Lost in the Streets of Kyoto
Bamboo forests, hidden temples, and the best matcha I've ever tasted. Kyoto is a love letter to slow living.
6 min read
The Route
the journey, step by step
We flew into Osaka and took the Shinkansen to Kyoto — the bullet train alone is an experience worth having. Watching the Japanese countryside blur past at 300km/h while eating an ekiben bento box? Peak travel.
The first morning I walked out of my ryokan with zero plans and just wandered. Within ten minutes I stumbled upon a tiny temple that wasn't in any guidebook. An elderly woman was raking the zen garden. She smiled, bowed slightly, and went back to her work. That set the tone for the entire trip.
Days two and three were spent between Arashiyama's bamboo forest and the thousands of torii gates at Fushimi Inari. I went to Fushimi at sunrise — barely anyone there, just the sound of birds and my own footsteps on the stone path. By 10am it was packed. Early mornings are the cheat code in Kyoto.
The last two days I slowed right down. A tea ceremony in Uji, hours lost in secondhand bookshops, and an entire afternoon watching a matcha master prepare tea with movements so precise they felt like meditation.