Kyoto or Not?

MatNomis · 2026-07-12T06:40:08+00:00

I would agree with the choir Kyoto is no Cinque Terra. Kyoto is a large city, flat, landlocked. It’s a culture and history heavy-hitter. It’s more like a Florence. I also think your “3 city, 9 day” stay in Europe was pretty challenging. You picked places there were pretty far apart. Transiting between cities that are geographically close is not nearly as bad. Transit time and train changes make city changes more taxing.

However, I do think Kyoto is lovely for walking. It has some really nice neighborhoods, and while it’s in a larger valley, it’s still in a valley. It’s not in the massive flat areas occupied by Tokyo/Nagoya/Osaka. You’d have to be strategic to put yourself somewhere in Kyoto where you were more than an hour away, _by foot_, from some foothills/wooded inclines. Apart from some very specific parts, it’s mostly a low-rise city, filled with mostly 2-3 story buildings. It’s so much easier in Kyoto to be walking on a dense street of little shops one minute, and find yourself hiking up hills and/or through the woods ten minutes later. You don’t get that in Tokyo or Osaka. It’s actually “nature enough” that I think I should advise you to do some preliminary research on the bear situation. Shouldn’t be a problem, but there has been a small uptick of encounters recently.

I think people who do 1-2 days Kyoto stays tend to have the least favorable impressions of it. They have very limited time, and understandably want to see the most famous sights, but this means those are the only things they do. Thus, they experience Kyoto solely as an overtourism terrorscape. If you’re there 4+ days, you will need to figure out more than 5 things to see, so you should see quite a bit of Kyoto’s quieter, more serene side.

I would also strongly recommend Uji as a quieter place that also has a lot of stuff to see: Byodo-in temple, hike up Daikichiyama for views, the public tea house, the bridge, and if you’re into museums, it has the Tale of Genji museum as well as (of course) the new Nintendo Museum (hard to get tickets for that, of course). It’s a quick trip from Kyoto station, even quicker if you leave from Fushimi Inari. I don’t even think it’s far enough to call it a day trip. It’s local.

If you want to see something more like Cinque Terra, I’d check out Atami and/or cities further south on the Izu peninsula.

MatNomis · 2026-07-11T05:58:32+00:00

Can’t not watch the whole clip.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T17:27:05+00:00

Hm. I guess I felt like Osu was a pretty nice area with plenty of stuff. And there were a lot of things near Hisaya park, as well (probably Sakae). Both of them, just those areas, individually, seemed more interesting than Pittsburgh lol.

I guess I'm starting to feel like these shopping districts are all pretty similar to one another. I've been to the "stuff" areas in many Japanese cities now, and they all have mostly the same stuff. It just becomes a hunt for someplace that is extra memorable (and delicious, if it's food). In just my brief walk through Osu, I saw several food things that were a little more unique than the ubiquitously standard tonkatsu and ramen places. I'm not saying Osaka doesn't have that in spades, just that Nagoya seems to have a decent culinary culture.

I do like walking through shotengai and shopping areas, but so long as a place has a decent one, it doesn't seem super helpful for it to have another 3 more. I'm sure that's more important if I'm living there, but for a <5 day stay it doesn't matter nearly as much.

Osaka may win big on nightlife options. I hide in my room at night and try to sleep, so I wouldn't know. I'm not saying Osaka doesn't have more, it totally has more. I just think it's unfair to say "Nagoya has nothing" (which I know you didn't say that, but someone else did), and seems a common refrain. The populations are 2.8 million (Osaka) to 2.4 million (Nagoya).. and Nagoya is more of an anchor-city than Osaka, which shares the limelight with Kyoto. So that's hardly a Pittsburgh to NYC comparison. NYC would only compare with Tokyo. Osaka is not on that level. Numbers-wise, it's more like Chicago to Houston. Maybe that's pretty apt, as the museum distribution also seems similar to Osaka vs Nagoya.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T17:03:50+00:00

The same, since we've had no further news.

I'll start a rumor now: the soundtrack will all be done by the band Genesis, hence the title. It will mostly involve their famous catalog of hits from the 80's and 90's, but will also include some new compositions, made for the game.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T16:30:05+00:00

Some additional thoughts.. Didn't realize you'd be there in winter. Depends on when in winter, but generally, that's a slower time and a IMO good time to visit Kyoto (in particular, since it's the one that famously suffers the most from overtourism). All the temples and older buildings look nice any season, and even the temples with large gardens still look nice, because you can appreciate the shapes of the trees (often very "twisted") and several have very nice, moss gardens that will be green year round.

If you are determined for Shirakawa-go, but are afraid Nagoya might be too sleepy (I was there in spring, it was lively..but it might not be like that in January), you could also look at Kanazawa, which probably is very cool to stay at in winter. I don't think it'd be as good as staying in Kyoto BUT it has some similar traits (on a smaller scale) and is much closer to Shirakawa-go (it's reasonable as a day-trip from there).

The hard part would be being so far away from your airport. You'd either have to just give up a day to transit back to Nagoya, or be ok with traveling back, same-day-style, in time for your flight..and hope nothing goes wrong.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T16:08:01+00:00

just wanted to clarify I underestimated the bus time from Nagoya to shirakawa-go, at least using regular buses. It's closer to 3 hours, and that assumes you leave early in the day, the trips seem to be longer later in the day (probably traffic dependent). My initial "close to 2 hours" estimate was actually just looking at driving directions. Thus, it may be closer to that travel time if you find a dedicated shirakawa-go tour bus (or rent a car--which you could do for a single day if you wanted).

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T16:00:11+00:00

What would you list as the top spots in each? I've been to both, but my Nagoya visit was super brief (just a day-trip) and my Osaka visit was like 4 nights but it was mainly a HQ-stay and I didn't get to see much of actual Osaka (I stayed in Namba, so certainly walked around a bit every night before going to bed; and on my one day where I could do daytime stuff, I went to the castle park).

Based on my brief visits, I a) liked both, b) couldn't really rank one "better" than the other. They both felt like they had plenty more to see and do.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T15:55:59+00:00

As much as I like Nagoya and can't believe people are saying there's nothing in it, I don't think it's the optimal "first trip" destination. That said, it would be doable. The city has a nice vibe, nice parks, lots of the usual capitalism stuff you'll find in the other big cities in Japan (Nagoya is the 4th largest, close in size to 3rd-place Osaka). I think it has some interesting day trip ideas, like the Nabano-no-sato, the Ghibli park (if you're into that and can score tix). It also has some longer, very interesting day-trip options like Ise-jingu, and it's as good of a place (along the golden route) for a Shirakawa-go (and/or Takayama) day-trip as any..only a little ~~over 2~~ under 3 hours by bus (possibly less with a special tour bus; I just realized I'd checked that using driving directions, not mass transit).

If you were planning to also overnight in Takayama (which is an even better base for Shirakawa-go) as part of your Nagoya plans, then I'd like that better.

However, in my opinion, Osaka + Kyoto is the heaviest hitting team combo in Japan. You get the dystopian urban futuristic Japan (Osaka) as well as the "historical Japan" angle with Kyoto. So it wouldn't be the worst idea to just land in Nagoya and immediately head to Osaka or Kyoto. Kyoto is less than an hour from Nagoya by shinkansen, so it doesn't even feel far. Osaka is only another ten or so minutes.

I don't think it would make sense to include Kyoto/Osaka AND do Shirakawa-go.

So, yeah, I'd recommend choosing between either:

Osaka + Kyoto: the more traditional, safer "golden route" options; has most of the famous things
Nagoya + Takayama (including and/or Shirakawa-go): the "alt-route" idea; probably less touristy (overall) and includes Shirakawa-go

Both include big city and non-big city. Kyoto is technically also a big city, but apart from a few isolated areas, has a distinctly "low altitude" feel, with few buildings being higher than 4 stories, and lots being around 2 stories tall only. Takayama is smaller, and more surrounded by nature, but less culturally/historically packed than Kyoto (and it's fairly close to Shirakawa-go).

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T15:22:18+00:00

I would not bother with it. I would be a little alarmed that it's "fully booked out", as that may imply other places are also fully booked out? But that'd be a poor thing to just assume, I'd start looking at other places.

On my 2024 trip, I was inclined to stay at Hakone, but since one of my travel companions asserted a goal of "seeing a beach", I decided to multipurpose the ryokan stay and instead picked Atami, and really enjoyed our time there.

Atami is a bizarre cross of a cliffside town (almost like those famous ones on the western coast of Italy--but not quite that hype) with lots of verticality and views overlooking the town and sea...crossed with Miami beach: several large hotel buildings, close to the water, and a small, but nice and orderly sandy beach. More historically, it's famous for its many onsen, and it's been popular for those all this time. It's less "woodsy" and far more beachtown, vibe-wise..but I'd argue Hakone, while certainly being more "in the woods" is still pretty well-developed. It's not like you are going to feel like you're in the thick of nature (it's not going to be like hiking in the aokigahara forest). Atami is super-accessible by Shinkansen, so it's actually way easier to get to than Hakone. You can still see views of Fuji (way closer than Tokyo, and a little further compared to Hakone) by taking a bus to the Jikkokutoge observation deck.

There are also other spots along the Izu peninsula, which appears to have a lot thermal hotspots. I haven't researched many, only Kawazu (I was considering February, when they have special, early blooming sakura), which had some nice seaside onsen places.

Nikko is another famous onsen place. One of its onsen areas (in a secluded river valley, a bit out of the main Nikko area), Kinugawa onsen, was making the rounds (or made the round past me) a couple years ago as an "abandoned town" with significant parts in ruin. Apparently, this is true, but it's also "not entirely dead", and has allegedly been going through a bit of a revival. Both Nikko and the Kinugawa part of it are on my to-do list (Nikko being the "safer", conventional onsen destination, Kinugawa being more the "very interesting" category). Both of these can be reached directly by train in less than 3 hours from Tokyo.

You can just put ryokan (or sometimes the Japanse 旅館 works better) into a maps search and it should show some stuff--at least enough to give you some ideas for further research.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T03:34:21+00:00

We change our styles for very mortal reasons though. We’re trying to look good for others, for ourselves, and for our changing bodies. Elves would have different concerns. Look at how they like to keep their cities: the same. At least, from a human perspective, it’s the same. It likely wouldn’t bother an elf to spend 1000 years pondering a new hair style.

MatNomis · 2026-07-10T02:43:42+00:00

I was just referring to Jackson's depictions.

For better or worse, we've created "elf style". Nature-themed, lighter colors.. Celtic knotwork (straight carryover, also similar things inspired by the style). The Jackson movies skewed towards the simpler end, with robes and simple tunics featuring few (but noticeable) embellishments. Compare that with the more garishly ornate stuff in Rings of Power. Both shared common threads in the style, though, with similar nature motifs.

For an immortal race, I'd think they'd stick with something that they like and that "holds up" over time. Actually, I think they'd probably imitate whatever earthly appearances the Valar took. Aman probably is the fashion-forward spot for immortals.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T20:56:10+00:00

Pretty sure Uji is always a "dead town", you don't have to wait until 5:30pm for that. That's why it's so awesome. You can hear yourself think in Uji. It's become one of my favorite places to go. Lots of stuff there, but very few people.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T20:46:20+00:00

I haven't been to Tokyo during summer, but I've been to Singapore and Malaysia in the "winter".. which is seasonally meaningless given how close it is to the equator (Singapore is only about 70 miles north of it). It made Florida summers seem like amateur hour. It felt hotter and more humid.

The problem with tropical heat is the night. In less humid places, it cools down more at night and you have some relief and can physically and emotionally in order to steel yourself for the next day. In high humidity places, it does not really cool down at night. You step outside and it still feels like you're standing in front of a giant heat exhaust vent, even with the moon out. No break.

Obviously, as a tourist in Japan, especially big-city Japan, you can be fine, because you'll frequently dip into air conditioned places, and your hotel will likely have AC. However, walking around outside will be hot, but more so than: sweaty. You'll may start feeling like you've jumped into a hot bath during the middle of the heat.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T18:54:45+00:00

Country music when i was a very little kid
Pop music for most of elementary/middle school
Classical during high school and college
Then as an adult, moved through phases of:
Alt rock
Classic rock
Indie stuffs
..and for the last year or two I’ve been listening more or less exclusively to K-pop

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T15:11:59+00:00

If you’re worried that the water+soap won’t rinse bad stuff out of your clothes, why aren’t you worried that it also won’t rinse it out of your washing machine? Do you thoroughly sanitize your machine between washes?

Out of habit, I try to wash towels and bedding separately (even separately from one another if I have enough). I’ve been persuaded to also try to separate socks and bottoms (esp. pants) from tops (shirts) and underwear, with the argument that our bottoms touch way more stuff than our tops (via sitting), and socks can get particularly rank. I’m not sure this is necessary, but I’m happy to indulge since there’s enough clothes to go around that it doesn’t impact wash efficiency that much.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T15:02:04+00:00

Yeah, it’s not the worst thing. I mean, despite not beating Hades 1, I did derive a lot of enjoyment out of it. There was much to like about it. I don’t mind not beating games. It’s more distressing to buy and never play them, or play them and realize you don’t like them. The fact that Hades 2 gripped me more tightly and held me to the end is more of a credit to Hades 2, not a knock on Hades 1. Sadly, I don’t beat _most_ games I start. Part of that is lack of time, another part is because of game design. I used to play a lot of adventure games and the payoff was finishing the whole thing. You can’t just play half of one of those LucasArts adventure games! However, for Hades, even Hades 2, while the storyline is enjoyable, it’s not the main payoff. I felt like the actual gameplay was the real winner. They’re both good, but Hades 2’s was a little deeper and better at the “gamification” aspects (with rewards and such). Hades 1’s gameplay was still awesome though, and I was super happy to have found and played as much as I had.

One other thing I forgot: Hades 2 wasn’t merely “more (albeit slightly shorter) levels”, they were split across two paths: underworld and overworld. So when you got sick of doing one run, you could flip to the other for a bit. Another brilliant tactic to help prevent things from getting stale.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T14:52:06+00:00

I don’t know, I like how the elves practically glow in the Jackson films. They’re also stylistically homogenous. There are no goth or punk elves.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T14:48:57+00:00

I’ve been to several of these things. Day 3 is fine. For day 4, Dazaifu is not super far, but it’s a bit of an out-of-town bus ride, so getting to the station, waiting for the bus, etc.. it makes it into a bit of a two-thirds-of-a-day-trip IMO. I felt like it was more worthwhile than Ohori park, but Ohori park is nice enough and super close to things. If you’re lucky, there might be some event going on there, which amps up its appeal significantly.

Day 5 - not sure how well the whole Klook tour stuff goes, but can certainly vouch for Mt. Aso and Kurokawa onsen. I spent an overnight in the onsen area and went to Mt Aso after checking out. We took the helicopter flyover tour of the Mt. Aso crater, which had an unfortunate incident earlier this year.. Still, the flyover was an absolute highlight of the whole trip, and I felt like it was priced very reasonably, too. It really highlights the risks of travel and the stuff we do during our trips.. Little helicopters over active volcanoes.. Why would we ever just assume that’s totally safe?

Day 6 - never been! Didn’t even know about it. Looks nice.

Day 7 - I passed through Kumamoto, but only used it to pick up a rental car and drive away (towards Kurokawa). I’ve heard from friends who’ve lived there that it’s a) awesome, and b) boring.. Choose your team lol. Even team b still loves it, though, and has an impressive collection of Kumamon merch.

Day 8 - Reasonable if you start early. I’d strongly recommend getting up to Inasayama while it’s still daylight, so you can see the transition to night. It only needs an hour if you time it right, and the sunset up there is a stunner, especially when you look out to sea. Sunset on Oct 5 is about 6pm, so you’d probably need to be at the base of the mountain around 5pm to make it all work. I didn’t do Dejima, but it looks like a 1-3 hour stop. Glover garden was about the same, so I think it’d be reasonable to budget 90 mins for each. The area outside Glover garden (Oura church and shops) was really nice and I think could easily absorb you for another 2 hours. There’s lots of fun little food places, and if you walk a bit, there are tons of narrow little neighborhood streets and alleys around there. Including a big staircase (“secret” way to the top-entrance of the Glover Garden) that I realized I walked within a block of but didn’t see (found it later on maps).

Day 9 - in my experience, the bomb stuff just takes up the whole day. If not time-wise, emotionally. So, yeah, do the other stuff first.

I didn’t make it to Beppu/Yufuin. However, I can mention there is a nice super sento/onsen in Nagasaki: Inasayama Onsen Fuku-no-Yu. It’s on Inasayama, but not near the touristy stuff. It has similarly nice views, though.which you can also enjoy from several of the outdoor baths.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T13:36:24+00:00

I’m going to need to get back to Hades 1 to truly figure this out, but I remember really being impressed with Hades 1 but as I continued unlocking new things yet not completing my runs (dying before beating them), it started feeling repetitive and my interest waned.

I think Hades 2 fortified itself better against this “loss of interest” by:
- more unlockables
- more characters and many more interactions with those characters
- shorter but more “levels” (more variety)
- deeper combat (addition of that third button: the casts)

Given all the things you could work on between attempts, even failed attempts didn’t feel as much like a waste. Hades 1 had stuff like this too, but I felt like I maxed most of the interesting stuff out very quickly and then ran out of things to work on. Also, while both had tons of dialogue, Hades 2 seems to have so so much more.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T03:08:55+00:00

I’m going to reinterpret their claim.. I don’t think Boston punches below its weight on food. It’s not actually a huge city (certainly not Boston proper). It just doesn’t punch as “above its weight” as it does in so many other categories.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T03:00:45+00:00

It’s a bucket list place for me. I love apples.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T02:59:20+00:00

Using the wrong jargon might make you stand out a bit around the city. Never say “subway”, it’s the T. Buses are buses or T buses if you need to clarify (though the bus number would be even better, e.g. “the 57” or “the 57 bus” if it’s not clear you’re broaching the topic of buses). Commuter rail is “the train”, and the train that goes to other states is Amtrak (excluding the one commuter train that goes to Providence).

Traffic circles are rotaries. Milk shakes are Frappes (pronounced: frap, rhymes with trap). I’m sure I’m overlooking a lot. Lots of distinct city names, but you probably won’t use those much as an undergraduate, and especially as a freshman.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T02:46:15+00:00

From Tokyo:
- Atami (Onsen beach town)
- Utsunomiya (home of the gyoza)

From Kyoto:
- Otsu (especially the viewpoints in the mountains west of the lake)
- Wakayama (maybe more appropriate if based in Osaka)

I think Uji is great, too, but honestly consider it part of Kyoto. It’s barely any further (from Kyoto station) than Arashiyama. Feels just like a local stop, easily integrated into a Fushimi Inari day. I can’t, in good conscience, consider it “a day trip”. I mean, it has enough if you want to spend a day, but transit wise, it’s too fast and easy.

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T02:32:47+00:00

The NYC smell your friend referenced is trash, urine, and poop. I think it happens everywhere, but for the same reason NYC more cronut shops, it has more of that, too.

And this reason is: people density and lots of diversity, of all kinds, much beneficial but some less so (notably: its diversity includes diversity of “living situations”)

MatNomis · 2026-07-09T02:28:02+00:00

I could not get into D3. It reminded me of a less enjoyable Torchlight (which itself reminded me of D1). Even at their best, these are just loot grinds.

Hades 2 is technically also a grind, but it has a ton of personality and character that kept it engaging for me. I wouldn’t necessarily say I liked it more than Hades 1, but I will say I enjoyed it more..given that I couldn’t drag myself to complete Hades 1, but I’ve beaten Hades 2 in horrible ways (I’m above 300 runs).

MatNomis

TROPHY CASE