Kyoto Prefecture

Do
Sip tea by a tiny garden in an old townhouse
Machiya are the old wooden townhouses of Kyoto, long and narrow, and many have a tsuboniwa, a tiny courtyard garden that brings light and green into the middle of the house. Some have become cafes where you sit facing the garden over matcha or tea and a sweet. They are in central Kyoto, a short walk from busy streets, and some ask you to take off your shoes at the entrance.
Do
Sip coffee where locals once bathed
Sento, neighborhood public bathhouses, were once part of daily life in every Japanese town, and many have closed. A few now live on as cafes, where you drink coffee among the old tiles, tall ceilings and even the bathtubs, with no need to undress. Each one keeps a different piece of its bathhouse past, so it is fun to visit more than one.
Do
See flowers float in a shrine's water basin
Before praying, visitors to a shrine or temple rinse their hands at a stone water basin, and some places now fill these basins with floating seasonal flowers, a custom called hanachozu. The flowers are changed often, so the colors are different each time you go. Some displays run only at certain times of year, so check the shrine's website before a long trip.
Do
Snack your way through a food market
Japan's food markets are narrow, often covered streets of fishmongers, pickle shops and sweet stalls, and many sell small bites to eat on the spot, such as grilled scallops, rolled omelet and fresh sashimi. Buy a little at each stall and eat it at the shop or in a seating area, as some markets do not allow eating while walking. Go in the morning, since many shops close by mid-afternoon.
Do
Wander autumn temples lit up after dark
Most temples in Japan close around 5pm, but in autumn some reopen after dark for a few weeks. Floodlit maples, gardens and wooden halls look nothing like they do by day, and some halls open to visitors only during these nights. Dates change every year, so check before you go.
Do
Ride a boat between the cliffs of a gorge
River boats carry you into gorges, where you sit close to the water and look up at cliffs, rapids and forest that you cannot see from the road. On some rivers, boatmen steer long wooden boats down the rapids by hand with poles and oars. Sailings stop when the water is too high or too low, so check the operator's notice on the day.
Do
See Japan's three views prized for 400 years
Since the 1600s, Japan has named three places its Three Views: a bay scattered with pine-covered islands, a long sandbar of pines across a bay, and a red torii gate standing in the sea. In each, you take in the view from a boat and from a lookout above. They are far apart, so pick the one on your route: Matsushima from Sendai, Amanohashidate from Kyoto, or Miyajima from Hiroshima.
Do
Spend a day reading among walls of manga
Manga are Japanese comics, and at these museums tens of thousands of volumes line the walls, free to take down and read inside. Pick up a classic or a series you have never heard of, and read for as long as you like. Most books are in Japanese, but the pictures carry much of the story, so you can enjoy them without reading every word.
Town
Uji
A town of matcha sweets and old tea shops
Uji, under 30 minutes by train from Kyoto, has grown tea for centuries and is known across Japan for its matcha. The street leading to Byodoin temple is lined with tea merchants and cafes. See the Phoenix Hall, then stop for matcha sweets or a cup of tea.
Do
Eat lunch on a deck over a rushing stream
In summer, restaurants in the hills around Kyoto and Osaka set up kawadoko, wooden platforms built right over a stream. Sit on tatami just above the water and eat a multi-course lunch while the current rushes beneath you, in air cooler than the city's. Most need a reservation.
Do
Drink fresh beer next to the tanks it came from
All over Japan, small craft breweries pour their beer in taprooms set right beside the brewing tanks, so what you drink was made a few steps away. Order a few small glasses to compare styles, often with food made to go with them. The places in and around Tokyo make an easy evening out, while those farther away fit into a longer trip through the region.
Town
Ine
A fishing village that seems to float on a bay
Around Ine Bay, on the Sea of Japan coast in the far north of Kyoto Prefecture, some 230 funaya stand at the water's edge: wooden boathouses with a garage for a fishing boat on the ground floor, opening straight onto the sea. Take a short cruise to see the whole row from the water, then step inside a funaya or walk the road behind them. It is about three hours each way from Kyoto Station by train and bus, and buses are not frequent, so plan a full day or stay the night.
Do
Walk a path through towering bamboo
Some of Japan's bamboo groves have paths running through them, with stalks rising so high that the sky shows only as a thin strip. Walk slowly and listen to the leaves rustle and the stalks creak in the wind.
Do
Walk at night among glowing bamboo lanterns
On a few autumn evenings, some towns cut bamboo into lanterns, set a candle or small light inside, and line their bamboo groves, old lanes and temple steps with them. You stroll slowly along the glowing paths, through scenes that look nothing like they do by day. Each festival lasts only one to three days a year, so check the dates before you plan a trip around one.
Do
Hear wind chimes ring across a summer shrine
Every summer, some Shinto shrines hang hundreds or even thousands of furin, small glass or metal wind chimes, along their paths and corridors. Walk beneath them as they ring in the breeze, and in the evening many are lit up. The displays run only from about June to early September, so check the dates before you go.
Town
Kyoto
Tunnels of red torii and fox-shaped crackers
Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of Inari, the god of rice and prosperity, whose messengers are foxes. Behind its main hall, about 10,000 vermilion torii gates climb the mountain in long tunnels. On the way back, snack down the approach street on inari sushi and fox-shaped crackers.
Town
Kyoto
A sake town where boats glide past breweries
Fushimi, in southern Kyoto, became one of Japan's great sake towns thanks to its soft groundwater, so good that the town's name was once written with characters meaning "underground water," and to its river port. Ride a small boat down a canal lined with white-walled breweries and willows, then tour a brewery and taste local sakes side by side. It is a short train ride from Kyoto Station.
Do
Walk temple slopes full of June hydrangeas
In June, during tsuyu, Japan's early-summer rainy season, hydrangeas bloom blue and purple across the grounds of Buddhist temples. Walk the paths and stairs among the flowers, whose colors look deepest in the rain. Many temples charge an entry fee or take reservations only in the flower season, so check their websites before you go.

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