Cherry Blossoms in Blooming in Kyoto --The end of March in 2013--

Walking down a street, you can enjoy them along the river side. They are in full blooming. Thought the sky is not really bright, the color is brilliant.

I took the photo, on a bridge. Some people commuting to a school or company were observing the trees. They are fascinated!

Here's the other place. In the evening, those blossoms were illuminated. Shirakawa-river is along a sort of historical street, which is Shinbashi street.

It's on Shinbashi street. When the sun has set, the illumination will be more brilliant.

At night, people goes to a cherry blossom viewing party. The gate is Yasaka-jinja shrine.

There were so many stalls in the shrine. They sold Japanese old coins.

The site to view cherry blossoms.

It's one of the famous tree in Maruyama-park.

Spring is a great season! Enjoy them, and don't miss it!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

The Season of Cherry Blossoms

Now in Japan cherry blossoms are in full bloom.


Before We wrote about cherry blossoms in Kyoto on this blog.
This time I am writing about cherry blossoms, too.
However this time is about cherry blossoms in Tokyo for a change.

I took this photo near Tokyo Station.
There were many cherry trees along this street.


It is amazing that we can enjoy cherry blossoms in the center of this big city.


Cherry blossoms are associated with entrance ceremony and graduation ceremony of school in Japan.


So I visited here.

This is the building of Ministry of Education in Tokyo.
I found this by chance.
I guess they are busy in this season.


All over Japan cherry blossoms are very beautiful at the moment.
I recommend you come to Japan to see them.
If you do so, please do not forget to visit Kyoto.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Our guest enjoyed the market

He is our guest from Canada.
He was enjoying the market during his stay.

There was To-ji market on the 21st of this month. When he went there, he bought a bicycle. and he enjoyed exploring in Kyoto city with it.
Normally most of the guests don't buy a bicycle for sightseeing during their stay.
Just rent it. so i asked him "How are you going to do it after your trip?" and he answered me"I'm going to sell it in the recycle shop." I was very surprised. Because i didn't have the kind of idea. Sometimes our guests make us surprise.

On the other day he went to Tenjinnsan market which is held on the 25th of every month. and he showed me what he bough as you can see the above picture.
Um......when i looked it carefully, it is written"Special product of Akita prefecture"
Bought the doll of Akita festival in Kyoto??
so i asked him again"Why did you buy it?"
"I have a friend in Akita. and she told me about this festival. That's why i bought it"
"So are you going to give it to her?"
"No. It's mine. I just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere with it"
I understand. The guests who come to Kyoto don't always buy Kyoto's product like him.
They buy what they like.
I like the kind of sense though.

I always think that this job makes me fun. Because i can find the guest's sense of values every day.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Ponto-cho St.(先斗町通り） with a Cherry Blossom

When I walk down the street, I found some nice things like a cherry blossom, street singers, small lanterns and people high in spirits. The name of the street is Ponto-cho St. That's located in the center of Kyoto, the busiest area.

I shot the movie to tell the atmosphere. 

This is not a stereo type image of Kyoto, which is a historical city having more than 1000 years history. The atmosphere is something in between. The history and something new.

If you know just the old Kyoto, please enjoy the night life. That's definitely fun!

Maiko

Most tourists from oversea say that they want to see Maiko when they visited in Kyoto.

Actually it’s very difficult to see them in certain places because there sometimes you need the invitation to get in and very expensive hang out with them I suppose.

Anyway I've never been there so I can’t tell the true actually.

Any chances you have is just walk around Gion-city where this A-yado hostel is located.

Sometimes Maiko walking around there and you could take photos with them.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Do you know Okinawa-island ? that's located in South of Japan.
They have own language, culture, music and etc.
to get there is very long way but you can feel okinawan moods in Kyoto as well.
many okinawan people immigrate to Kyoto and there are many okinawan restaurants and bars.
and there you can listen to Okinawan music too.
That's kind of you can touch roots of Japan with the atmosphere.
Dance and rock'n roll!

    

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

After the Party

When I went to close our common room, I found them.

Yes, our guests make up a party and drink them all. If you've never drunken Japanese sake, you don't know how strong. It has high alcohol. And some have near 40%. I guess this one has 16%, like wine. Yeah, they finish it. I looked 7 people or so. They are so strong!

If you go to the common room, sometimes they make up a party! 

Of course you can join in!!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Amazing Vending Machine

In Japan there are many many vending machines.
Most of them sell drinks.


However several days ago I found an interesting vending machine in Tokyo.

This one sells banana!!
It was my first time to find this kind of vending machine.


I wonder if this is one is profitable.

Bananas are sold individually and in bunches.

It also sells banana chips and dried mango.


If you find the vending machine, please try buying banana from it.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Bye Winter and Hello Spring

it is getting warmer in Kyoto.
I feel that Spring has come.
This is sooooo good for me because I do not like cold days.


I can not believe it was very cold last month.
This reminds me of certain guests.

They are the guests from Malaysia.
They were staying at A-yado last month.


Malaysia has warm weather so they were not used to coldness.
Every time when I asked them "How are you?", they always answered "Cold! Cold!"


Now it is warm so it is a very good time for them to come to japan.
I wish they would come to Japan again and enjoy Kyoto in Spring.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Nijo-jo Castle and the Illumination, plus Cherry blosome

I took the photo in front of Nijo-jo castle, which is the most famous castle in Kyoto. The castle is surrounded by a kind of rive to protect itself from enemies.

Here's the entrance. I didn't go inside this time. 

Because the illumination event is held from 29th of March with cherry blossom trees in blooming. The season is not just cherry blossom trees but you can enjoy illumination at night. Temples and shrines will be illuminated.

And I went back to my home along a business street. And somehow I found a cherry blossom.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Wow, it's in blooming!

Some of the type of cherry blossom trees are already in full blooming. This is one of them.

But, the blooming season hasn't come yet. Within 1 or 2 week it will come to Kyoto.

Enjoy the warm weather, beautiful trees and parties!

Shidarezakura(シダレザクラ）in the Maruyama park(円山公園）

The cherry blossoms have started to bloom in various parts of Japan.
So I went to Maruyama park(円山公園） which is a public park next to Yaska Shrine(八坂神社） to check the cherry bloossoms.
But they haven't bloomed yet. They are still bud. I think it will take 1 more week.

Well, this park is one of the most crowded spot for cherry blossom viewing in Kyoto.
Especially around a tall Shidarezakura(シダレザクラ weeping cherry tree) on the picture, many people enjoy Hanami(花見）which is having a picnic under a blooming cherry tree every year.
Also this tall cherry tree gets lit up in the night. It's so beautiful.

I'll go there for Hanami when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.
Please join me if you are in Kyoto.
Let's have a party!!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Umemiya Taisya (梅宮大社）

Kitano-tenmangu shrine(北野天満宮） which our other staff has written an article in our blog before is famous for Japanese plum trees.

Here Umemiya Taisya(梅宮大社） is one of the famous shrine for Japanese plum trees in Kyoto, too.

These picture is when our staff went there at the benning of March.
They are very beautiful, aren't they.

In this year flowering plum was slower than usual. Because it is under the influence of the cold.
So when she went there, it was the best time to see.

If you come to Kyoto in this season next year, it is worth going to Umemiya Taisya to see beautiful Japanese plum trees. You will enjoy it!!

I will definitely go there next year!!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Movie to show a pond reflecting beauty

I shoot a movie to show a pond reflecting beautiful illuminated stone lantern.




It's still vague, though better than a photo. In the event a lot of things were illuminated. And some of them were not good for being taken by a camera. It's one good option to shoot!

Anyway this time a movie is better. But watching it directly is the Best way to know the beauty.
Try and Enjoy it!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Cherry blossoms just around the corner

In these days, getting warm so coming Hanami season.
Many tourist is going to get together in Kyoto.
If you stay in our hostel, you can see beautiful Cherry blossomes near here(just 1min by walk ) and it's very good location on old style of houses, stream and stone path.
I see many photographer there when i coming through.

light up in the night time!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Illuminated Night of Kyoto

Starting from the entrance of a famous temple, I walked down in an illumination event, named Hnatouro(花灯路). The sunset didn't come yet. The sky was getting dark and dark.

I looked down at the famous street. There's a line of lights from lanterns and shops.

Here's Kiyomizu-dera temple. The blue light heading to the sky was one of the characteristic, when it's illuminated.

Inside the dark passage was something mysterious.  

And the balcony of the temple was fantastic.

There's a famous Japanese proverb about the balcony. Leaping from the balcony of Kiyomizu-dera temple, which mean Doing something bravely. Because it's located so high. Leaping from the balcony to the ground, it's scaring!

But, this time it's maybe fantastic! Yeah, of course with a　parachute!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Guests from Hungary

We welcomed a group of nine Hungarians.


In this photo there are 11 people, but two girls at the lower left are not our guests.
They are local Japanese and they were guiding these Hungarian guests.


They came to Japan to take part in a special course at a Japanese university for two weeks.
They were studying Japanese in Hungary, so some of them spoke English very well.


They seemed to be very good friends.
However they had some troubles when they decide plans.


Each of them had different opinions, so they were discussing what to do and where to go for a long time.
I wanted to give them some advice, but I did not understand Hungarian at all...


Finally they always came to some agreements, and were getting along with themselves.


I hope they enjoyed Japan.

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

markets infomation

While you stay in Kyoto, you may have chance to go for some flea markets and they usually happen once every month each market.

every first Saturday = hand-made market @ Umekoji-park
every first Sunday = garakuta-ichi(junk antique and hand-made) @ To-ji(temple)
every first Sunday = Komachi hand-made market @ zuishin-in(temple)
every second Sunday = Tora-ichi(hand-made) @ Bishamonten(temple)
every 15th = Hyakumanben-san hand-made market @ Chion-ji(temple)
every 21st = Kobo market(antique) @ To-ji(temple)
every 25th = Tenjin-san @ Kitanotenmangu(shrine)....etc

You ask for staffs, you don't miss it! you will get priceless things!!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

How to Learn Japanese More Efficiently

About how to Learn Japanese More Efficiently, it's very simple. There's no method. You can follow the following rules.
1. Do not hesitate to speak in it
2. Do not mind a small mistake or big mitake
3. Understand the difficulty of Japanese kanji.

Yeah, if you learn Japanese, you have to memorize 3 types of letters. One of them is Hiragana and Katakana. They are much simple than kanji, which is the most difficult part to learn Japanese language, also for Japanese native speakers. Of course, me too.

I went to a castle in Kyoto. That is beautiful. This time I don't talk about the beauty of the castle. In the photo, there's a blue street sign with a street's name, "Bifuku dori".

It's written "美福通り" in Japanese. It looks very difficult, if you don't know the kanji. BUT,

The kanji is really difficult also for Japanese. Because there're more that 10,000 kanji in a dictionary. And also, they have some pronunciations each. "美" is normally "Bi ". But it can be pronounced as "Mi".　And if in the end of 美 there's しい, you have to pronounce "Utukushii", which is "美しい".

Yeah, that is difficult. But, don't worry. A city officer or government officer made the mistake. If you watch the sign carefully, you will find "M" behind "B". It was erased. And on the "M" a officer print "B".

Of course, a human being makes a mistake, not all the time, but sometimes.
Don't worry about it, when you learn the difficult language!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

regional events in Kyoto

Regional community sometimes have events each to make the town cheer up.
some eating and drinking establishments around the town get together and make fest.
sometimes for a international interaction.
You could have fun!
the other day, I went for a local beers fest that you can taste several beer little by little for cheep price and every people was getting drunk from noon.
Red faces around the park was great!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net

Kurama(鞍馬) Area for the Beauty of Nature and Tengu

This city, Kyoto has two parts, which is the city side and the countryside. Both have their own characters. The city side has very historical temples and shrines and busy streets good for drinking at night. It's sometimes very chaotic, yet worth staying.

About the countryside you can enjoy the beauty of nature. I took the photo from train. The mountain and maple trees in March.

Just the mountain. Actually with some houses. Streets are wide. Compering to the city side, it's also comfortable.

Oh, this area is called "Kurama(鞍馬)", which is very famous for Tengu(天狗). Tengu is a Japanese imaginary creature. It's said they are very smart and had super natural powers. They could fly and thy could make winds.

The masks are Tengu masks. You can buy as the souvenir. Their faces are normally red and their noses are very toll. They have the mustache. And the eyes is like starling something. 

The building is Kurama-dera temple. That's one of the famous things in the area.

Very big wooden sign board like 4 meters.

Inside the temple, there's some big trees. This is a sort of gods. The tree has a magic power. So if you make a wish, it will come true!

From the upstairs. You see ropes in the both photos. The ropes are sacred ropes for a god tree.

In the evening, I went up the mountain in Kurama-dera temple. The shade and shadow was very deep.

And the sunshine before sunset was glaring, yet it was really comfortable.

In the nature, and in the old temple, you may feel something special and new. That's located the north side of Kyoto. From our hostel it's a bit far, like 40 minutes by train.

But, the place is still super nice!! Please try visiting!

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The backpackers hostel in Kyoto is located in its historical district, Gion.
Good access by buses and trains. The center of Kyoto.
Please contact us, if you want to book our hostel.

info@ayado.net