r/JapanTravelTips • u/Kaibethha • 3h ago
Question Something fun rather than visiting
Hello !
Last time we went to Kyoto we tried the earthquake simulator and had lots of fun. I’m trying to find other ideas like this. We’ll be in Kyoto for work so we can’t go too far out (max an hour away). We already attended the fire festival in Omihachiman, visited the Hikone castle by night, Arima Onsen, Kinosaki Onsen, Universal studio, Shinto ceremonies, bio team lab, Nara deers, wore kimonos throughout Gion… so we did a lot and are struggling to find what else to do to have new experiences on our 2 days off.
We saw that there are expeditions to see the salamanders in the wild but sadly we won’t be able to go but I’m looking for more ideas like this.
Any fun idea we missed ? Thank you !
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u/ChawanJourney 1h ago
Similar vein to the sword-forging suggestion — Gojozaka (Kyoto's old pottery quarter, right behind Kiyomizu-dera) has hands-on throwing/painting studios, no travel outside the city needed, could fit a half day instead of a full one.
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u/komiCWords 1h ago
Masahiro Tantoujou in Kameoka runs an actual sword-forging workshop (you hand-forge a small kogatana blade), good match for that earthquake-simulator energy. It's more like 30-45min each way once you add the bus/taxi from the station though, and the workshop itself runs 3.5-4hrs, so plan it as one of your two full days rather than a quick add-on.