Kid in Kansai: How to nail Kansai with a toddler in tow (Part 8)

As most of the key sights were done, Days 8 and 9 were extremely relaxed compared to the other days.

Day 8 was spent at Nijo Castle (accessibly by bus). The castle is quite different in architecture from the Osaka and Himeji castles, and the interior of the main castle has been renovated (complete with mannequins) to tell its history.

Nijo castle

Thereafter, we proceeded to the futuristic-looking Kyoto Station, which houses Isetan, Suvaco and other shops. 

The evening was spent at Takashimaya and an evening stroll at the super cool Potoncho district. (I did say it was a relaxing day).

The next day, we decided to do some geisha-spotting, though it's known to be tough.

We started off at Potoncho as we knew there was the Kamogawa Odori (geisha dance at the Pontocho theater) going on. The little one had already said he did not want to watch the dance after we showed him a poster (perhaps it is the white-painted faces?) so we could only try to wait outside for a glimpse. We were there one hour before the performance and could only see people queueing to get in, so we left.

As we walked down the street, suddenly, we saw one maiko (trainee geisha, obvious due to the colour and style of her kimono) came walking past us quickly... probably rushing to get ready for the performance!

Five minutes later, a second maiko went past us, probably also rushing to get to the theater. So we saw not one, but two maikos. Not bad. (By the way, we did not had much hopes of seeing a full-fledged geisha as they do not usually do these dances).

We went to the lovely Gion to walk around a little, and queued forever at the fabled Tokuya - a traditional dessert shop serving warabi mochi. While we were queueing up, we saw a third maiko - not sure where she was going - so we pretty much had a good day at the maiko-spotting exercise.

Gion

Tokuya serves seriously good warabi mochi, but the wait is also seriously scary. Even before it opened at 12pm, there was already a long queue snaking around. 

In the afternoon, we went for a stroll near the Kamogawa river, which was really nice with buskers singing, birds flapping and the waters rushing over huge stones.

So that wraps up our nine-day Kansai trip!

I also wanted to share a few important phrases for non-Japanese speakers. Do note that my Japanese level is conversational at best, so there could be some errors below... but I used these on this trip and the Japanese had no problem understanding me.

• Kodomo no isu ga arimasu ka? (Is there a children's chair available?)
• Eigo menu ga arimasu ka? (Is there an English menu?)
• Ichinichi kado o ichimai kudasai (One one-day card / pass please. For two, substitute "ichimai" with "nimai". Kids under three go free.)
• Omizu o-ne-gaishimasu (Water please. Warm = Atatakai. Cold = Tsumetai)
• O-kanjo o-ne-gaishimasu (Bill, please. But this usually only happens at sushi bars, as most other restaurants will already place the bill at your table and you can pick it up and proceed to the cashier to pay)
• XXX wa dochira desuka? (Where is XXX place?)
• XXX ni wa dou yatte ikeba ii desuka? (How do I get to XXX? Or a more accurate translation is, what do I do if I want to go to XXX?)

Hope you find this series of Kansai posts useful!

The complete itinerary:
Day 1: Osaka (Kuromon Market, Osaka Castle, Dotonbori)
Day 2: Osaka (Shitennoji, Sumiyoshi Taisha)
Day 3: Kobe, Himeji (Himeji Castle, Mount Rokko, Harbourland)
Day 4: Nara (Todaiji, Kohfukuji, Nara Park)
Day 5: Kyoto (Arashiyama, Tenryuji, Bamboo Grove, Kinkakuji)
Day 6: Kyoto (Kiyomizudera, Sannenzakai, Ninenzakai, Ishibe Koji, Maruyama Park, Shoren-in, Chion-in, Nanzenji, Path of Philosophy, Ginkakuji)
Day 7: Inari, Uji (Fushimi Inari Taisha, Byodoin Temple, Kaiseki)
Day 8 & 9: Kyoto (Nijo Castle, Kyoto Station, Pontocho, Gion)