Kyoto | My Apartment During the Start of Covid in Japan

Date I stayed: 03/31/2020 to 05/31/2020

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX0AYq7i2ePlo63SC-56-FA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oritabi808/

Welcome to my Kyoto crib my blog reading Aibou!!

* Aibou means something like pal or hommie in Japanese *

I got to this apartment located in the Higashiyama ward of Kyoto on March 31st, 2020 expecting to stay for just a week, but when covid really started to pick up at this time I was in for a longer stay than I expected. The border closed in the beginning of April meaning no flights were going out of Japan until who knew when, but luckily I had a bike to tour around with during my stay here.

I'll be making more blog posts and youtube videos about the adventures I had during my time in Japan, but this post will focus more on the airbnb accommodation I stayed at.

Something is strange with this picture can you tell? Yup it's a reversed image, I have no idea why though... The picture below accurately represents how the gate was seen from my apartment.

On google maps you can see just how central my airbnb was to many different amazing sights in Kyoto including Heian Shrine, Kiyomizu Temple, and Nanzen Temple; there were many other temples in the area though.

SAKIZO SHOP (神宮道三条店)

Zoom out, and out, and out, and out.... Okay cut that out!

Higashiyama Ward (東山区)

I'm going to make a more in depth post about the Higashiyama area, but needless to say it's my favorite area in Kyoto, and I am bias since I stayed there the longest during my time in Kyoto. There are so many temples, eateries, parks, and shopping areas within 20 minutes on public transportation. Biking to them takes about the same amount of time as the roads are very bicycle friendly in Kyoto (and Japan in general).

This first pic is the view from my small balcony behind me you can see a huge orange torii called Heian-Jingu Shrine Grand Torii; Torii means gate in Japanese. It stands at a respectable 24.2 meters high, but is amazingly not the largest torii you can find in Japan. It was quite nice having this view everyday though from my balcony.

Heian-Jingu: http://heianjingu.or.jp/

Some more views from the balcony of my apartment. The streets were very empty like the picture in the right for most of April and May 2020.

Heian-Jingu Shrine Grand Torii (大鳥居 平安神宮)

Now, the main reason why I rented this Airbnb in particular was for the free use of this bicycle!

There are plenty of places you can rent bicycles from in Kyoto, but I really lucked out with this airbnb since they had bicycle parking at the apartment and this free bicycle to use as well. Although they were for the use of everyone staying at the airbnb apartment, I had no issues using it since it was during covid and no one was traveling to Japan anymore. Eventually I would end up buying a bicycle in Japan, but that is a story for another blog post.

This was how the bicycles for the apartment were advertised, and yes they did look like this, but I think this picture was taken a while ago.

As I said earlier I rented this apartment through airbnb originally intending to stay for a week, but then covid hit and I ended up staying an extra two months here. It was a great place to stay in long term though.

1. Free Bicycle

2. Free Pocket wifi

3. Good Rental Price (about $30 per night when I booked it, and a discounted rate for long-term stays)

4. Kitchen (especially helpful since I'm vegan, although Kyoto does have lots of vegan options)

5. Laundry Machine (If I didn't have a laundry machine I could have easily used a coin laundry around the neighborhood)

6. And of course a shower/bath with a good old Japanese butt washing toilet (there is a feature on most modern Japanese toilet that squirts some water to wash your bum after a number two)

My picture taking was not on point when I first got into my airbnb, and after looking through all the pics I have these were the only pics I had lol so I decided to download and use the Airbnb pics featured below to more accurately show the listing.

Bedroom and living space area. It's a typical studio apartment! T.V. was a nice touch as well, although I was too busy going out and about to use it. Also super helpful to have a balcony not only for the view but for laundry. In Japan there are usually no dryers at apartment units or even at houses so a lot of people air dry their clothing. You can always find dyers at the coin laundry though if you are in a pinch.

The kitchen area was very compact, but just enough space for a single person. I had a pot, pan, and dishes to make practically whatever I could think of. I ended up doing a lot of grocery shopping at a local supermarket.

I got really lucky with the bathroom as I had a bath tub as well! This helped so much after the long bike rides I would eventually end up doing. There was also a laundry drying rack included with the unit which came in very handy.

Free pocket wifi was also provided at the airbnb I stayed. You can also buy one through an online vendor who will ship it to your address or at the Japanese airports/train stations. I used the pocket wifi a lot during the beginning of my stay in Japan, but ended up not using at all after I figured out how to get around without wifi in Japan. I'll have a blog post about that at a later date. It's definitely convenient to have though if you are on a short term vacation here and just want convenience. It's a bit harder to use out in the country side areas of course and you also should monitor your data usage with it, unless you have a unlimited plan.

Time to get ready for a wild ride in Kyoto! Just wanted to leave you with a couple pics I snapped of the Kyoto Tower (I'll have many more of these of course).