Japan popularized the animal cafe so I was hoping we’d get to visit one while we were there. Unfortunately, at many, the animals aren’t treated well so I wasn’t sure if I’d find one that I could feel OK about visiting. And then I found an otter cafe in Kyoto! …
There was no way we were coming to Japan and not taking a ninja class. Ninja stars?!? Swords?!? Cool outfits?!? Yes, please! We took a 1-hour lesson with the Ninja Dojo and Store, although it ran longer than an hour. Luckily it was just the 4 of us at this…
On our first morning in Kyoto, we took a taxi to the pedestrian streets leading up to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple complex. We had a great time popping into the shops on the walk up to the temple. Many shops had samples so we were able to try so many Japanese…
Gion is the traditional geisha district and is what I picture as the quintessential historic Japanese area. Wooden buildings, paper lanterns, Shoji screen doors. It is so picturesque and charming and I wish we’d had more time to explore the tea houses, shops, temples, and shrines that are tucked into…