{"id":12189,"date":"2010-12-25T21:06:24","date_gmt":"2010-12-25T13:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=12189"},"modified":"2011-01-05T11:43:56","modified_gmt":"2011-01-05T03:43:56","slug":"day-4-kyoto-gion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2010\/12\/25\/day-4-kyoto-gion\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 4: Kyoto \u2013 Gion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3621-kyoto-gion\"
A statue along Kamo River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Gion District is just about a 7 minutes bus ride away from Mitsui Garden Hotel., and perhaps 20 minutes walk. The district is Kyoto\u2019s best-known geisha quarter, and is filled with private inns and teahouses that for centuries have been the haunts of\u00a0 Japanese men reveling in the company of professional geishas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just private inns and teahouses today of course. The district also features gigantic department stores, numerous eateries, fastfood and Western-inspired, and even \u2013 surprise \u2013 an Indian restaurant, artisan shops and so on.<\/p>\n

The district today also is a popular area to try spotting for geikos and maikos. However, by the time of our visitation on Day 4 \u2013 Christmas Day \u2013 late afternoon, we\u2019d already spotted maikos and gone near-papparazi on them earlier at Hagashimaya<\/a>. Which was great, because we didn\u2019t feel nearly so stressed out and could really enjoy the leisurely, if extremely cold, walk as we explored the area on foot for about 5 hours; we started at about 2:15 PM, and by the time we were back in the hotel was at 7:30 PM, stopping for tea and also dinner in the district, both of which deserve their own posts (see next!).<\/p>\n

\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3622-kyoto-gion\"
The old alongside the new in Kyoto City, as seen from across Kamo River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3631-kyoto-gion\"
Waiting at a juncture point intersecting Shijo and Kawaramachi Streets. Ling wondered several times how do the Japanese kimono-clad women survive outdoors in winter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3654-kyoto-gion\"
One of the numerous alleyways in the Gion district.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3658-kyoto-gion\"
The busier parts of the district were crowded with locals and camera totting tourists that a lot of traffic wardens had to be deployed to make sure that vehicles wouldn't run over pedestrians.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3661-kyoto-gion\"
You can't tell what this establishment offers unless you speak Japanese, or go closer to look at possible pictures displayed at its fa\u00e7ade.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3665-kyoto-gion\"
This we knew was a tea house; because the sign in front said so.:)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3666-kyoto-gion\"
These two we couldn't figure out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3668-kyoto-gion\"
This one's a restaurant - I think!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3671-kyoto-gion\"
More traffic wardens guiding human and vehicular traffic at the intersection between Shijo Street and a smaller lane.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3674-kyoto-gion\"
More like home here! :)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3676-kyoto-gion\"
The post office.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3690-kyoto-gion\"
Ling spotted a heron as we were walking along one of the side lanes near Kamo River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3697-kyoto-gion\"
I had to go real close in for pictures like these as I was using the 18-55mm (left the 18-250mm back in the hotel). The hero was alerted to my presence shortly after this, and relocated itself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3701-kyoto-gion\"
Lots of old-styled houses!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3720-kyoto-gion\"
Another colorful late bloomer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"blog-2010-japan-DSC_3722-kyoto-gion\"
Mandarin oranges!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our posts on Gion foods next! :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gion District is just about a 7 minutes bus ride away from Mitsui Garden Hotel., and perhaps 20 minutes walk. The district is Kyoto\u2019s best-known geisha quarter, and is filled with private inns and teahouses that for centuries have<\/p>\n

Read More Day 4: Kyoto \u2013 Gion<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[463,481],"class_list":["post-12189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-traveling","tag-japan-2010","tag-kyoto","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}