honestly it doesn't look as crowded as I expected. A friend of mine is in Kyoto right now and he showed me pics of Fushimi Inari shrine with nobody around. I was shocked at how empty it was and asked what time of day he took the photos, assuming he must have got up really early but no, it was around 11am. So where were the crowds? "Oh, these photos are near the top, the bottom was really busy, I guess most people were too lazy and gave up!"
Yes, as one climbs the mountain the crowds lessen and lessen. Even in 2019 it was a challenge trying to get photos of the tori gates without people until at least halfway up.
Yeah I hiked to the top of Fushimi Inari Taisha in September 2017, and there were only 4-5 people including me at the highest shrine. The crowd only got to the first or second viewpoints. It was quite tiring TBH, climbing up those neverending tiny stairs, lol.
We were back to Kyoto this past Feb 2023 and quite a bit has changed in this area, our last visit was in Oct. 2019 right before the pandemic hit. The ryokan we stayed at a few times closed : ( "Tamahan" We were very sad about this. We've stayed at this place several times over the years and just had such fond memories of this place.
The ice cream swirl cones are amazing! Going to Kyoto, early morning was so much better because there were fewer crowds around. It's so beautiful and I want to go back again. Enjoy your ice cream! Great video!
Hi John. Thanks again for putting us in this video. It was so wonderful meeting you. We watch your clips a lot. See you next time in Japan. Family from Australia 🙏🇦🇺
John~! I finally found the password to my youtube! 😭 Sorry for being gone for a while. Back to watch more OIJ! You got slim! I need to do the same. I put on so much weight and no exercise. That outdoor mini Koi pond is so pretty!
Hi John ,just returned from Japan yesterday. Starbucks can’t cope with demand in many of its stores. They usually run out of most food option s by 1-2pm in the afternoon. They have also introduced orders on the mobile app which means anyone who doesn’t know how to order on the app will be automatically waiting much longer. There are separate queue’s for each option. Also the coffee isn’t as good as it use tobe. I’ve started looking to other options.
That’s true, Starbucks coffee sometimes tastes burnt - not quite the same. I think only tourist places like this have issues. The ones away from crowded spots are fine. I prefer local cafes but they too often have smoking which is the biggest reason I like Starbucks, no smoking (in Japan) - the first coffee shop without it (believe it or not!!)
I used to hunt high & low for non-smoking cafes, I recall Shibuya's Denmark Cafe being the only one I could find in Tokyo at the time, (didn't frequent Starbucks at the time, wish I'd known). It's long gone now but so glad there's plenty more n/s options now. @@onlyinjapanGO
a) Starbucks is highly overrated. b) Kyoto truly is overcrowded. There is a direct correlation to the arrival by mass tourist hordes spewed out from the bus-avalanche, arriving usually a 9am. The same phenomena you see wherever a cruise ship makes a call in a port, like Venice, Dubrovnik, Santorini. I feel so sorry for the local population, they probably feel like invaded.
When are you going to start doing videos on abandoned houses again because I will be coming to Japan very soon and Kyoto in yokosuka Japan in Yokohama and I'm very interested in getting abandoned house in the beginning when I started watching you that's what you did when are you going to go back to do to renew and bring up to date
I’ve been to Japan twice and I’m done being a follower. You can see this style of Japan in parts that aren’t overcrowded with tourists. I’ve already found a few places for my next trip.
Hey John. I want to go to Kyoto so bad but I'd probably like it better if it wasn't as crowded. Would it be better to go on a off season and if so when would that be?
There's a family I sometimes follow there in Kyoto. I'm not really sure on the name but it's lets Ask Shogo I think. He discusses the in and outs of Kyoto.
I don’t think of it like that, in lists. Everyone has a different reason to visit, history, manga, food, tech, onsen, nature, shrines etc. within that, there may be rankings but I don’t see Japan the same way a tourist coming here for the first time would. That is an advantage I have to other TH-camrs who’ve not been here very long, a diagonal view of Japan between Japanese and International. So any list can have parts that suck for some people. You could enjoy Japan immensely without Kyoto. You can do it without Tokyo. You can just see Hokkaido and eat a lot of the same foods you’d get in Osaka or Fukuoka. Conversely, I can’t think of a MUST SEE list of the US like that, the top 5. Wouldn’t that be obvious? Cities and the Grand Canyon. So for Japan, it’s probably pretty obvious too 😂
I've been to Kyoto last year,. It was really beautiful and not as crowded as it is now. I'm visiting Japan again this year but I think I'll have to skip Kyoto this time.
tbh I want to skip Kyoto so bad... I hate crowds, but we'll be going in jan-feb so idk what to expect. We alr have[redacted]'s old style buildings so, idk.... Kyoto seems like a must, no matter where I research. Thanks for the info!
look for some not as popular shrines, go early to things, and/or go at night to places you can. I was just in kyoto around the time of this video. We stayed in osaka so couldnt start our day SUPER early, but did try to get to kyoto around 9-10am for the big things. For example, we did: - Ginkakuji around noon and it wasn't that crowded. probably would have been even nicer a few hours before (kinkakuji was packed, even in the morning, we did ryoan-ji garden after and that was less crowded). - Fushimi Inari at night around 7pm. Saw like 10 people. Obv its dark so different vibe but you can get some great pictures at night (especially with most modern phones that do great night shots). We didnt even bother to hike to the top because we didnt know how long of a hike it was. - otagi nenbutsu-ji, its a small shrine a short bus ride or hike out of the Arashiyama area. We bussed up then walked back to the station. People around but not crowded (Arashiyama was overflowing with people tho) Pretty much everywhere else we went in kyoto was crowded 😅. If i go back to Kyoto one day I'm going to avoid the big destinations and mainly look for smaller places during the day, then cool places to eat at night. Maybe a Ryokan/onsen stay in Kyoto is the move: do 1-2 smal things in the morning when less people are around, then chill at your spa the rest of the day. IDK
When i was kyoto 2017 nijo castle autumn mountains arashiyama macais, 2019 spring arashiyama deep kyoto mountains for mountain food, and snow monkees 2023 spring further in the mountains offroad, to avoid tourist croud
Cheap Unagi is always from abroad which I’ll never eat. There is a price point I want cross for some dishes meaning if it’s THAT cheap, it ain’t real or it was farmed and full of antibiotics which will hurt you more than the money you save. I had an allergic reaction to Unagi from China in 2006! Never again.
@@onlyinjapanGO farmed ones comes mostly from china yes but also from usa, lots chemical medication be add. Japanese Local ones are also farmed, but half get nutriënten other half naturel way captive in nets, muddy rivers, here in the netherlands we also have eals keep in muddy rivers, or a muddy tank, some get nutriënten algy pills for they not get worms parasite in them.
Over tourism would be solved if they limit the amount of people from China that can enter the country, I swear last time I went 90% of tourist were Chinese.
17:03 Pokemon is in fact THE largest and most recognizable intellectual property on the planet (earth). If you think they look ridiculous: why? is it because they are in japan? or is it prejudice for Otaku culture? obviously you said you don't mind, but you might have the realization that it is becoming the norm, or more common. Maybe in our lifetime we might say your outfit is ridiculous because it DOESNT have a Pikachu, who knows?
🩵Kyoto🩵. Always been my favourite city. Theres someone I know on facebook, hes a tour guide in Kyoto, speaks good english. Like to meet him someday. Its great the Geishas and Maikos doing well these days.
![[[OFFICIAL MV]] เอิ้นขวัญให้อ้าย- อ๊ะอาย สกุณาพร | ค่ายเพลงเป็นหนึ่ง](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/83x6L3X3qh0/mqdefault.jpg)
honestly it doesn't look as crowded as I expected. A friend of mine is in Kyoto right now and he showed me pics of Fushimi Inari shrine with nobody around. I was shocked at how empty it was and asked what time of day he took the photos, assuming he must have got up really early but no, it was around 11am. So where were the crowds? "Oh, these photos are near the top, the bottom was really busy, I guess most people were too lazy and gave up!"
Yes, as one climbs the mountain the crowds lessen and lessen. Even in 2019 it was a challenge trying to get photos of the tori gates without people until at least halfway up.
Yeah I hiked to the top of Fushimi Inari Taisha in September 2017, and there were only 4-5 people including me at the highest shrine. The crowd only got to the first or second viewpoints. It was quite tiring TBH, climbing up those neverending tiny stairs, lol.
We were back to Kyoto this past Feb 2023 and quite a bit has changed in this area, our last visit was in Oct. 2019 right before the pandemic hit. The ryokan we stayed at a few times closed : ( "Tamahan" We were very sad about this. We've stayed at this place several times over the years and just had such fond memories of this place.
The ice cream swirl cones are amazing! Going to Kyoto, early morning was so much better because there were fewer crowds around. It's so beautiful and I want to go back again. Enjoy your ice cream! Great video!
Hi John. Thanks again for putting us in this video. It was so wonderful meeting you. We watch your clips a lot. See you next time in Japan. Family from Australia 🙏🇦🇺
Following you from Perth, Western Australia. Going to Tokyo in ten days to meet my new grand daughter, son and daughter in law. Can’t wait.
John~! I finally found the password to my youtube! 😭 Sorry for being gone for a while.
Back to watch more OIJ!
You got slim! I need to do the same. I put on so much weight and no exercise.
That outdoor mini Koi pond is so pretty!
Amazing video quality on this stream. Looks like a lovely place to visit. Well done John.
Hi John ,just returned from Japan yesterday. Starbucks can’t cope with demand in many of its stores. They usually run out of most food option s by 1-2pm in the afternoon. They have also introduced orders on the mobile app which means anyone who doesn’t know how to order on the app will be automatically waiting much longer. There are separate queue’s for each option. Also the coffee isn’t as good as it use tobe. I’ve started looking to other options.
That’s true, Starbucks coffee sometimes tastes burnt - not quite the same. I think only tourist places like this have issues. The ones away from crowded spots are fine. I prefer local cafes but they too often have smoking which is the biggest reason I like Starbucks, no smoking (in Japan) - the first coffee shop without it (believe it or not!!)
@@onlyinjapanGO totally agree if I go to one where my eldest son lives in Utsunomiya it’s fine . The staff are very hard working and polite.
I used to hunt high & low for non-smoking cafes, I recall Shibuya's Denmark Cafe being the only one I could find in Tokyo at the time, (didn't frequent Starbucks at the time, wish I'd known). It's long gone now but so glad there's plenty more n/s options now. @@onlyinjapanGO
As always, You sir are a national treasure. Arigato 🙏
beautiful clear day out in kyoto, fall is definitely here
Been here twice before covid and it was quite busy both times. Lots of tourists
what happened to the stream? it ended after a superchat mentioned about another livestream youtuber thats going to confront john
Was there just 2 weeks ago. It was so beautiful that we ended up going there during both day and night on separate days.
a) Starbucks is highly overrated.
b) Kyoto truly is overcrowded. There is a direct correlation to the arrival by mass tourist hordes spewed out from the bus-avalanche, arriving usually a 9am. The same phenomena you see wherever a cruise ship makes a call in a port, like Venice, Dubrovnik, Santorini. I feel so sorry for the local population, they probably feel like invaded.
Wow, the water in that pond is so clear.
Ohhh boy ima be in Japan Nov 10-24th I hope it's not too bad.
When i was there 4 days ago, I went in later afternoon. Wasn't too bad. Made the mistake of going to the rooftop bar lol
😊Amazing/beautiful⛩️
Nice walk, Bro 👍Keep going 😀
When are you going to start doing videos on abandoned houses again because I will be coming to Japan very soon and Kyoto in yokosuka Japan in Yokohama and I'm very interested in getting abandoned house in the beginning when I started watching you that's what you did when are you going to go back to do to renew and bring up to date
thanks for showing us around john. was not very crowded at all
There's so many gorgeous little streets there that it's so easy to miss sum, I have been there but didn't walk through that one 😂
I miss Kyoto so much 😩😭
Enjoying these livestreams from Kyoto! Tried to reconnect but failed. :(
I’ve been to Japan twice and I’m done being a follower. You can see this style of Japan in parts that aren’t overcrowded with tourists. I’ve already found a few places for my next trip.
Why don’t you provide the locations
Hey John. I want to go to Kyoto so bad but I'd probably like it better if it wasn't as crowded. Would it be better to go on a off season and if so when would that be?
I still love to go back and watch the Kyoto Starbucks stream where you were interacting with the cute group of local students..That was awesome
Mnmqq😂😊
oh nooo Kyoto today with 92% tourist comeback omg.. kinda miss pandemic season with very less people, thats whats beauty of Kyoto supposed to be
😂 it wasn’t so bad today, surprisingly. I guess Sunday was kind of quiet before the autumn rush and peak season in 3-4 weeks.
@@onlyinjapanGO wow it can be worse than this 😭
0:54 what's your top 5 John? I'm going next week want to check if I have any of those in my itinerary
There's a family I sometimes follow there in Kyoto. I'm not really sure on the name but it's lets Ask Shogo I think. He discusses the in and outs of Kyoto.
Hi John, have been watching your channel for a while now. Have been to Kyoto, Osaka. What would be your top 5 places to visit in Japan?
I don’t think of it like that, in lists. Everyone has a different reason to visit, history, manga, food, tech, onsen, nature, shrines etc. within that, there may be rankings but I don’t see Japan the same way a tourist coming here for the first time would. That is an advantage I have to other TH-camrs who’ve not been here very long, a diagonal view of Japan between Japanese and International.
So any list can have parts that suck for some people. You could enjoy Japan immensely without Kyoto. You can do it without Tokyo. You can just see Hokkaido and eat a lot of the same foods you’d get in Osaka or Fukuoka. Conversely, I can’t think of a MUST SEE list of the US like that, the top 5. Wouldn’t that be obvious? Cities and the Grand Canyon. So for Japan, it’s probably pretty obvious too 😂
I've been to Kyoto last year,. It was really beautiful and not as crowded as it is now. I'm visiting Japan again this year but I think I'll have to skip Kyoto this time.
The American equivalent to Pikachu is Mickey mouse. Pikachu is also a mouse. 😁🍻🎶
I heard the name Pikachu means lightning mouse. I used to think it a hamster.
@@rainerlovesjapan9468 A lot of the Japanese Pokémon names consist of onomatopoeias and puns, much like their English names.
❤
My man don’t quit
Pikachu/ vs Micky Mouse
MICKEY!! Totally forgot about the mouse. He’s beyond just USA though.
Pikachu!
tbh I want to skip Kyoto so bad... I hate crowds, but we'll be going in jan-feb so idk what to expect. We alr have[redacted]'s old style buildings so, idk.... Kyoto seems like a must, no matter where I research. Thanks for the info!
look for some not as popular shrines, go early to things, and/or go at night to places you can.
I was just in kyoto around the time of this video. We stayed in osaka so couldnt start our day SUPER early, but did try to get to kyoto around 9-10am for the big things. For example, we did:
- Ginkakuji around noon and it wasn't that crowded. probably would have been even nicer a few hours before (kinkakuji was packed, even in the morning, we did ryoan-ji garden after and that was less crowded).
- Fushimi Inari at night around 7pm. Saw like 10 people. Obv its dark so different vibe but you can get some great pictures at night (especially with most modern phones that do great night shots). We didnt even bother to hike to the top because we didnt know how long of a hike it was.
- otagi nenbutsu-ji, its a small shrine a short bus ride or hike out of the Arashiyama area. We bussed up then walked back to the station. People around but not crowded (Arashiyama was overflowing with people tho)
Pretty much everywhere else we went in kyoto was crowded 😅. If i go back to Kyoto one day I'm going to avoid the big destinations and mainly look for smaller places during the day, then cool places to eat at night. Maybe a Ryokan/onsen stay in Kyoto is the move: do 1-2 smal things in the morning when less people are around, then chill at your spa the rest of the day. IDK
it ended early John ..Come baaaack
we were there a month ago and it wasn't crowded at all....
You pray for end of pandemic and returning of tourism to JPN? Well, looks like Almighty definitely heard your prayers, guys! :)
I mostly prayed for peace ✌️ and good health for everyone but yes - tourism is back too 😂
@@onlyinjapanGO thanks for your solidarity, John! Bringing peace back is hard issue, but we're working on it. ;) Stay safe and God bless!
When i was kyoto 2017 nijo castle autumn mountains arashiyama macais, 2019 spring arashiyama deep kyoto mountains for mountain food, and snow monkees 2023 spring further in the mountains offroad, to avoid tourist croud
Park Hyatt Kyoto starting at $1500 USD / night
I think Kyoto is really a great place but the huge crowds are really a turn off
John is wearing the ninja suit wrong in one of his earlier vlog. 😊 Mom said you should dye your hair. Your too young to have white hair.
Expensive unagi😅 better in osaka or nara for unagi sets 680 1200 yen😊
Cheap Unagi is always from abroad which I’ll never eat. There is a price point I want cross for some dishes meaning if it’s THAT cheap, it ain’t real or it was farmed and full of antibiotics which will hurt you more than the money you save. I had an allergic reaction to Unagi from China in 2006! Never again.
@@onlyinjapanGO asking the chef is also a point where it comes from^^and i know unagi im a fisherman myself
@@onlyinjapanGO farmed ones comes mostly from china yes but also from usa, lots chemical medication be add. Japanese Local ones are also farmed, but half get nutriënten other half naturel way captive in nets, muddy rivers, here in the netherlands we also have eals keep in muddy rivers, or a muddy tank, some get nutriënten algy pills for they not get worms parasite in them.
Over tourism would be solved if they limit the amount of people from China that can enter the country, I swear last time I went 90% of tourist were Chinese.
17:03
Pokemon is in fact THE largest and most recognizable intellectual property on the planet (earth). If you think they look ridiculous: why? is it because they are in japan? or is it prejudice for Otaku culture? obviously you said you don't mind, but you might have the realization that it is becoming the norm, or more common. Maybe in our lifetime we might say your outfit is ridiculous because it DOESNT have a Pikachu, who knows?
Whoah there.
🩵Kyoto🩵. Always been my favourite city. Theres someone I know on facebook, hes a tour guide in Kyoto, speaks good english. Like to meet him someday. Its great the Geishas and Maikos doing well these days.