Japan 2025: Day 2 / Shijo-dori

After a long travel day, jetlag unfortunately still had a hold on us. We woke up around 5 am but couldn’t go back to sleep, so we went downstairs and ate breakfast at 7am. I was super excited to show Versu the Hyatt Place Kyoto’s breakfast buffet, which my mom and I got to enjoy in 2023! Not an #ad, but we’ve found that Hyatt’s reward point system is the best in terms of redeeming free night stays both domestically and internationally, and have had both trips’ hotel stays fully covered as a result. Hyatt Place Kyoto phased out their complimentary breakfast, however, so we paid for our meals (3,500yen each) this time around.

Our spread! The scrambled eggs were silky, but a bit too runny for us on their own. I imagine it would’ve tasted amazing over a bowl of rice (and maybe that was the intention..). I absolutely LOVED their sautéed mushrooms.

Versu and I also tried their ramen, curry, and beef stew which was also amazing!! We definitely had our fill today lol! After breakfast we got ready for a full day of Gion/Shijo-dori and called a taxi!

The morning was chilly but beautiful. I loved the sun filtering through the roof of this parking lot.

We got dropped off right at the main entry point of shijo-dori and immediately tried a custard taiyaki place nearby. It was piping hot and so delicious!!

Even though it was still early in the morning, there was a slow but steady stream of tourists filling the sidewalks. Students huddled together excitedly at different shops. One in particular was a small store selling dango. The steam wafting from the small kitchen in the back mixed in with exhaled chatter. Versu had never tried hanami/sanshoku dango before, so we shared one as we continued walking.

Being mindful that most stores prohibit photo-taking, I don’t have any of the stores we went to! But there were a few souvenirs we bought. We spent some time in Miffy’s Oyatsu-do, where they had the cutest bread bag!! Sadly only the bigger sizes were available, so I bought a handkerchief, keychain, and washi tape instead.

There were many walking around in kimono, which made me wish we had booked a kimono rental session in Gion…!

We reached the end of the street and walked up the stairs to Yasaka Shrine (also known as Gion Shrine).

Yasaka Shrine is well known for its summer festival, the Gion Matsuri, which is celebrated every July. Arguably the most famous festival in the whole country, the Gion Matsuri dates back over a thousand years and involves a procession with massive floats and hundreds of participants. The shrine also becomes busy during the cherry blossom season around early April, as the adjacent Maruyama Park is one of the most famous cherry blossom spots in Kyoto.

— Japan Guide

There were a lot of food stalls, so we tried a few different beef skewers (which were all amaaazing!!)

We took a break at Maruyama Park, the cherry blossom grove. It was so nice to relax and rest for a bit in the quietness, away from the busier areas of the shrine. I hope we can come back and enjoy the park in the Spring someday.

We took the opportunity to check on Pokemon Go, and noticed one of the Pokestops was a Manhole Cover! We went on a mini scavenger hunt to find it and ended up coming across a beautiful pond with so many pigeons.

We found a shiny pigeon!! We were so curious to figure out why this pigeon looked so strikingly different from all the others, and in writing up this entry it set me off on a deep dive about pigeon genetics. I’ll try to write a small post about my findings later lol.

We watched a team of workers trimming the trees.

By this time our feet were killing us, so we made our way back to shijo-dori.

The famous Kamo River!! When I first travelled to Kyoto in 2023, I had so many plans to do my own pilgrimage of Blue Exorcist’s Kyoto Impure Saga. I was really sad to have missed this one on my last trip, so it was exciting to walk across it this time. Others have documented their pilgrimage much better than myself, likely with less aching feet.

If I had been in less pain, I would have loved to go across the street and find out this artist’s name. His soft strumming in the distance created such a wonderful atmosphere, it felt so magical and surreal.

A building whose architecture stood out like a sore thumb, beautiful and curious.

Thank you for reading!