Hitchhiking in Japan: Kyoto
30th of April, 2025.
As I arrive to Miles’ accommodation, he tells me about the “new prices”. I haven’t checked on the Airbnb before coming because I just thought the prices were the same. They are not. Miles got a discount for booking followed days, plus, the numbers he was telling me were in Pounds, which are slightly higher than USD, and when added to a certain number of days, well…
So yeah, basically I cannot stay here. But you know what? It’s all good! Really! Why? I saved more money by coming here than if I had stayed in Osaka, at that hostel. How? And where am I going to stay now? Follow me…
First of all, while we are still discussing the prices, the owner’s husband, a very nice Egyptian guy who can speak English, does all the translation and help us out a lot. They give me the best price they can, but as it is still too much for me to pay, as it would be for three nights, I can’t take the room. But I explain everything quickly to the husband, about my travels and all, so I think he gets my reasons. What now? I will camp, of course! We are in a countryside area, even though still with buildings, train stations, big supermarkets and all that, it’s a village with parks and all, so we just find one where I can camp for tonight, and tomorrow we figure out next. Perfect! Free accommodation for the first night.
We leave my backpacks here, and walk for about 30 minutes to where there are some restaurants. On our way there, we pass in front of the park where I am supposed to camp tonight. There are some people doing different activities, and there are no signs saying that camping is forbidden. Even so, we decide that it’s better if I come after dark, late night, just in case. I have some Yakisoba, which is absolutely delicious, and gyozas, of course.
Everything is alright at the park, apart from some people running. Laugh. It’s not that cold either, so all good.
I get up very early, with the sunrise, and get ready before 7 o’clock. As Miles and I agreed on meeting around 10 o’clock, I will have my breakfast at a 7-Eleven, and do some stuff middle time. I also go to take a look at this temple just across the street from 7-Eleven, where I was to camp tonight, supposedly. They have a visiting time schedule, and you must pay a 300 Yens entrance fee. I can’t find anyone to talk to, as it’s kind of closed, but I come to the conclusion that, if the outside gates are open all night (most likely), I can simply camp in the outside are, which is like a parking lot, but in a corner slightly hidden. And the reason is simply so I don’t need to camp at the park again, plus I will be more shielded from the wind here.
As we are still walking to our hitchhiking spot, holding our sign which read Kyoto, a car stops. Two very enthusiastic ladies start asking us where in Kyoto we are going. As we show them in the map, they say it’s OK and we can come with them. Yay!
Kiromi (50), and her daughter Karin (19), are from Osaka going to Kyoto to surprise a friend who owns a shop there. Kiromi tells us that it was her dream to pick up hitchhikers. What? That’s so sweet! Apparently, she has always seem this in movies and all, and was wondering if it’s for real. Well, we pretty much are! Laugh. This is the first time somebody ever told me that. It’s so cool!
They are both very sweet and kind, and they look more like sisters than mother and daughter, as Kiromi looks super young.
Once we are in Kyoto, we decide to go first to the famous Fushimi Inari Temple. It’s about one hour walking from where we were dropped off. It alright so I can see a different side of the city.
Fushimi Inari Temple is for FREE and it’s popular for its walking paths which are covered by red wooden pillars with prayers written on it. It’s super crowded and nearly impossible to get a photo without any tourist in it. Is it? Only if you are a full. Remember when I was writing about South Korea and mentioned that people / tourists like to take photos where there’s load of people? They might not even understand what’s going on and why people are taking photos in this particular point, but as everybody else is doing it, they just keep on doing it. Same here. This temple is full of walking paths with the red columns, you can really find them everywhere, but then, for whatever reasons, a certain section of them is over crowded with people, and everybody wants a photo there. Does it look any different of any of the other paths, Lei? Of course not! It’s all the same. But there will be always someone saying something like – Oh, no, this is important because of this and that… – and people buy it without questioning, them other people start on following, and when you see, everybody is taken photos here, without even knowing why. Everybody else is doing it, so it must be important, there must be a reason… Ah, Dear Loki, humans can be so…
Miles and I have a good time though, walking from here to there, resting, climbing too many steps, resting, and finally arriving to the top of the hill where there’s no view. Please, don’t do that! There’s absolutely no reason to go all the way up to the summit. You can stop by where there is this “viewpoint” (not). The whole area itself is beautiful, surrounded by forests, and you can have good shots of yourself and the red columns on your way further up. Very few people come all the way here, mostly remaining down there by the main shrine. The shrines are something I don’t get it much. They don’t see very attractive to me. Another funny fact about this temple is the dozens, perhaps hundreds of foxes statues all over the place. Inari can mean either a deity associated with rice cultivation / harvest and prosperity; or a deity fox.
It’s a beautiful and sunny day. After we snack some stuff and rest, we decide to walk towards our next stop. There’s plenty of stuff to see and visit in Kyoto, and most of them look really nice. But they are quite a bit far apart from each other, though. So we choose a castle and its park / gardens, which is a bit less than one hour walking from here, called Fushimi Castle.
We are so tired. Laugh. Even before arriving to the castle we must sit and rest. Too many steps up at Fushima Inari Temple. The castle park is beautiful though, with a massive forest surrounding it and beautiful trees and paths all over. When we get to the castle, surprise: it’s closed. Not that we were expecting to visit inside or anything, but it’s a surprise that the whole site is closed. It used to be open, and there’s even a huge parking lot by it, but now you can just walk around it, not even be able to climb up the small stairs to the castle, which allow you a better view of it. We don’t care about that, though, just going over some cones and tapes which kind of block the way. It’s just a few metres and we get some photos, that’s it. It’s a beautiful building though.
The gardens are nearby a lake down the hill. As we get to the lake, another surprise: it’s a fake lake. I mean, artificial, but you know what I mean. And it’s also closed! Laugh. What is it with this people? Anyway, as we carry on with our walk, there’s a shallower part of this lake which has some stones going into the water, and it actually looks pretty. There are also some pretty flowers around here, but not that much. There might be a bigger garden ahead, but as we are already exhausted, and we must go back in the direction we came to go back home, we just sit here and rest, calling it a day.
An incredibly happy moment is when this lovely tiny dog is extremely happy on seen us and come straight to us for cuddles. How cute!
We walk a bit further, almost dying, really, until a suitable hitchhiking spot.
Some workers from the gas station where we are in front, make a kind of a crowd, watching us hitchhiking. Laugh.
Time passes, and as it starts to get dark, a police car patrol slowly passes by us. I tell Miles they will be back, as I have certain experience (not so good) about police officers and hitchhiking, and voiala! They are back. Again, they just pass through, middle time Miles and I are laughing our asses off by making jokes and creating situations out of what could happen. When the police car is coming for the third time in a roll, we are saved by Leina and Dikia.
This lovely couple is so sweet and are very much surprised about our journeys and travel lives. They drive us all the way home. Yay!
10 Years Around the World 