Today was Kyoto day! We had a ninja experience booked for 10 AM, and thankfully, we checked our route the night before. Initially, we thought the ride between Osaka and Kyoto would be about 30 minutes, but turns out, it’s closer to 1.5 hours. Oops! We left our hotel by 7:30 AM and arrived a little early, which was a relief—we weren’t rushing around last-minute.
When the time came, we got to dress up in ninja costumes and pose for pictures. Our group included a father and son a little older than Charlie, plus another man. After the photos, we learned how to throw ninja stars. Here’s a fun fact: ninjas didn’t actually throw them at people—they used them as distractions to escape! They’d put gunpowder on the stars, throw them at rocks, and they’d spark, making a noise to help them get away. We all had a chance to hit the target on the wall with our stars, and after a little friendly competition, we all managed to do it! We even got to keep a ninja star each as a souvenir.
Next, we tried blow darts. I felt like Charlie had an unfair advantage with his little one at home—he’s pretty skilled at aiming! I was much better at throwing the ninja stars than I was with the darts, but I still managed to hit the target. Then it was time to learn how to use battle sticks, and Carlynn and I made a great team, while Tom and Charlie worked together.
Our experience included admission to the ninja museum, which was just a short walk away. We had 45 minutes before we needed to be there, so we decided to stop by Nishiki Market for a bite. The market was filled with all sorts of food vendors, and Charlie and Carlynn grabbed salted cucumbers on a stick. We tried a pink, white, and green gummy treat on a stick (mochi). Mochi a traditional Japanese food made from glutinous rice, also known as sticky rice or sweet rice. The rice is pounded into a paste, creating a chewy, sticky texture that can be molded into different shapes and sizes. While Charlie enjoyed a scallop skewer, Carlynn indulged in a cup of strawberries with chocolate syrup. These were the best chocolate covered strawberries we had ever had. The chocolate syrup was actually real chocolate! Everything was delicious!
The museum was fascinating. We learned some cool historical facts, like how samurai would adopt adults to ensure their clan continued. There were also displays of real samurai swords and clothing, and some swords for sale that were hundreds of years old—prices started at around $35k!
Afterward, we headed back to the market for lunch. We found a nice, small restaurant that had seating available. Carlynn and Charlie shared an order of Wagyu, and they loved it. I couldn’t help but think, I hope our kids don’t expect Wagyu back home—it’s too expensive in the U.S.! What cost us $35 here would easily run over $100 at a restaurant back home.
After lunch, Tom and I stumbled upon a place offering 100-yen sake shots, so of course, we couldn’t resist. The shots were huge! We found more spots selling sake, and Charlie, ever the adventurous eater, wanted to try snail. When he realized the snails were alive and had to be killed and cooked, he felt bad for them and decided against it. Carlynn treated herself to ice cream instead.
Next, we wandered over to a Swatch store where Carlynn picked out a cool new watch—perfect for her! We’d bought Charlie one in New York City, so it was only fair. On our way out, we passed a fancy Gucci store, and I couldn’t resist going inside. It was packed, but I found a gorgeous wine-red leather bag that was reversible, with the iconic Gucci fabric on the other side. I had my eye on it!
The sales lady didn’t speak English, but we made do with a translation app. She even took us up to the men’s floor to show Tom some items. Of course, he found a green coin/card wallet that was a Japan exclusive—and he really liked it. I may have convinced him to get it by saying I could use it at home too. She also had him try on some man bags. Everything seemed great—until a scene straight from a movie began to unfold…
We told her we would buy the wallet and purse I liked. Everything was going good. They brought us fancy glass bottled water. They got our passport and gucci account pulled up. They brought us new wallet/bag to inspect and make sure it looked ok. And then our credit card wouldn’t go through. She tried a few times and said it wouldn’t work and asked if we had a different card. We were surprised because we hadn’t had any trouble with it during the trip. We checked the app and it didn’t show any declined transactions. Tom gave her a different card…same thing. Gave her a debit card….same thing. Talk about being totally and completely humiliated. She asked if we had cash but we didn’t have that much.. We thought something was wrong with their card machine but with the language barrier it wasnt communicating well. Tom asked if there was an ATM nearby; then not one, but TWO of the gucci employees ended up going to show Tom where an ATM was. He expected they would just tell him where to go, but no, these two little Gucci employees ESCORTED him into the train station to find an ATM. They took him to a money exchange place, but it wasn’t a standard ATM and his card wouldn’t work there…
I had stayed in the store with the kids, slowly dying inside. I was mortified. This was something from a movie. And I was silently threatening the kids to basically not breathe because we were in this nice store and looked like dang rednecks. A male sales guy had tried to talk to the kids some and even had Charlie teach him how to play rock paper scissors when he saw Charlie and Carlynn playing. At one point they were playing with little toys on their bags and Carlynn made a fart noise and the guy chuckled. This whole time I’m still so embarrassed. Finally Tom and the two employees came back. They had to walk to a second ATM. And this machine would only would do $350 at a time. He had to do many transactions and had a line build up behind him, and the Gucci ladies were just standing there waiting to walk him back to the store. When he got back, he handed them the stack of cash with the ATM receipts still stuck in (seriously, why didn’t you remove them Tom?!) The employees had to count the money and pull out the paper receipt slips. We can laugh about it now, but in the moment this was the most humiliating day ever!
We were there for over an hour and a half, but in the end, we victoriously bought the wallet and purse I’d picked out. After paying the ATM fee so many times, we didn’t save nearly as much on taxes as we initially would have…
We were exhausted but decided to finish the day with a visit to Starbucks. I’d been dying to see a particular Starbucks in Kyoto that’s inside a traditional building with tatami seating. We walked there via my navigation with Google Maps in hand—and I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself because I usually get lost!
When we arrived, the staff told us it was takeout only since the upstairs seating area was full. I was disappointed, but we decided to grab our drinks anyway. As we got our drinks, we decided to peek upstairs and saw a table that looked like it was about to free up, so waited a few minutes before we quickly took it. We didn’t get the tatami seating, but it was still a nice place to relax.
After our coffee, we went for a walk and caught a beautiful sunset view of Kyoto. I really wished we had more time to explore the city!
On our way back to the train station, we stopped in a little shop where I bought some roll-on perfume, and we each picked out a lucky rabbit keychain. We also passed a shrine that had a QR code for a YouTube be link to a live stream of the shrine. I sent the link to my sister-in-law who was up on an early morning walk and she saw us live on YouTube! As the shops were closing, we headed back to Osaka, but of course, the train was packed, and we had to stand for the first part of the ride. My feet were killing me! Carlynn managed to snag a seat, then Charlie, and finally, I got to sit too—but only after some convincing. The kids were embarrassed, but hey, I wasn’t about to stand for another hour!
We stopped at Lawson’s to grab snacks before heading to the hotel. The kids got some nuts, and I opted for ice cream for dinner (don’t judge). Back in the hotel room, we rubbed each other’s sore feet, put on cooling foot pads, and called it a night, ready for another adventure tomorrow.
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