
Pontocho
Pontocho is a long dining alley where if you are lucky, you can see some maiko are heading to see their client. Pontocho is a place where you will forget that you lived in modern days. It’s so traditional and quiet.
It was a chilly night after a short rain which made people walks in hurry to enter their destination. This alley with the restaurants on both sides serve variety of Japanese cuisine from the wallet-friendly yakitori to an expensive japanese cuisine. Most of them starts to open for business from around 5PM till midnight. But some of them are open from lunch time too.
I managed to see a maiko walks at the area, but Mr F told me that there’s a rule that you cannot simply take a photo of maiko without permission. I was trying to capture candidly with my phone but I failed to do so. 😦 He said that maiko will make appearance before dinner time when they are heading to see their clients.
Pontocho alley runs from Shijō-dōri to Sanjō-dōri nearby Kamogawa / Kamo River. As it turned into life during evening, you’ll see stores started their business and also maiko and geiko come out from geisha houses.
There are some izakayas in Pontocho area too. Izakaya is a small japanese pub where locals spend their time there mostly after works before head home drinking beer with colleagues and eat japanese appetizer.
We stopped by the side of Kamogawa River when we walked to the station. In dramas, locals likes to sit by the riverside and enjoy the view or chit-chat with friends. I sat by the rock but I could not sit longer because the rock was cold! my butt freezing! Haha
That’s all for the trip day 4!
See you in next blog! 😀
Ponto-chō
Ponto-cho, Nakagyo-ku | BetweenKamogawa and Kiyamachi-dori, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture
5PM – 11PM
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