Kyoto Japan | Karaoke, History and Friendship

Visiting Japan has always been a dream trip for us – especially as Mr Kiwi’s best friend lives in Kyoto with his family.

We were SO excited to book a trip there, getting to see just how much their kids have grown up.

For us, Japan was a country of two halves (oh, and they’re getting pretty good at rugby) the old, beautiful traditions and a new modern world adapting itself to the future. It’s all the more amazing for how easily they seem to meld the two.

For us it was the most apparent in our friends newly built home – having a  traditional Tatami mat room (the majority of the family played, read, slept and relaxed there) in addition to the Western style dining room and heated toilet seats which fascinated us endlessly.

Kyoto is a beautiful city, full of the wonderful nooks and crannies I especially love, perfect for losing more than a few afternoons down it’s markets and temples…

(stopping for the all important fuel of a snack)

…in bendy-windy and steep Old Town shopping and dining. This a great example of the dichotomy which so struck me.

Don’t the hills in the background look just like painted porcelain?

We spent over 10 days exploring, catching up with friends, celebrating our 3rd Christmas Day with expat friends and then a proper Japanese New Year and had the feeling that we had only tasted a tiny iota of it’s charm.

There were so many pinch me moments as we explored the city.

I also definitely approve of their Karaoke selection – who knew! We had a couple of epic sessions with our friends, complete with a couple of ‘silver bullets’ – my husband’s name for cans of Asahi.

We had such a lovely trip exploring Kyoto – we also managed to fit in exploring Nara and Hiroshima before we scooted to Tokyo & Mount Fuji. What a dream trip exploring Japan!