Gion and Pontocho, Kyoto

At night when the temples are closed, in Kyoto, one activity to do is to watch the Cultural Show of geishas and maikos, short displays of introduction Kabuki, Noh, Bunraku, puppet show, comedy, story telling and the tea ceremony. It is a all-in-one introduction of Japanese high culture which is worth seeing at least once. You can also take a lot of photos of each cultural ceremony but you will not be invited to dance with the geishas and maikos.

If you get bored from the Kyoto's calmness it has also serves you a street just like in Tokyo. You will find many shopping centers around this area..also you can easily find the bars just behind the fashion bazaar.

A stroll along Pontocho-dori or through Gion's back streets in the late evening, provides wonderful people watching opportunities. Spotting Geisha or Maiko becomes rather addictive and trying to photograph them as they rush imperiously to appointments is a challenge. The chauffeured cars with tinted windows and seemingly endless stream of taxis through Gion hint at a mysterious and intriguing world of activity, light-years from the average westerner's comprehension.

Since we were travelling with our toddler son we didn't visit the traditional bars and clubs that can be foubd all around Ponto Cho and the Gion. A nice alternative is to do some people watching during a long walk from the Gion, across the Kawagama River, through Ponto Cho, and into the "Floating World" of Kiyamachi-dori.

You don't have to go into one of the local clubs to kick back and enjoy the nightlife of Kyoto. Head over to Ponto Cho and check out the various street musicians who usually congregate around the underground train exits.

Ponto-cho is a famous narrow street, located between Kamogawa (gawa=river) and Kiyamachi street. Many restaurants and night clubs here. I went there with a Japanese friend, Rumi, and her dad on her Ph.D ceremony. We had a Kyoto style dinner at Ponto-Cho. The resturant allowed us to see the Kamogawa view at night. Food also was delicious. Sake tasted perfect. I could not remember the name of the restuarant but it just located about a few resturants if you enter Ponto-cho from Sanjo station side. After that we went in Russian bar, I and Rumi tried russian beer for the first time. Taste was Excellent!!

Dress Code: Normal dress.

The Gion Area is a nice place where one can see well-restored traditional Japanese architecture. Most of them are restaurants now. Nevertheless, their decor and traditional feel still attracted my attention to take a close look at them.

The narrow streets of Gion is pretty interesting. My guess is that this is the red light district which I took a picture off. It is because I saw a lot of pimps trying to get people to patronise teir joint.