Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

Kyoto, Japan on Points with Kids!

• Raya & Duane

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Thanks for finding our podcast! We are a family of 5 who does most of our travel using credit card points and miles and we share how we leverage credit card offers to earn a ton of points/miles so we can afford travel as a larger family.

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These are all the experiences we booked in Japan using Viator:

Our Fave Japan Experiences

In this episode we are sharing our five days spent in Kyoto with kids. From bullet train tactics and early-bird sightseeing to Osaka, Hiroshima reflection, and the messy truth of Nara’s deer, we map what worked and what we’d change.

• Buying Shinkansen tickets on Klook and SmartEX options
• Luggage, seating, ekiben and Mount Fuji side tips
• Hyatt Place Kyoto value, connecting rooms, breakfast strategy
• Nishiki Market 
• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove 
• Ninja class highlights 
• Osaka day trip, Dotonbori food, karaoke 
• Hiroshima day trip, Miyajima torii, Peace Museum
• Orizuru Tower 
• Nara - the deer town 


Some experience links may be affiliate links which means we make a small commission if you choose to book through those links. Thank you for supporting our free content by using these links <3





SPEAKER_00:

We spent five days in Kyoto as a family of five using points and miles, and in today's episode we are sharing all of the things Kyoto with you. So listen in. Hi, I'm Raya.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm Dwayne.

SPEAKER_00:

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

SPEAKER_01:

We will also share how we use points of miles to travel as affordably as possible, and sometimes even completely free.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to learn.

SPEAKER_01:

So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00:

We are super excited to share all things Kyoto with you today. And I think we have I feel like we have a lot to share because we did a lot. Like when I was thinking through everything we had to talk about, I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_01:

We did do a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I guess we should just jump right in. Um I I will add, I am going to do a Japan QA episode. So this episode will be about Kyoto. The next one will be about our second um part of the trip in Tokyo. And then the one after that will be a QA. So I think there's maybe a couple things that I left out of the previous episode about how we booked certain things or the best way to go about it. And instead of, you know, having you have to listen to all four episodes and kind of pick out the tidbits that you need, I'm going to put all the QA stuff in one episode for you.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's very nice.

SPEAKER_00:

I feel like that'll be things like how we booked bullet trains and all that fun stuff. And I mean, we'll still talk about it a little bit, you know, when it's appropriate, but I also thought um that just like a QA episode would be really good. Um, some people have already sent in some questions on Instagram that I didn't even think of that are great. So that is coming. So just a heads up on that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, and if Japan isn't on your list, it should be.

SPEAKER_00:

It yes. We are still talking about it and we all miss it very much.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So when people ask us how our trip was, it's it's exciting to tell them what we did and how great Japan was.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, my brother was just over last night for dinner, and we haven't seen him since we got back, and so we were chatting all about it, and I found myself like reliving it over again, and it just kind of like reinforced that we were like, Oh man, we can't wait to go back. So, and generally, like, we are not ones to revisit a place like a lot, not because there's anything wrong with it, just because there's so much of the world that we want to see.

SPEAKER_01:

So, definitely gonna go back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, okay, so let's rewind a smidge and remember so we were at the Hyatt Centric Ginza in Tokyo for five days. Great hotel, fantastic, by far the nicest hotel of the trip. Okay, and so then we took a bullet train or a Shinkansen, is that how you say it? Yeah, from Tokyo to Kyoto by car. This is like a five to six hour trip, and by bullet train it was two and a half hours.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't even think it was that long. I think you said it was gonna be two and a half hours, and it was more like two.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm pretty sure it was like 2.15 maybe or something, but it didn't take as long as it you said it was gonna take. Well, so we um okay, let me think this through so I can give you the right information. So we took a taxi?

SPEAKER_01:

Did we take so yes, we did take a taxi to Tokyo Station?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, we took a yes from the Hyatt Center Ginza, we took a taxi to Tokyo Station to get on the bullet train. You can take the metro a hundred percent you can. We just didn't want to lug the kids plus all of our bags. Like the metro is maybe, I don't know, a five to six minute walk from the Ginza, and then you got to go down all the stairs. You know, me and Dwayne are basically the ones carrying all the bags. Our oldest can carry one, but we have to carry like a suitcase in each hand and whatever. So we took a taxi and um we ordered it through the Uber app, actually. So I mean that's they are taxis, but you order it through Uber, I think is how it works. Um, and so we get to Tokyo Station. It is a little bit confusing, but basically you just need to follow the signs that say like bullet train or Shinkansen because it's like a different entrance than the metro, obviously, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And the station was huge, massive.

SPEAKER_00:

So we bought tickets in advance. I do think you could buy them at the station if that's what you're more comfortable doing. Um, if you do want to buy them in advance, which I guess I would recommend, you know, if it's like a major public holiday or something like that, but there were trains like every 10 to 20 minutes, it seemed, leaving from Tokyo going to Kyoto. And so the way that we bought tickets was through the Kluke app, K-L-O-O-K. Uh, the other way that you can purchase tickets is uh Smart X. I'm not even sure if it's an app or a website because I didn't use it, because I tried to use it and I found it kind of confusing, and I just thought, you know what? I'm just gonna buy it on Kluke. I know I'm paying a little bit more, um, but I don't really care because I'm gonna earn five X points, and the tickets are expensive no matter what. So, like we're talking like around$100 a person one way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but because we wanted seats together, obviously, and there's five of us, and we had luggage, so we wanted to make sure we had like reserved seats. Um, we bought the tickets in advance. You you know, scan your ticket and go in and basically have to find the train that you are on and the uh track that it's leaving from. And how much time do you have to get on your train?

SPEAKER_01:

Not a lot of time at all. So it you have like the name of your train and the number. So like ours was like Nazomi 231. Yeah. So you look on the screen for that, then it tells you what platform you're on, and just tets it that platform. Yes, and yes, if you're if it says your train is arriving at you know 9.04 a.m. and leaves at 9.05 a.m. It's getting there at 9.04 and leaving at 9.05. Yes, so the waiting, waiting for nobody.

SPEAKER_00:

The expectation is that you are on the track when that train pulls up and you are ready to go. Now, this train, the origination train uh station was actually Tokyo Station. So this first one that we took, um, it had a departure time, but there was no time window because the stop that we got on at was the first stop of that train. So it actually was there for longer, um, but they were cleaning it and stuff. So they like the train pulls up, everybody gets off, then they close the gates and they clean it. And then when it's finally time to board, which is generally just a couple minutes before the train leaves, they open the gates again. And when you go up to the track, you are also going to like line up by your specific car. So like your tickets will say like car five, you know, seats, whatever. Yeah, and so you will find on the floor, like, or the doors, depending on the train station, it'll say car five.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, and just line up there and get ready to hop your get on, hop your ass on that train. I mean, even when you're getting off or the train makes a stop, it says it announces, hey, please be ready to get off. Yeah, to get off the train when this train stops. So, like you have to get your stuff together before the train stops.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, you should. There will not be if you have luggage and everything and the train has like a one-minute stop, you will not have time and you will be stuck on that train. So always start preparing and getting your stuff ready before the train even stops. Um, the other thing that I was gonna say is oh, we all had luggage again. We all have the away carry-on luggage, it's the away bigger carry-on, so it's carry-on-sized. Um, we brought them all on the train with no problem. There was luggage racks like above our heads. They're not big though.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I don't think they're luggage racks, they're just like a little shelf. I mean, yes, obviously it's for luggage if you have some, but there's also luggage compartments that are by the exit door that can hold bigger luggage.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and so there is all like the the spots for the bigger luggage he's talking about. I do think you have to reserve them. So when you purchase tickets, it will ask, it will basically give you the option like, do you need reserved luggage space? And sometimes it's open and they will announce that it's open and you can use it. But if it were me, I would probably be reserving that if I had really big bags. We never reserved any luggage space, we put it all above us and it was completely fine. Um, the other thing you'll probably want to do is maybe bring some food on the train.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's not, it's you cannot eat on the metro in Japan, but you can eat on the bullet trains, and a lot of people do.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, and there's a lot of places in the station to get food.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, either to sit down and eat it or to bring it with you. What is it called? Um, Ekiben? Okay, yeah. So you'll see signs that say Ekiben, and it is basically a Japanese boxed lunch sold at train stations for eating on a train journey. So, yes. Or bento box, which is I'm call them or which Ikiben is is the Japanese term, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

Bento is also a Japanese term.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, okay. I'm just saying, I saw a lot of signs around the train stations that said ekiben.

SPEAKER_01:

So they didn't say bento, but definitely get a meal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, we ate a meal on every single train, I think, that we were on, except for maybe the one to Hiroshima, which we'll talk about. Um, okay, so the bullet trains are great, they do go very fast. The one thing I noticed is that there isn't not a single seat belt on any of these trains. So I think that's a testament to how safe they are. I didn't one time think about the train not having the train is hurtling down the track at 200 miles per hour, and there is not a seatbelt to be found. So, however, I I do think they have a very high like safety um rating, right? Like very low occurrence of accidents.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I don't even know.

SPEAKER_00:

It's very low.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, when the last time they had an accident.

SPEAKER_00:

So, anyways, that was our experience with the bullet train. Um, kids thought it was great. You you do kind of um like you look out the window and it doesn't appear like you're going that fast, but you are. The only downside I noticed is that they do have Wi-Fi, but it does not work very well, if at all.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, it it doesn't work, I don't think, because you're you go through a lot of tunnels. You do, and I think that's what breaks up the connection.

SPEAKER_00:

The other thing is you want to, there's a certain side of the train that you want to sit on if you want to try to see Mount Fuji. We missed it, and we probably could have seen it because the weather was fine the first day that we went, but we didn't see it. When you buy tickets on the Smart X app or website or whatever it is, you can choose the side of the train that you sit on. When you buy tickets through Kluke, you don't actually get to choose your seats or anything, but you can choose Mount Fuji side. Um, they do charge you a little extra for that, just FYI. So we were on the side we should have been on, but we couldn't see it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so from Tokyo to Kyoto, you want to be on the right side of the train. And then opposite, obviously, from Kyoto back to Tokyo, you want to be on the left.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, when we went back, it was so foggy you couldn't see anything. So we did not see Mount Fuji, or if we did, we didn't realize we did. When I feel like we would have realized, so um, hopefully your luck is better than ours.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so we arrive in Kyoto. It's midday, it's like around two-ish, I think. We left around lunchtime, and we take the metro actually directly to our hotel to check in. We it wasn't far, like we went from Kyoto Station, I don't know, I don't remember, but it was a few stops.

SPEAKER_01:

It was like four stops.

SPEAKER_00:

And the Google Maps uh transit directions even tell you like the exit to leave the the metro station out of to that you know that's best for wherever you're going.

SPEAKER_01:

And so as in like the west exit, south exit, yeah, south gate, whatever.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, or in this particular scenario, there are doors. So I think it was door six, I think, that we had to go to. And you walk upstairs. There are a lot of stairs and no elevator or escalator that I saw. So you there's probably what three flights of stairs you walk up, but you are directly in front of the Hyatt Place Kyoto, which is where we stayed.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, very convenient.

SPEAKER_00:

So, I mean, you can't get closer to a metro stop than the Hyatt Place Kyoto.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, nice hotel.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, it was fine. Um, okay, let's talk about the hotel. So, first of all, we actually did not use points to book this. We paid cash for both rooms because it was really affordable when I was booking, it was like around$100 a night. I did look up right before we got on to record this, and I think it is a little bit higher now, like maybe$120,$130 a night-ish, is what I was seeing. Which is pretty cheap, which is still pretty cheap. Um, but you have to keep in mind I booked this a like you know a year ago. So, and the if you're curious, the reason we paid cash is mainly because I didn't have enough points, and it was like, well, have to do this or that. So cash it was. Um, so total it ended up costing us around a thousand dollars, and that was for two rooms for five nights each. One room was a king bedroom, the other room was a twin bed room. Um check-in process was fine. Our room was ready when we got there, which was a little bit before check-in time, so that was great.

SPEAKER_01:

Um connecting rooms, obviously.

SPEAKER_00:

We had connecting rooms. I emailed before and um, you know, asked for that.

SPEAKER_01:

Um is this the hotel that was giving you problems?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, so yeah, no problems getting connecting rooms. It was the it was the the next one, yeah, yeah. Shabuya Shabu, yeah. And they, I mean, they weren't really giving me problems. We'll talk about it when we get to that part of the episode. It just things weren't going the way I wanted them to go, which is fine. Um, okay, but Hyatt Place Kyoto. So, okay, I'm gonna ask you. We come from the Hyatt-centric Ginza, we have this amazing massive suite, okay, right? It was huge, way more space than we ever could need, and it was very nice. And then we go to the Hyatt Place Kyoto. Tell me your initial thoughts when we walk in the room.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, initial thought was the room is tiny, um, because we did come from a suite. But I mean, that would I thought the rooms were nice, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

They were nice, they were clean, they were small.

SPEAKER_01:

They were small. Our view was nothing. Yeah, no view, nothing. View of another building right next to us.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um, so you know, it was it plenty of space for the five of us? Yes. So the two twin bedrooms they had put in a rollway bed for the third kid. So that was perfect. Each kid had their own bed. Um was it a rollaway?

SPEAKER_01:

I thought it was like a pullout couch.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it was a rollaway right in front of the TV. Yeah, but which like basically blocked off like a good chunk of the room. Yeah. So, but not, or was it a pullout couch?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm pretty sure we have the same thing that was in our room. It just wasn't pulled out.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, wait, hold on. Let me look at the video. Okay, yep, I looked at my video. Dwayne is correct. Oh, it just pains me to say it sometimes.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I've been correct more than you'd like lately. Even had to edit out a part where she was wrong in one of the last episodes. I don't know if you guys caught that.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, it's true. Did you edit it all out? I wasn't, I didn't even know. I don't listen.

SPEAKER_01:

I left a few things in there.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. I don't listen after it.

SPEAKER_01:

Our listener knows that.

SPEAKER_00:

But I was wrong.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, well, Dwayne was correct. It was a pull-out couch, okay. But it was directly in front of the TV, and it, I mean, like you could barely walk between the bedrooms.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, we basically can. I mean, all you do is sleep in there. Like, there's you can't do anything else.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, this is also where we came to realize that the shower room is like a thing in Japan. I didn't know if it was just at the Ginza hotel, but no, it's been at every hotel. It's literally the like the shower and the tub is in the same room with a door.

SPEAKER_01:

So like it's separated from everything else.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, but like when you take a shower, like the tub is right next to you, and there's no like separation between the two. So you're taking a shower, but the tub is getting soaked, right? Like all the walls are tile, it's just like it's a shower room. So we had two of those.

SPEAKER_01:

We had three of them in the high place. Oh, I meant like at each hotel.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, yeah. No. Um, so anyways, king bedroom, twin bedroom, connecting, two bathrooms, plenty of space for the five of us. Just definitely a letdown from the incredible suite that we had. So that was a little disappointing, but like, I mean, disappointing isn't even the right word.

SPEAKER_01:

It just was like the room was perfectly fine.

SPEAKER_00:

It was fine. Yes, I don't want to say that it wasn't fine. It's it just was like, ugh, like kind of like what is the word I'm looking for?

SPEAKER_01:

Not bougie enough for you.

SPEAKER_00:

It just wasn't very, yeah, it didn't feel fancy. That's I think that's the best way to describe it.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, we didn't need it, we were on the go. Yeah, the whole time we were at a lot of bands.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, the breakfast in the hotel. So they did not cover breakfast for all five of us. They very specifically only covered three people. They told us that at check-in, but again, sometimes they tell you that, but then the restaurant covers it anyways. That did not happen here. They definitely only covered it for three of us. Because obviously, I'm like, well, okay, there's gonna be three people in my room then, and then two people in Dwayne's room. Um, but we actually did not have breakfast at the hotel uh more than one day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we did one day. Two of our kids had it twice.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there was one day where they really wanted breakfast from that from the buffet, but the rest of us did not. So we literally sat while they ate their free breakfast and then we left and went to 7-Eleven. That was our plan.

SPEAKER_01:

And their breakfast consists of cereal, the kids, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the buffet has everything you could need, like it's fine. The Ginza was definitely better, but this buffet is fine. Like there's it's it's sufficient, it will suffice.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, it's better than any Hyatt place in America that we've been to.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, for sure. 100%. Um, there is a like a coffee shop slash little cafe directly next to the Hyatt Place. You can get there without even going outside. And that was very good. That was yeah, it was called School Bus Coffee Cafe or something. Something their coffee was super good. The only negative really good. Uh the only negative about this place is they don't open till 8 a.m.

SPEAKER_01:

And like which is crazy to me.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, they could make so much money between the hours of like six and eight, I feel like, because all the tourists are jet lagged and everyone wants their coffee early in the morning. I will say the Hyatt Place Kyoto has um uh espresso machines in the lobby that you can use that are free, and but but you have to bring the coffee cup from your room to use them. There are no coffee cups available for you to use uh in the lobby.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, but and this coffee joint was also a bakery, the school bus coffee, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, so tell about when you went there, because we ate from there a few times, yeah, and everything was great, everything was great.

SPEAKER_01:

Their malesadas, which were the best, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

They were so good, so good.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, but yeah, they had all types of pastries. And one morning I went, and there was a another American there, and he's like, Hey, if you haven't tried this, it's it's really good.

SPEAKER_00:

While he was purchasing like four of them, it was like a a salmon bagel with I don't even know what was on it, but yeah, it was like a smoked salmon bagel with like red onion, cream cheese, some like lettuce.

SPEAKER_01:

I would never that would never be my first option, but I I got one because you know he sold me on it, and it was it was actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_00:

It was good, it was really good, really good. Yeah, so um we grabbed breakfast from there a couple days. We had some 7-Eleven breakfast the other days, so but I mean their coffee was super good, their coffee was super, super good. Um, so our schedule in Kyoto looked like this. So the day that we arrived, I had no plans, and then the next day I also um like the plan was just to kind of explore Kyoto, and we had one thing booked, and then the few days after that, we did in no particular order a day trip to Nara, a day trip to Hiroshima, and a day trip to Osaka. And then we went back to Tokyo. So those are the things we did in Kyoto that we'll dive into now. Um the first go ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I was gonna say, where did we go first?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I was gonna say the first night that we arrived, we did ask the hotel if they had any recommendations for ramen. We were looking for like a good ramen restaurant. And the girl, I think you said Dwayne went, Duane's the one who asked, but didn't she seem kind of confused and like looked up on her phone?

SPEAKER_01:

She wasn't confused, she just it seemed like she never has had that question asked to her. Like, do you have any recommendations? And I thought, that's weird. Or usually, you know, the last hotel we were at, the first hotel, we asked for recommendations, and she had, you know, they had like a little pamphlet paper with printed, yeah, with a bunch of recommendations. This hotel did not, yeah. That's what we were looking for, but I mean she did point us in the direction of a ramen shop and we went there. Yeah, I mean, I thought it was pretty good.

SPEAKER_00:

It was pretty good. It was no Ginza ramen, but it was very good still.

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't like this little cozy little ramen shop.

SPEAKER_00:

It was like the kind of place where you take off your shoes um and sit on the floor.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So that was the first time we did that, so that was cool. Um of course we cautioned the kids 17 times like you have to be quiet in here. They did pretty good. They did a good job. Um, I did learn I don't love miso ramen. So that was just a learn little learning experience for me. Um, but I do like the tonkatsu ramen, so yeah, because I uh we basically switched rains. Yeah, we each ordered one and we each liked the other persons better, so we switched. Um if I can remember the name of it, I'll put it in the show notes. But it was walking distance from the Hayat Place, and it it was it was a cute little like a two-minute walk, cute little shop.

SPEAKER_01:

Um okay, what did we do first?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, for the first day was our full day exploring Kyoto, and we went to Nishiki Market. We didn't have a great experience here. I think if we were to go back, we would do it differently. Um but we we tried some of like the fruit, we tried the creme brulee sweet potato. Um, we did try some sushi. The sushi wasn't very good. I think the meat is the way to go at this place, and we didn't really have a lot of meat, so yeah, that's how I would do it differently. Um, there's also a somebody feeds Phil episode where he is in Kyoto, and we watched it after we, I mean, we've seen it before, but we watched it again after we went to Nishiki Market, and we were kind of like, oh, like we didn't get any of these things. So I would probably watch that in preparation too, if you want to try some of the stuff that he tries. Um, we visited the bamboo forest and yes, get there early. Yes, we were there around 8, 8:30. Yeah, and that was still really not early enough.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it was just starting.

SPEAKER_00:

It wasn't crowded, but it was getting there were people, and by the time we left, which was like maybe 9, 9:15, there was so many people, and I would I would have been disappointed if I had gotten there and there were just huge crowds.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, pictures, I've seen pictures where it's just like blah blah blah people.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you can, I would go at maybe 7, 7:30. I bet you you'll have a really nice, peaceful, like, you know, 30, 45 minutes to an hour there.

SPEAKER_01:

And we took a taxi there.

SPEAKER_00:

We did. So the one thing that I think you should know about Kyoto is the metro is not as uh robust as it is in Tokyo. So maybe you could take buses. We don't generally tend to take a ton of buses. Um, we took a taxi, we called it via the Uber app, and that's how we got there. Um, we definitely took more taxis during our time in Kyoto than any than in Tokyo. So maybe just factor that into the budget. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And again, I know I mentioned the last episode, but Ubers there are not cheap.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, if they're not cheap because we're a family of five.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, they're not cheap for a family family of five.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because you have to get like the bigger vehicle. So if you are a family of four and you can squeeze into a sedan, it'll be much less inexpensive for you. So um, okay, what else did we do? So the our first day in Kyoto, that was when we did the ninja class. So let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So I booked this like ninja lesson. I booked it on Viator, and it was very expensive for the one, it's a one-hour like class. Okay, it was very expensive, but it was consistently the thing on Viator that kept popping up that had only five-star reviews. There it wasn't like 4.8 or 4.7 or what it was five stars from every single person that attended. And so I booked it again. If I'm gonna link it in the show notes, so if you go and look and you're like, oh my god, this is so expensive. I'm more I'm just warning you now that it's a lot of money, but it was one of our favorite things that we did on the entire trip, and that was what a lot of the reviews also said. So I do not regret it, it was very fun. And you want to talk about it a little bit? Because you had no idea what to expect.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I did I didn't. I don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I just I don't think I enjoyed it as much as you and the kids did. Like, I mean, like again, it was a great time, the kids enjoyed it. Yeah, they they really loved it, but yes, you got to throw ninja stars, walk like a ninja. Try and be stealth like a ninja, and then you got to shoot blow darts, which was kids' favorite part, annual.

SPEAKER_00:

That was my favorite part too. Yeah. Because I didn't know we would get to do that. And I was like, wait, what? And some of it is a little bit silly, it's a little bit cheesy. It's like you're gonna learn how to walk like a ninja, and it's definitely geared towards kids, right? But again, we're there with kids, so it's fine. Um, but yeah, being able to use the weapons like that was really cool, and all the kids got to do it, even the five-year-old. So yeah, we got to all dress up like ninjas.

SPEAKER_01:

They took that's the first thing we did. We got there and they dressed us up like ninjas.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they took they took photos for us, videos, so it was it was a really fun time. So again, I'll link it in the show notes, but would absolutely recommend. Um after, oh you know what we did after okay. So after the ninja class, we went to oh no, that was before the Pokemon Center, right?

SPEAKER_01:

I can't remember. We did go to the Pokemon Center. There's oh that was before the ninja.

SPEAKER_00:

Because we only had a few minutes because we were running late, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And that Pokemon store was absolutely nuts.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you have a Pokemon fan, there are these things called Pokemon Centers, and there's a few. I think there's one in Tokyo, there's one in Kyoto, there's one in Osaka, and we popped into the Pokemon Center right before the um ninja experience. It was so incredibly overwhelming with so many people. That's packed. I was really glad that I could say, like, hey, we only have 10 minutes, and then we have to go, so we're not late for our ninja class.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but they had everything, everything Pokemon. Like, yes, they probably have whatever it is you want.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and so um, and then after the ninja class, we went into the Gion district of Kyoto and just kind of walked around. That's the district where they have like the geisas and all that. We didn't really see much of that, but we just kind of wandered around and we just walked around and then headed to another sushi joint, a conveyor belt. Yeah, we tried another conveyor belt sushi restaurant, and this one I would say was better than the first one we did in Kyoto. Um, we were able to try, we tried a lot of different types of sushi, just trying to figure out like what do we like, like all that. So that was fun. There was a few that were good. The C Bream, I enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, there it was, it was way better than the first one. It was the Denny's sushi, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and and then that was pretty much it for for our kind of full day in Kyoto. Um the next day we did a day trip to Osaka, but before we went to Osaka, we woke up early and we went to the Yasaka Pagoda, which is a temple that Dwayne really wanted to see.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a famous one that you see in everyone's Kyoto pictures.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, like if you if you saw it, you would know it. And so we were again, we were there fairly early, before eight.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, we took a taxi. Still a lot of people. A lot of people, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of people.

SPEAKER_01:

So your your photo ops were interrupted by many, many people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Um the park high at Kyoto is near this temple. We walked right by it, and so if you're staying at the park high at Kyoto on points, first of all, you must be a points millionaire, especially if you're staying with the family, because that baby's 45k a night per room. So there's that.

SPEAKER_01:

Um really, really nice hotel from what we saw. Yes, we didn't even see much of it.

SPEAKER_00:

No, but yeah, it looked very peace. It was in a very peaceful area, and you could absolutely walk to this um temple super close. Um, so we did that, we visited, we took some photos, and then we um got on a train to Osaka. We did not take a bullet train. Um, however, I might next time because we got on a metro that was it took a long time. Like it took like almost an hour because it kept stopping. And so what you wanted to look for, and we were on an express train. Yeah, and yes, and it was an express train. Um, but I think there's also limited express, which stops even less. So if you don't want to pay for the bullet train, limited express is likely what you want, and you can see in the um the directions that you're like the transit directions, how many stops it's gonna make. And so if you're trying to decide between two trains, check that out. The fewer stops, the better. So it took a long time. The kids were like, oh my god, like when are we gonna be there? For context, the bullet train gets you there in 15 minutes, super fast. So if you want to pay for that, if time is of the essence, do that. How would you like describe Osaka?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, very busy. Um, I mean, everywhere in Japan's well, the the main cities are pretty, pretty busy, very touristy. But I mean the the culture and the beauty is still there. Um but Osaka was was very busy. We went to the what is it, Don Don Quixote? No, no, Don Tabori um section of Osaka. That's where you see the big running man picture. Um that place was packed. Um, we also ate lunch there at a little tepanyaki place.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, which was I thought it was pretty good. It was great. The meat was the best part. We we ordered this steak and then we immediately ordered more once we got it and ate it. Um, we also tried the okonomayaki, which is like a it's like a savory kind of pancake that sometimes has seafood in it.

SPEAKER_01:

It was octopus.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. It was okay, it was fine. We all tried it, the kids all tried it. Um, like I do, I love that they just don't bat an eye at like octopus. So, like, oh yeah, I'll try the octopus. I'm like, okay. I do not enjoy octopus personally, it's too chewy for me, but we all we all tried it and it was it was fine. Um, the yaki soba was good. That's where you said it was really good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, the yaki soba was so good.

SPEAKER_00:

Um and the other thing we did in Osaka was so first of all, I felt like Osaka was kind of like gritty and grungy almost. But a few things to note about Osaka. Number one, it's known as like the kitchen of Japan. So apparently a lot of like um famous chefs come out of Osaka, and it is um the world expo was happening while we were there. I believe it is now over because it was we were there right at the tail end of it. We did not attend the world expo. My understanding of it is there you basically can go around and see um like what countries are like, like what kind of um inventions other countries have. Yes, and but you have to buy tickets in advance, and you have to like it's a whole process. I signed in one day just to like look at the tickets and see what my options were, and like I couldn't even get to the website because it was like there are like 600 people ahead of you, and whatever. And I thought it's just like a Tuesday, like I'm not even like it wasn't like the tickets just opened, like I just so I was like, I we're not going to this, we don't have time for this. So haven't been there, don't know, but that was happening while we were there, so I do think that's part of why I was so busy. There is a um caption hotel by Hyatt in Osaka. So if you wanted to stay there, you could stay there on points. I think it's a category one, and it would probably check off a Hyatt bingo box since there's only a few captions around the world. So keep that in mind if you want to stay there. My favorite thing we did in Osaka was karaoke. We went to, I think it was called Rainbow Karaoke, maybe karaoke in Japan.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

It was more fun than I thought it was gonna be. I knew the kids would love it, they love to do karaoke and sing their K-pop demon hunter songs um and other songs. But I got I sang a Taylor Swift song and I really enjoyed that. That was really fun for me. Um, Dwayne didn't sing at all, so it's a little bit of a party pooper, but we did an hour of karaoke, or no, we did an hour and a half, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And then right outside of the karaoke rooms, first of all, how many rooms do you think there were at like at least 50?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, at least I mean there were floors, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

There were multiple floors full of karaoke rooms, so that was cool. Um, but right outside the room where we were doing karaoke, they had this like RC, like how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_01:

It was a big sand pit with RC like uh excavators and dump trucks, and I mean it just looked super cool. So we did that for a good half an hour.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Me and the kids enjoyed that. You you even controlled one for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00:

I did because our our five-year-old was like, I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so we just sat there and played with remote control excavators and we were just like digging up dirt, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We were looking for treasure, we said, and so that was also really fun. Like, I just Japan is like full of so many fun things, you know. Um, yeah, it was a great time. And the last thing we did was we went to the Pokemon Center. That was the last thing we did that day because we had told the kids when we were at the one in Kyoto, we were like, we were like, we'll go to another one. Oh, we also tried to go to a few of your stores that you like to get shirts from. Yeah, so we were at these like malls and kind of walking through looking for, I don't know, Steucy and Bape. Bape.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You struck out there.

SPEAKER_01:

I did, I did, but next time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So we went to the Pokemon Center, the kids all had souvenir money from grandma and grandpa, which again was crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

It was also right next to the Nintendo store. Yeah, it was a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

There were people Pokemon battling, like adults.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they had like a section where you would battle Pokemon, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I I and it was full of people doing it, yeah. So, and we were there, I guess it was uh like maybe a Sunday that we were there, so I guess, yeah. Um, yeah, but the kids all got some some souvenirs and they enjoyed that. And then we took the train back. We did take the limited express train back, so it was a little quicker.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, by now our kids were exhausted.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was a long day.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, we we all were exhausted.

SPEAKER_00:

It was a long day, it was a lot of walking. Um, but the fun doesn't stop there. So then the next day, we did a day trip to Hiroshima. We took a bullet train there and back because again, Hiroshima is quite the distance from Kyoto. It's totally doable in a day trip, in my opinion, but um you have to take the bullet train. So the bullet train was about an hour and a half. I paid for a guided tour for this day because I there's a lot of history in Hiroshima, and I wanted to get the absolute most we could out of it. Um, if you follow us on Instagram, you probably already read that I was a little disappointed in our guide. She was incredibly kind and she was very nice. I just wanted more like of the history from her, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, she was very, very nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I do think she was a little overwhelmed by our kids.

SPEAKER_01:

I also agree with that because our I mean, our kids were a handful.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, we had some struggles this day.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think she was ready for that.

SPEAKER_00:

I feel like maybe this is a good point to talk about the fact that uh you know, a few days in, we were kind of looking at each other, going, like, what have we done? Because our kids were not behaving like at all. And it was stressful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, very stressful.

SPEAKER_00:

And I mean, I don't really know what else to say about it other than like that was happening, and we were definitely like kind of questioning like, was like, was this the right thing to do to bring them on this trip? Um and I think I don't know. We've since medicated them, and I think it's actually going pretty well. So I don't know. Dwayne said that he's not gonna go on the Christmas markets trip unless the kids are medicated. Okay, so anyways, let's get back to Hiroshima. So we did the guide, the guide picked us up at the train station on our platform with a sign with my name on it, so that was great. Uh, first we went to the island of Miyajima. We got to see like the famous Tori gate that's there that appears to be floating when it's high tide. And we got to visit the kind of temple or shrine that's there, and we got to hike up a very peaceful, like mountainside little village, but our kids were kicking and fighting each other in one of the temples, so yes, so we got out of there as fast as we could, and then we went to have lunch. We had lunch on Mi and Jima at a restaurant that the guide coordinated. So, anyways, we we ate food. Um, so they they have these oyster farms that you see as you take the ferry over. So you sorry, we we took like a metro to a bus to a ferry, and you take a ferry to get over to the island, and obviously then you take the ferry back. But while you're on the ferry, you can see all these oyster things set up in the water, and so I thought, okay, I'm gonna order oysters for lunch because they're never gonna be fresher than this, right? And so I ordered raw oysters, but they arrived cooked, and so I ate them and they were fine, they were fine, but they were not what I was looking for. So um, the kids had fried chicken and rice, and you had some sushi, and it was fine. I would say it was nothing, nothing to write home about, but it was fine.

SPEAKER_01:

Definitely not.

SPEAKER_00:

The other thing about Miyajima is there are deer on this island, and apparently they're very mean, and they can like attack you sometimes. Our kids completely disregarded this tidbit information and were caught several times petting the deer, and one time they were feeding the deer with some food, like a donut that a stranger gave them to feed the deer. So, yep.

SPEAKER_01:

How many remember that?

SPEAKER_00:

That was when we were in the restaurant and they went outside when we were leaving, when the deer was like at the door. Yeah, they were like, Oh yeah, this like lady gave us a donut and we fed the deer, and I was like, Oh my god. Okay. So, anyways, so then we um after lunch, we take the ferry back and we go to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima, and this is very graphic and in full transparency, not for kids. Our kids were the only kids there, other than like babies who don't understand what they're looking at. And in hindsight, I probably wouldn't bring my young kids to this museum. My oldest, yes, he's almost 12. He's learned about World War II. The little two, I would not. It's the beginning of it, it is very graphic showing you the effects of nuclear war. The only saving grace we had was this part of the museum was so crowded that the kids couldn't see a lot of the stuff on the walls and like the the pictures. And there are like photographs, there are paintings, like depictions of you know the effects. Like, I mean, there's pictures of you know what it looked like after the bomb went off.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, it's very sad and graphic. I mean, there were people crying in there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. So the whole purpose of the museum is basically just dedicated to educating people on the effects of nuclear war, which I do think is very important. And I wish that I could have spent more time like reading through some of the stuff that was in there. But with the kids, we just were kind of zooming through it mainly so that they didn't get overwhelmed by what they were looking at. Um, we did get to see like a to scale, um, not to scale, but like what's the word?

SPEAKER_01:

A scaled-down version of the how big the bomb was or what it looked like.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Both the one that hit Hiroshima and the one that hit Nagasaki. Um, we learned a couple of things that we didn't know, which um number one is that the bomb detonated above the city. It didn't like hit the ground, it detonated in the air, which is what was supposed to happen, I guess.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, which I found crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I we also neither of us knew that. Um, and you know, we learned a little bit about kind of like where the target was and where it actually hit. Um, there is a one building that's still standing that was um destroyed by the the bomb, and it is still standing basically as a daily reminder again to um the effects of nuclear war. And so, like you can literally walk right by this building. It's cordoned off, so you can't like go in it, but you can walk up very close to it, and it was really interesting to see. All the rubble is still in it, like it's just crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and then the last thing that we did with our guide was we went up to, I need to look up how to pronounce this.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you know? I don't know, but it was um a building owned by Mazda, she told us the Orizuru?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, the Hiroshima Orizuru Tower. And we paid so it wasn't included in our tour. We paid extra to go up to the top, but these were like I mean, stunning views of the whole city. The whole city, it was incredibly beautiful, and you can see when you're up there, you can see like the bridge that was the the kind of main target for the bomb. You can see the building I just referenced that you know that was hit by the bomb that still stands today, and you can see the river and like you can see the I think it's the Osaka castle that was you know in off in the distance, just beautiful, stunning views from up top.

SPEAKER_01:

The Osaka Castle? Or what I mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um, yeah. I mean, yeah, everything is like so lush and so green, also. It was really stunning. I have videos on Instagram. If you haven't seen them or don't follow us over there, go over and check it out because there's a Kyoto highlight and it's for sure in there. Um, the other cool thing about going up here was to get down. Oh, they also had like games up there, and you could like build an origami crane and drop it down this thing. They had a bunch of stuff for kids. It was it was cute. Yeah, and then they had a slide that you could take down. It was a little bit disappointing because the slide stops at every floor and you have to like and it's made for kids.

SPEAKER_01:

We try to go down it, but I had to get off it like after the first floor. I was like, this is not for me.

SPEAKER_00:

I went down too much as far as I could, but yeah, it was. I mean, I was like kind of questioning the safety of it until I got on it, and then I was like, oh, this is not dangerous at all. So um, but again, the you know, the I feel like the Japanese just try to add fun into the things that they do and build and all that. So um, and then we that was the end of our day. We took the bullet train back and no, we did we take the bullet train? Yeah, to Hiroshima, yeah, yeah. Hour and a half each way. That's a long day. You know, that's three hours of just travel time, like not including everything else. So um, and then our very last full day in Kyoto, we did a day trip to Nara. Dwayne has a lot of thoughts about Nara. If you're not familiar, Nara is the town where the deer roam free and they are wild deer and they are everywhere, and you can buy food to feed them if you want. There's also, I think, like a really beautiful temple here, but we didn't see that because there's too many freaking deer.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I'm glad I went, but I will never go back. Um, there was just deer shit everywhere, there was deers everywhere, people everywhere. And you know, the thing is that you buy food and you feed the deer. But, you know, once the deer know that you have food, I mean they just harass you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they headbutt you, they're very aggressive.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, but they bow.

SPEAKER_00:

They do bow.

SPEAKER_01:

They bow for like if you bow to them, they'll bow back and they're expecting food after that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so that part was very cute, the bowing. But yes, the like as soon as we bought the food, like I have a video of them just chasing Dwayne, biting his shirt, like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you go there, don't wear any nice clothes, don't wear nice shoes. I mean Dwayne.

SPEAKER_00:

So it for those of you who do not know, Dwayne is very particular about his clothing. Okay, he irons his shirts and his pants and anything that might dare to be wrinkled. If something has a stain, he will not wear it. Like, he's very particular about his clothing. So the fact that a deer was coming up and biting on his shirt, he was he was not not doing well, like at all.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I mean, no, I'll never go back there again.

SPEAKER_00:

I will say, like, so I think we were there during mating season. Uh that's what a few of the signs told us. So I don't know if it's like always like that, but I agree that I did not really enjoy it. And I also probably would not go back. Um, but just for different reasons. I just, it was really hot the day we went. I just did not I didn't enjoy being chased down by these deer and having to avoid the poop and tell my kids like watch out for the poop because it's everywhere. Like I just didn't love that. Um, the kids did, they really liked it. Um a deer did snap at one of our kids a couple of times, um, but they still really enjoyed it. So they they they still talk about the town with the deer. So I mean, the reason we went was for them. So I guess it was a success.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like I said, I mean, it you know, it should be on your list to go an experience one time, but you know, and then if you want to go back, that's on you. But it's a no for me.

SPEAKER_00:

I just think I have this impression from seeing other people do it that it was like the deer were much more docile and calm, and that isn't was not our experience. So I don't know. If you go during a different part of the year and you have a different experience, like let me know. Because I'm curious if it was just the time of year or if that's just how they are. Um, we took again a train to get there. This is another example where you want to take the limited express train. You do not want to take the regular train because again, it's 30, 40 minutes, um, but it can be longer if you get on the wrong train. We took the wrong train on the way there, and it took a long time. So pay attention to that. Um, and then I feel like that pretty much sums up our time in Kyoto. We did not do the um, what is that called? The red gates. Hold on. The Fushimi Inara, uh, well, like the the shrine. Shrine, the red gates that you see. We did not visit there because again, that's a place where I think you need to go super early if you want to avoid a lot of the crowds, and there was just not a day where we could go super early because we had so many of these other day trips planned. So we missed out on that this time. I think it's fine. I would probably try to check it out next time. Um, but you know, what are you gonna do? You can't do everything. Yeah, there was one place that we ate breakfast that I want to call out to. We did walk there from the Hyatt Place Kyoto. It was maybe a 10-15-minute walk. It was called bread, espresso, and like the ampersand, and that's what it was called. Um, I tried to find it on Google Maps so I could link it, and I actually couldn't find it, but it exists and it is there. So if you are at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, look for this restaurant because you can walk there. They had pastries, they had breakfast. It was one of the best breakfasts we had the whole trip.

SPEAKER_01:

It was very, very good.

SPEAKER_00:

You sit on the floor. Um they have like a it's a very small room with like four tables basically that we were in. And so we sat at one of them. Again, you sit on the floor on little pillows. We ordered like they had a few different breakfast kind of plates that had eggs and stuff. Um, I ordered an acai bowl, and then we ordered a bunch of pastries for the table.

SPEAKER_01:

First of all, I ordered French toast. Oh, yeah, and I asked the server for some syrup, but she didn't understand what I was saying, and I just thought, you know what, never mind, it's fine. And I ate the French toast without syrup, and it was good, and it was good. And I, you know, that that's probably the first time I've ever eaten French toast without syrup, and it was it was good.

SPEAKER_00:

But the best part is the table next to us was also American, and they asked a different server for syrup, and he brought them syrup.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, he did, and I was like, oh, whatever.

SPEAKER_00:

But by that time, Dwayne was already done. So um, but yeah, the food was very good. I really enjoyed it, had a good like cappuccino, um, the pastries were good, everything was good. So would absolutely recommend that. Um, if you're looking for, you know, a different breakfast outside of the hotel breakfast.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, yeah, and then we took the next day we took the bullet train back to Tokyo.

SPEAKER_01:

And yes, that's the next episode is uh Dr.

SPEAKER_00:

Dre would say. Yes. Um overall, what did you like better? Tokyo or Kyoto?

SPEAKER_01:

Um Tokyo. I think it would be a different answer if the kids weren't with us in Kyoto. I think Kyoto is more historical and like cultural, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think you have to be in a mindset to where you're relaxed and not stressed about the kids. I think.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

For us to enjoy it, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

I think I think that's fair. Yeah. Yeah. I also enjoyed Tokyo more. Um, and maybe part of it is for the reasons that you said. Um, I still think you should absolutely visit Kyoto. Oh, without it. 100%, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Without doubt.

SPEAKER_00:

The bamboo forest was so beautiful. Um I so I think Tokyo felt more like convenient to me. Um, like everything just felt a little bit easier and more accessible, right? The metro goes wherever you want to go. There's like, you know, I don't know. That's just kind of my vibe. Maybe we'll talk about that more on the next episode. But um, there was a 7-Eleven super close to this Hyatt Place, right? Or a Lawson's or something?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, it wasn't in the train station from the Hyatt Place Kyoto? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It was like underneath.

SPEAKER_01:

Wasn't it? I don't know. You tell me you were the one that went there, I think, one day.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh no, it was it was down the sidewalk. That was a family mart, I think, that me and that we me and our oldest walked to. We just went and got a bunch of desserts one night just because we were still a little bit hungry. Um, okay, so it's a family mart. Family Mart, that's the closest convenience store then to the Higat Place. I can't remember if we said this on the last episode, but everyone talks about the 7 Elevens. But really, what you want is either 7 Eleven, Lawson's, or Family Mart. Those are all three of like the main convenience stores, and they all have very similar offerings. So um, okay. I think that about wraps it up.

SPEAKER_01:

We are like you made it through our longest podcast. Thank you. Thank you if you're still listening to it.

SPEAKER_00:

If you're still listening, we appreciate you. Um, we will catch you on the next one where we will wrap up our two weeks in Japan with five more days in Tokyo. So listen for that next week, and we will catch you on the next one.

SPEAKER_01:

Have a good one.

SPEAKER_00:

Bye.