (Main Store)
8:25 Kamo River
9:55 Pontocho & Kappa Sushi
13:35 Miffy’s Oyatsu-do by Miffy’s Kitchen Gion
14:43 Gion Tsujiri
17:02 Souvenir Shopping
17:34 Marukyu Koyamaen Kyoto Takashimaya
18:24 Nintendo Kyoto
21:52 Hokkaido Fair
23:33 Fukujuen (Main Store)
24:22 Hands-Kyoto
26:14 Pokemon Center Kyoto
LOCATIONS:
π Ippodo Tea Co (Daimaru Store): https://maps.app.goo.gl/8pPXLFfsSXWbN31x5
π Ichiran Ramen: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WY26fNn1fCDpb433A
π Nishiki Market: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AVvLjfEiN5KWF6n16
π Snoopy Cha-Ya: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EA99Chr27dUkzvLY9
π Sawawa Japanese Matcha Sweets: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qvaoN6VeqDqfrDFV9
π Ippodo Tea Co (Main Store): https://maps.app.goo.gl/qSxz6krdPTaq2x5m8
π Kamo River: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YnNx4Vqih1oN8Ryx5
π Pontocho Alley: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N2YXSJk1kfFQCfse6
π Pontocho Kappa Sushi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KC8Ky14tEvxX3YXf8
π Miffy’s Oyatsu-do by Miffy’s Kitchen Gion: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N8kZ8jfyRhykU1K87
π Gion Tsujiri: https://maps.app.goo.gl/e5Qa452qFbeyYYRm7
π Chopsticks & Tableware – Made in Japan: https://maps.app.goo.gl/n5hpU3CQGEbNtDTZ8
π Hokusai Graphic: https://maps.app.goo.gl/nwCZCeW2z2tYtQw56
π Marukyu Koyamaen Kyoto Takashimaya: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Nvvc6kjhdifxXwqH8
π Nintendo Kyoto: https://maps.app.goo.gl/yFSYjccBXRs4QDR28
π Fukujuen (Main Store): https://maps.app.goo.gl/LUCLax6z5MgifaHM8
π Hands-Kyoto: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CsQxQJoctJYUhCry8
π Pokemon Center Kyoto: https://maps.app.goo.gl/caVA7jcjynaYhZJt8
MUSIC:
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[MapleStory BGM] Edelstein: Low Grade Ore (KMST 1.2.332)
[MapleStory BGM] Edelstein: National Park (KMST 1.2.327)
[MapleStory BGM] Edelstein (KMST 1.2.327)
Harv’s Island (Day) – Animal Crossing: New Horizons (OST)
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#travel #vlog #kyoto #japan #japantravel #japanvlog #matcha #shopping #japanesefood #nintendo #souvenir #shoppingvlog #ramen #restaurant #coupletravel
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