The Joys of Exploring Japanese Neighborhoods

It's common for people who live in Japan to tell you not to plan out your trip to Japan, to just explore and find new things. I agree with that to an extant. It's easy for them to say that because they live there and have a lot of time to explore. For visitors, your time in Japan is limited. It's natural for you to want to fit in as much as possible. I plan out all of my trips when I go to Japan. But what I do is when I find a break in my already planned schedule, I try to explore the neighborhood I'm staying in just to see if I find something interesting.

Let's talk about the discoveries you'll come across during your travels in Japan.

I can guarantee you'll have some sort of free time in your schedule when traveling in Japan, whether that time is during the day or at night. It may be because you didn't plan as much for that day or maybe things are starting to close down for the day. Maybe you or your travel partner(s) got tired from all the activities. No matter the reason, this is a great opportunity to explore the neighborhood you're staying in.

No matter the kind of accommodations you are staying in such as hotel, hostel, ryokan or an Airbnb they are all in some kind of neighborhood. Some neighborhoods may be more diverse than others depending on if you are staying in a city area or in a rural area. You can expect different findings from a city neighborhood verses a more rural neighborhood.

From a city neighborhood, expect to see a variety of local shops and eateries. These are places that you won't see many reviews for online or suggested to you. This is why people who live in Japan recommend you to explore the neighborhood, because there's just so much to see. You may enjoy a more local scene than the touristy places in the city. It's all about exploring your surroundings and finding out what really interests you. I remember in the city we discovered a "mom and pap" knife shop. You can't even find it on google maps! But it was smack in the city and we even bought a knife from their (click here for blog post on it).

Knife shop we discovered in the city of Kyoto, by Nijo Castle.

In a more rural area, or just away from the main city into an actual living neighborhood you will find the usual local shops and eateries again, but also some shrines. The city neighborhoods will have both larger and smaller shrines and temples while the more rural areas will have more tinier shrines. Maybe more unknown is a better word because some of these more hidden shrine are still pretty big. You can see these more unknown shrines on Google Maps but you won't recognize them because they won't be any well-known shrine you've heard of before. But this is a great way to discover new shrines and explore.

I challenge you to open up google maps in any part of Japan. Once the map pulls up start clicking away at the shrines you see on the map. Some shrines will have the names in romanji while others will be in full Japanese. There are so many shrines in Japan, so if you are specifically going to Japan for shrines you have nothing to fear as they are in good supply (like convenience stores).

My Own Discovery

While in Kyoto once, my husband and I stayed at an Airbnb in Gion. Gion is a very quiet neighborhood full of tradition. We were just a few blocks away from where all the geiko (geisha) were. After checking-in we decided to roam around the neighborhood we were staying in and see what it has to offer. We came across a shrine that we would have never discovered otherwise. This was my first time seeing it or even hearing about it. The shrine is called Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine. It's a medium sized shrine hidden inside the neighborhood. You can't see it from a main street.

Entrance to Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine.

It looked very pretty from the outside, so we went in. For a shrine that was tucked into a neighborhood it was pretty crowded. The shrine grounds were active with people. One of the shrines main attractions is the big stone with a hole through it. People were lining up to go through the hole. I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess it probably was for good luck. It looked like a lot of fun.

They also had all the usual shrine attractions like getting your fortune. This was also popular with the locals.

Bad fortunes stay at the shrine on this wooden post/fence. Don't take the bad luck home!

So next time you travel to Japan, have fun with your planned itinerary. Nothing is wrong with planning out a trip. When you find a break in your schedule just take a minute or two to really explore your surroundings. You may come across a beautiful shrine like I did.

Thank you all for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it!
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