deep kyoto

I’ve just finished reading this fine little book about the machiya (町家) of Kyoto. Machiya are the traditional narrow wooden townhouses of the old capital. Once, their tiled roofs and wooden lattice fronts typified Kyoto’s urban landscape. However, since the end of WW2 this traditional landscape has in large part been replaced by high rise buildings and parking lots. 13% of Kyoto’s remaining machiya were leveled between 1996 and 2003, and sadly this process continues even today. However, not all has been lost and in recent years there has been a movement to renovate and restore old machiya. Many of them have been converted into cool modern shops, cafes and businesses while maintaining their integrity as traditional structures. To visit these places is to experience old and modern Kyoto simultaneously: a modern Kyoto that respects and takes pride in its history.

Machiya Revival in Kyoto is produced by the Kyoto Center for Community Collaboration, an NPO that works to protect and restore old machiya. The book is divided into four parts. The first gives a thorough grounding in machiya history and design. Cross-sectional diagrams reveal both the typical structure of these buildings and also their design genius. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a nice quiet place for coffee and cake. Mewby and I found this cafe last Saturday and spent a pleasant afternoon there enjoying the tasty fare and the cosy mood and burying ourselves in our books. Tucked away down an old residential machiya alleyway it’s not a place you’d find by chance. It’s word of mouth that gets you there, and Quarirengue has clearly earned its reputation as a place of quiet retreat and fine confections.

Let’s take a look at those cakes shall we? This chocolate cake (自慢のクラシック・ショコラ – Classic Chocolate Pride) will set you back 550 yen. And yes folks, those are real blackberries you see on that plate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lately I’ve been eating at Cafe Bibliotic Hello. They do some pretty awesome sandwiches, but the other night I treated myself to the day’s special. It was pleasing both to the eye and tongue.

Spinach & tomato pasta with whitefish.

The main building is a renovated machiya. Sitting here, surrounded by lights and books and old wood is a balm to the soul. Read the rest of this entry »

Omuraya is a cheerful izakaya style restaurant in an old wooden machiya house just off Hyakumanben. I love it! Cooks and waiting staff bustle about behind counters piled with colourful seasonal vegetables to the background sound of the Blues. The food is simple, healthy and rustic. I recommend the “nama fu dengaku”: moist, lightly fried strips of gluten in a smoky miso sauce. I also recommend the “kani korokke” (crab croquettes) and in the winter the “kaki furai” (fried oysters). Oh, heck! I recommend everything! There are also a couple of delicious Kyoto micro-brewed beers on offer: a light hoppy Kolsch or a darker, heavier Amber Ale. Dinner and drinks for two will cost around 5,000 yen. Here are some pictures. Just click on the arrow to move them forward or take a closer look on flickr.

Omuraya is close to the Hyakumanben junction of Higashioji and Imadegawa. It sits on the north west side just behind (eek!) MacDonald’s. Here is a most convenient map.
Open: 17：00～24：00
Tel: 075-712-1337

さるぅ屋 is a cafe/bar/diner in a lovely old renovated machiya on Imadegawa. The food menu concentrates on burgers (between ￥850-￥1000), sandwiches (￥800-￥850) and curries (￥800) and is generally pretty meaty. As I don’t do the meat thing, I settled for an advocado and cottage cheese sandwich, expecting something bland and was surprised by its sweet deliciosity. And the bread! That was something else. I finished off with chocolate cake and ice-cream for ￥780. Smashing. Below are some pictures and you can see some pictures of the renovation process up here.


On the drinks menu, a cup of coffee will set you back ￥450, and they also have a full range of Yogi teas (￥550-￥600)and fruit smoothies (￥650-￥700). As well as wine, cocktails and shochu, the bar also has Premium Malts on draft (￥800) and also some Mexican and Belgian beers. Salut Ya is super easy to get to from the keihan Demachiyanagi station. Take the number two exit and go east from the Family Mart on the corner of Imadegawa/Kawabata and Salut Ya is right there on your right. Here is a handy map.
Opening hours: 11:30~24:00
Telephone: 075-203-6552
On the way out I asked where they got their delicious bread from.
“レ・フレール・ムトウ”, she said.
And I said: “What?”
Next post: the bakery/cafe Les Freres Moutaux.

Hidden away in the heart of the bustling market on Nishiki Dori is a tiny little alleyway that leads to Hale. This is a fully organic and vegan restaurant, specialising in seasonal dishes, yuba tofu and Kyoto’s famously distinctive vegetables. For lunch you can have a ￥1000 set or the “Special Lunch” for ￥1800. I settled for the ￥１０００ lunch which you can see amid the pictures below and which was more than ample enough for me.

Even if you are not vegetarian, Hale is worth a visit for its traditional cuisine or just to spend a pleasant hour or so in a peaceful old machiya house quietly contemplating the central garden. A wide range of beverages are also available, coffees, teas, soy drinks, juices, beers and shochu and even something made of dandelions – but I didn’t go for that. To find it walk along Nishiki Dori between the Fuyacho and Tominokoji streets and look out for that little alleyway on the north side of the market. Here is a most helpful map. It might be worth booking ahead on weekends as Hale is both small and popular.
Opening hours: Monday & Wednesday ~ 11:30 – 18:00 / Wednesday – Sunday ~ 11:30 – 14:30 and 16:00 – 21:00. (Closed on Tuesdays).
Tel: 075-231-2516

“Wanchan cafes” are cafes for dogs with doggy goods on sale, doggy treats and doggy meals on the menu. Nest is one such dog-friendly cafe, situated in a machiya building more than 100 years old. The atmosphere is antique yet comfortable; a relaxing space built around a Japanese style interior garden. And they have a few tasty items on the menu for humans too: “omurice“, curries, pasta dishes and sandwiches galore. We tried the foccacia sandwich and mentaiko (cod roe) pasta which you can see among the pictures below.

They also have a full cake and drinks menu (it doubles as a wine bar in the evening) so that dog walkers can enjoy a quick snack or beer on their way home. You can take a look at the menu and doggy goods on offer on their estimable website. Nest is situated on Tominokoji Dori. Go north from Sanjo and you will find it on your left before you reach Oike. Here is a most convenient map.

Cafe Open: 11:00 ~ 19:00
Wine Bar Open: 20:00 ~ 3:00
Tel: 075-212-0417

Related: Dog Cafe.

Kyoto Cycling Tour Company offers a variety of bicycles for rent, ranging in price from ￥1,000 to ￥2,000 a day. For those who wish to go it alone, the friendly staff will be happy to suggest the best cycling courses and there is also a very handy K.C.T.P. cycling map available.　In addition to its rent-a-cycle service K.C.T.P. also offers cycling tours of Kyoto with professional tour guides. Some of the tours on offer include:

The Machiya Tour: “Machiya” are the old wooden town-houses of Kyoto. This tour is a chance to experience traditional Kyoto life as it would have been, fifty, a hundred or even two hundred years ago.

The Mystery Tour: Kyoto has a long and bloody history and so naturally has many ghosts. This is a tour of some of the more famous haunted sites of Kyoto. Not for the faint-hearted!

The Japanese Tea Tour: Experience the Japanese tea ceremony and learn about its deep culture and long history.

Tour prices range between ￥3,900 and ￥9,800, depending on the tour chosen and the duration and all tours must be booked at least three days in advance. See the English website for further details.

Kazuo Taga, who founded K.C.T.P., has a deep sense of mission; both to promote traditional Japanese culture and history, and also to promote the use of bicycles within modern cities. He was kind enough to grant me a short interview, which you can see below.
For bookings and inquiries, please contact KCTP, on their website or telephone them on 075-354-3636. K.C.T.P.’s main terminal is very close to Kyoto Station. Leaving the station’s main north exit (facing Kyoto Tower), turn left and head west, past the post office on your right and then the new Bic Camera store on your left, until you come to the end of the road. K.C.T.P. is just around the right-hand corner. There are also terminals for the rent-a-cycle service dotted throughout the city, and maps and directions to these are available on the website here: K.C.T.P. Terminals.

Gojo Guesthouse is a clean and friendly English-speaking hostel conveniently located on Gojo Dori and so not too far from either Kyoto station or the town centre. A short walk north of here towards Gion, will take you into some of the traditional machiya streets of old Kyoto, and it also happens to be a very good maiko-spotting area. A short hike east will take you up to Kiyomizu-dera, one of Kyoto’s most famous tourist spots.

However, naturally, most back-packers are chiefly concerned with prices, so here goes:

A futon in either the men’s or ladies dormitory will cost you ￥2500
A twin room for two people: ￥6000 yen
A triple Room for three people: ￥9900 yen or ￥12000 yen for four.

Futons and linen are provided and each guest receives a drink ticket (worth 300 yen) for each night they stay that they can use in the café downstairs. There are also showers, laundry facilities, a kitchen, a common room with TV, free internet access and a bicycle rental service for ￥５００ a day. Light meals and cheap drinks are available in the Gojo Guesthouse Cafe from 13:00 ~ 22:00 pm, and (most importantly), they also have Guinness on tap.

Reception is open from 8:00 am ~ 22:00 pm. Check in time is from 15:00 ~ 22:00pm. There is no curfew. Tel: 075-525-2299.
Please note that credit cards are not accepted and you will have to pay on arrival.
You can find a map with full directions on the website here: Gojo Guesthouse Website There is also an Ａｎｎｅｘ close to the Yasaka shrine and thus not far from the main bus routes between Kyoto station and the north of the city. Please check the Ａｎｎｅｘ website for differing rooms, prices and reception hours. Tel: 075-525-2298

A few years back, when I lived in Tokyo I possessed a wonderful little book called “Little Adventures in Tokyo”; a guide to 39 fun yet unusual excursions in the throbbing metropolis. Now if someone were to write a book entitled “Little Adventures in Kyoto”, they would definitely include the wacky little café/bakery and live music venue　Hachihachi Infinity Cafe.

Set apart in the Nishijin area of Kyoto, this 100 year old renovated machiya (an old style wooden town house), seems to sit amidst its own private jungle. Sitting here listening to gentle music and staring out the window at the lush greenery outside, you can enjoy a coffee, order some lunch and maybe find a little peace of mind. The proprieter Yokota-san is quietly-spoken but talkative and friendly and will happily tell you all about the live acts that perform there and also recommend some other music venues in the area.

Here is the set lunch; an open sandwich selection of four different breads and a bowl of bean soup that set me back ￥900.

The bread here isn’t cheap, mostly costing over a ￥1000 per loaf, but you are paying for something a little bit special; a really thick and heavy German style loaf made with natural yeast that is very rare in Japan. Here is a menu.

The music played here is a little hard to label by genre, but I think we could say it has an alternative and international edge.　Yokota-san told me his aim was to create an intimate space where the musicians and their audience can sit close to one another, in a natural surround and freely communicate. Live acts are irregularly scheduled two to three times a month so check here on the web-page or just pop along one afternoon and ask what’s up-and-coming.

Now, actually finding this place is a little adventure in itself. This map will be of some help but you may still need to ask for directions. The simplest way is to go east from Senbon Dori (千本通) onto Shimochojamachi Dori (下長者町通) and take the first left. Go north a little ways and keep your eyes peeled for this sign on your left. It sits on the corner of an alley that looks like someone’s driveway. It isn’t a driveway. Be brave and follow it to the end and when you start to feel like you have walked into a small forest you will see another sign by a house that looks like it is just a house. It isn’t just a house. Be brave. Open the doors. Enter and announce your presence: “Konnichiwa!” You have arrived at Hachihachi Infinity café. Give yourself a pat on the back, sit down, relax and enjoy the meditative atmosphere.