Dear Dayre,
#yinagoestojapan continues… Konnichiwa! ^.^ Impostor Nipponese reporting here. ζ沑ζεε°?
And my yukata-donning fake Japanese husband too π
Real husband, fake Japanese I mean.
Let me briefly talk about our kimono rental experience!
There are quite a number of kimono rental stores in Kyoto, and a quick google search will turn up a fair amount of options.
I'm so glad that I picked this particular store called Kimono Rental 41 (the name sounds dubious I know) which is located in a tiny building right outside Kawaramachi Station.
When we arrived at the shop at 9.20am, the shop already had a handful of Japanese customers, with no locals at all! Always a good sign.
There are a few different rental plans available: Plan A (basic kimono) Plan B (upgraded version) and yukata rental. For men, there's also kimono and yukata.
I picked the Plan B kimono rental and YZ chose yukata rental because he liked the prints on the yukata better.
You'll get to select the kimono that you like, and I had a tough time deciding which one to pick! Finally settled on this sweet pink kimono with an elegant floral print π
The shop staff helped me with picking an obi sash!
There are also other bits and pieces to go along with the kimono, like an ornamental rope piece and another inner piece that goes between the sash and kimono. Depending on the kind of prints and colors you use, the feel can be vastly different!
I finally settled on a purple obi sash and a green rope piece for a pop of color contrast.
I was dressed in the kimono by the shop staff, and I was quite mind blown by how many different articles of cloth I had, put on me!
We started with a white under robe, which was layered with sashes, another cape like white piece, the inner collar that will peek out under the kimono, and then a piece under the obi belt and finally the actual kimono and obi sash!
Pretty sure if you go to a less authentic and more touristy kind of shop, you probably get like, three layers.
I also paid an additional 540Β₯ for my hair to be done!
Definitely definitely recommend getting your hair done up because the stylists are so good at it, even my short hair got magically transformed into an updo! It makes such a difference when you're donning kimono because it really completes the look π
I happily made some new friends at the shop as one of the sweet Japanese customers could speak really good English and she helped me out when I couldn't understand what the shop staff was trying to tell me!
There's English brochures but the staff only know basic English. They are super nice though so I still highly recommend them π
First stop: Kiyiomizudera Temple!
We basically walked our way through the streets of Kyoto from Kawaramachi to the temple, about 2km distance!
The weather was tooooo fine today and it was so hot in the kimono under the mid-day sun! π₯
When we approached the temple street area (you have to climb towards an upward incline to reach the temple), it was ultra crowded!
Probably because it's a Public Holiday in Japan this week. The area was packed!
Made a pit stop to get some ice cream on the way because we were just dying. π₯
Sesame and sweet potato flavoured soft-serve!
When we reached the temple, this is what the streets looked like. π So full of people! The last time I was here, it was evening time and much less crowded. Probably also when it wasn't a Public Holiday?
Selfie with the hordes of people behind us π
We spotted many people dressed in kimono, by the way! Both locals and tourists! I was secretly comparing all the kimonos we saw on the street with my own and I feel like mine was really classy and nice in comparison to what some of the other tourists were wearing.
I could even tell that some of the kimonos were not authentic one lor! Like imitation kimonos just for show!
YZ and I got ourselves a touristy shot thanks to a nice tourist who offered to take a photo for us. π
After which we decided to "set up shop" and take photos by ourselves π
Yataaaaaaa!
Love this picture perfect shot of the temple with not a single soul in sight! π We damn zai right.
What it really looked like outside of our frame LOL π
The beauty of the temple was indeed slightly marred by the crazy amount of people…. But we did still have a nice time at the temple and taking photos of ourselves in kimono! π
ππ» The amount of people behind us climbing up to the temple.
Methinks YZ looks handsome in a yukata! π
And here is the imitation Nippon-ese with true blue Japanese ladies ahahahaa we saw so many people trying to take photos of themselves and for each other so we helped some of them!
Most Japanese people are very cute and friendly even if they don't speak English! I haven't encountered any rude ones during this trip yet.
We spent quite a lot of time trying to take photos at Kiyiomizudera π But it was fun!!
Wanted to head to Fushimi-Inari Shrine as well but I figured it would be just as crowded as Kiyiomizudera.. And since it was getting late, we decided to head to Arashiyama because I've not been yet there too!
At the train station to Arashiyama!
We got tired of walking at Kiyiomizudera and also it was very crowded so we decided to just take a taxi to the train station at Kawaramachi. Which cost us 2000 over yen but it was very slow because of the congested traffic! Mehhhh. At least we got to rest our tired legs a bit hahaha.
You might think it feels awkward and self-conscious going about in a kimono but after the first twenty minutes, I got so used to it I didn't even feel weird at all.. besides, it's Kyoto! There are sooo many people walking around in kimono. All I was doing was trying to guess which were the ηΏ»η one like us and which were the real Japanese πππ
It was a twenty minutes train ride to Arashiyama and we were in love with the place the moment the train pulled into the station!
It looks much less like a city and just looks like a quaint and quiet old town. It was slightly cooler there too, and there were leaves that were already turning into shades of autumn foliage! π
So beautiful!
Can't imagine how much more lovely this place will get in a month's time, when the season gets into the thick of autumn. πππΏ
Pretty hor?
Sorry I'm spamming so many photos π but it's just too picture-worthy so we tried to take as many photos as we could!
If you're wondering how we got our shots……..
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Best photographer award goes to Mr. Tripod who took majority of the photos I've posted here! Best idea that I had of all time to bring along a tripod although it's slightly cumbersome.
I had to set the tripod in place, put it on self timer, run over to pose for the photo, then back again to check the shot π
At the beautiful Arashiyama bamboo grove! ππππ
We only got here after making a wrong turn into the temple before the bamboo walk lol sometimes online instructions and google maps suck. Nearly didn't make it before the sun set, but we did!
It was super nice but again very crowded π Must be Silver Week's fault again! But it's ok, it was still very beautiful nonetheless.
Teehee one thing crossed off my bucket list: Kimono photos! βΊοΈ
Happy but tired us after we returned to Kawaramachi and got back to the shop to change out of our kimono and yutaka! Walking around in wooden geta/clogs no joke leh.
This is how far we covered on foot in one day π³ Not bad!! Can burn some of the calories we've been ingesting haha!
We walked into a random street and ended up with yakitori at a chain joint for dinner! π It was really affordable, we had so many sticks for just 2000 plus yen.
YZ and I tried this the day before and YZ totally fell in love with it! Godiva soft serve ice cream!
Love!!!! I had the limited edition banana mango sauce on milk and white chocolate soft serve! π The ice cream has a very intense and milky flavour. Damn good!