Ask a Kyoto Local: What Tourists Always Get Wrong About This City
Yuki Tanaka has lived in Kyoto for 35 years, first as a university student and now as a cultural arts teacher. She lives in a machiya (traditional wooden townhouse) in the Nishijin textile district and has watched her city transform from a quiet cultural capital to one of the most visited destinations in Asia. She has thoughts.
How did you end up staying in Kyoto for 35 years?
I came from Osaka for university — Doshisha, near the Imperial Palace — and I planned to go back after graduating. But Kyoto is slow in a way that gets under your skin. Osaka is loud and fun and full of energy. Kyoto whispers. I realized I preferred the whispering.
My machiya is 120 years old. The wooden beams creak in winter. The tatami needs replacing every few years. My Osaka friends think I'm crazy for not living in a modern apartment. But when I slide open the shoji screens in the morning and the garden light comes in, I know I made the right choice.
What's the biggest mistake tourists make in Kyoto?
Trying to see everything. Kyoto has over 2,000 temples and shrines. I've lived here 35 years and haven't visited all of them. When I see tourists running from Kinkaku-ji to Fushimi Inari to Arashiyama to Kiyomizu-dera in a single day, I feel exhausted just watching.
Pick three or four per day maximum. Most temples charge 300-600 JPY entry, so a full day of temple-hopping costs 2,000-3,000 JPY in entry fees alone. But more importantly, temples are meant to be experienced slowly. Sit. Breathe. Look at the garden. The garden was designed for sitting, not for photographs.
Which temples do you actually visit?
Daitoku-ji in northern Kyoto. It's a walled compound of 24 sub-temples, and most tourists skip it entirely because it doesn't have one single famous postcard shot. But the dry gardens at Daisen-in (400 JPY) and the hidden Christian rock garden at Zuiho-in (400 JPY) are more moving than Kinkaku-ji on its busiest day.
Shimogamo Shrine is another one. It's one of Kyoto's oldest Shinto shrines, set in a primeval forest that has survived since prehistoric times inside the city. Free entry. The approach through the forest makes you forget you're in a city of 1.46 million people.
And Tofuku-ji — one of the Five Great Zen Temples — has the most spectacular autumn bridge viewpoint in the city. Entry is 500 JPY. Far fewer tourists than the golden or silver pavilions despite being equally beautiful.
What about Fushimi Inari?
I love Fushimi Inari. But I go at 5AM, not 11AM. The shrine is free and open 24 hours. At dawn, the torii gates are yours. By mid-morning, you're shuffling in a line of selfie sticks. The experience is completely different.
Where should tourists eat?
Not on the main streets near temples. Those restaurants have English menus, which is convenient, but the food is tourist-grade and the prices are inflated.
Walk two blocks in any direction from a major temple and you'll find small restaurants where the menu is handwritten in Japanese, the owner is cooking, and the food is twice as good at half the price.
Specifically: obanzai restaurants for traditional Kyoto home cooking. Gion Kappa in a Gion back alley does a beautiful tray of 8-10 seasonal dishes for about 2,500 JPY. Pontocho alley along the Kamogawa River has dozens of restaurants, and in summer, many build yuka (wooden platforms) over the water for riverside dining.
For budget food, Nishiki Market is genuine — it's been Kyoto's kitchen for 400 years. Yuba (tofu skin), matcha dango, grilled mochi, tsukemono pickles. Everything is 200-500 JPY.
Is there a tourist trap you'd specifically tell people to avoid?
Kimono rental photos at the most crowded spots. I'm not against kimono rental — it's fun, locals appreciate it, and Yumeyakata does a beautiful job for 3,300 JPY/day. But renting a kimono and then fighting through crowds at Kiyomizu-dera defeats the purpose.
Instead, wear the kimono in Gion's backstreets, or along the Philosopher's Path on a weekday, or in the Nishijin textile district where my neighbors will smile and compliment your outfit because they actually care about textiles.
What's the most underrated food in Kyoto?
Tofu. I know that sounds boring. But Kyoto tofu — specifically yudofu (simmered tofu) and yuba (tofu skin) — is nothing like the rubbery white blocks you eat in other countries. The soybeans are different. The water is different. The technique is generations old.
Try Okutan near Nanzen-ji Temple. They've been serving yudofu since 1635. A set costs about 4,000 JPY. That sounds expensive for tofu, and I understand the skepticism. But after one bite, you'll understand why this dish has survived nearly 400 years.
What do you wish tourists understood about geiko and maiko?
They're professionals going to work. Not characters in a theme park. The women you see walking quickly through Gion between 5-6PM are heading to evening appointments at ochaya (tea houses) where they'll perform, converse, and entertain.
Please don't block them, chase them, or grab their sleeves for a photo. The city has had to enact bylaws with fines up to 10,000 JPY because the behavior got so bad. If you want a photo with a maiko, book a studio experience — there are several in Gion that arrange it properly and compensate the maiko for her time.
Best season to visit?
I love autumn. The momiji (autumn leaves) at Tofuku-ji, the Philosopher's Path, and Eikando Temple turn the city into a painting. Late November is peak. The light at that time of year — gold through red maple leaves — is unlike anywhere else.
Spring cherry blossoms (late March to early April) are extraordinary too, but the crowds are intense. If I had to choose: November.
What's your personal favorite spot in Kyoto?
The Kamogawa River between Shijo and Sanjo bridges. Between 6-8PM on a warm evening, half the city is sitting on the riverbank. Students, couples, families, salarymen with loosened ties. Herons stand motionless in the shallows, fishing. Nobody is performing for anyone. It's just... Kyoto being Kyoto.
Buy a tea or a beer from the nearest konbini and sit down. Watch the water. Watch the people. Stay until the light fades.
That's the Kyoto I fell in love with 35 years ago. And it hasn't changed.
Any final advice?
Slow down. Kyoto rewards patience the way no other city does. The morning light through a temple garden. The taste of matcha when you've actually been still long enough to notice the flavors. The sound the bamboo makes in Arashiyama's grove when there's nobody else around.
You can't experience any of that in a hurry. So please — for your own sake and for ours — slow down. If Tokyo is also on your itinerary, check out our Tokyo travel guide.
