Kid-friendly restaurants- Sweets of Ninja

Our kids like ninjas. They liked the ninja village in Koga. They like watching the Nintaro ninja anime (NHK education channel just after 6). And so when we found out there was a ninja themed restaurant in town, we wanted to give it a try. There are two restaurants and a ninja labyrinth. The basement is a restaurant with different course meals. Apparently they come with a little ninja magic performance. We went to the all you can eat "Sweets of Ninja" part. The staff are all dressed up and the decor is cool- like an old house with bamboo everywhere. For regular food they have Karage chicken, different kinds of spaghetti, curry rice, pilaf, french fries and salad bar. The focus, though, is on the sweets- with various cakes, crepes, waffles and ice cream. The kids were in heaven. They were very interested in the gift shop too- complete with grappling hooks.
They have a maze that you can go to as well. You have to wait by the outside door and they will show you in. You get a lamp and you need to try to find kanji scrolls to make a bingo before going out. When we were there the woman at the front had very good English.
It is a little hard to find. Here is one way to find it. From the north, head down Shinkyogoku (one block east of Teramachi) until you see the KFC turn right and then go right at your first chance. Here is a map.
The info:
The course meals are from Y2800 per person- probably not as kid friendly.
The buffet is Y1580 for adults (100 more on weekends.)
Kids 7-12 Y850
Kids 3-6 Y420
under 3 are free
Maze- Y300- but Y50 off if you eat there.
There are other branches in Tokyo and New York. Maybe we'll have to try the New York one sometimes.

Fantasy Kids Resort- Rokujizo

We recently took a rainy day and went to Fantasy Kids Resort near the Rokujizo station (subway, Keihan and JR-the subway is the closest). This is a bigger and better Yu Kids Island bouncy inflatable play area bonanza. They have several big inflatable bouncy things with slides and what not, but that is not all: ball pits, indoor sand box (advertised as sanitized), manga collections, picture book library, mega sized blocks, play structures, houses, and more. One highlight for J was a photo studio where you can dress up in all kinds of fancy clothes and take photos (using your own camera). There is no extra fee for this, though if you want to print out hard copies you can do so for a fee. S particularly loved the electric cars that even 3 year olds can drive on their own- but all three had fun on those. At the end we also discovered that all the video games there were included in the entrance fee. They had the taiko drumming game, a Gundam shooting game, driving games and several others. I wish we'd discovered that earlier. Afterward we checked out the food court for dinner. Not a great selection, but they had McDonalds, ramen, curry and some others.

The nitty gritty:
Good for ages 2 to 12- better for 3-8ish but with the added video games- even older kids could have fun.
Open 10-7, 7 days a week.
Near Rokujizo subway station- end of the Tozai line (about 30 min from Karasuma Oike).
See map here. Take the subway exit 3- head toward the river (the opposite direction from the giant big Ito-Yokado supermarket.) Look for the big mall- the Kintetsu Momo mall on the opposite side of the river. Fantasy Kids Resort is in the annex on the far side of the mall.
Requires a family membership Y315 per year.
Three payment options:
Play all day: Y990
After 4pm: Y660
Pay by the hour: Y420 first hour Y210 per half hour after
We did the after 4 package. The kids might have lasted longer, but I don't think we would've.
You get a point card and the fourth visit is free for up to 4 people. They also gave us a coupon for one free person when we left.

English language books

Our son E loves to read but it is hard to keep him in books. We brought some with us, but those went fast. So we had to find new ones. We live close to the central library, which is good for rainy days too. They have English versions of the Harry Potter books and selections from the classics: Treasure Island, Arabian Nights, King Arthur and oddly, Roald Dahl's BFG. They can also order other English books from other branches. There are also several bookstores that have good English selections. Junkudo in BAL on Kawaramachi just south of Sanjo has perhaps the best selection, but the other big stores have several English books as well. We have also been to the bookstore in Aeon Mall south of the station. As always Amazon is a good option too. We got some good "One Piece" mangas via Amazon.
There are some used choices as well-the YWCA (west of the palace) has a book exchange that has some young adult books. We've also trawled Green eBooks (on Marutamachi east of the Kamogawa) for the few young adult novels they had. Their inventory changes and they might have more on other occasions.
Finally a good option is to exchange among friends. We do this with our friends and it multiplies the number of books each of us have.

Kid friendly restaurants- Cafe Frosch

This month's "Leaf" (May 2011) has a special issue on kid friendly activities and cafes etc in Kyoto and Shiga. "Leaf" is a good resource for Kyoto restaurants and so forth, and it is nice to have one focused on kids. One find in there was Cafe Frosch. This cafe near Kitano Tenmangu is in an old Machiya, so the ambiance is great- plus it has an indoor play area (best for under elementary school age). The food is cafe style but very nicely done. We had curry and sandwiches, but the pasta looks delicious too. On our way out we bought whole wheat bread and a bagel. The bread was wonderful and the bagel was the best I have had in Japan.

Open everyday but Monday. Wednesday night is English night. On Saturdays they do international brunches with a different theme each week: Mexican, Cuban, German, etc. The proprietor is extremely nice and speaks perfect English, German and a bit of Chinese. Free Wifi

Toy Stores in Kyoto- Yodobashi Camera

Where do you go for toys when there is no ToysRus in town? Well, this was a question we faced when we first had a birthday in the family. At that time we found something on Amazon.co.jp, but for Christmas we wanted something else. The first place we found was Vivre on the Kita Oji bus terminal. They also have toys at Kyoto Family Aeon Mall on Shijo and Aeon Mall Kyoto Hana Jusco on Shijo. (But there is a serious shortage of toys at the Kyoto Sakura Aeon Mall south of the station.) The best thing we found though is the new Yodobashi Camera north of the station on Karasuma- just north of Kyoto tower. The west half of the third floor has everything you could want- at decent prices too. They have Ultraman figures, Kamen-Ranger, Legos, Pokemon, Anpanman, Bey-blades, Barbie, and other dolls whose names I forget. Part of the floor is also devoted to Gundam models and the like. They also have a video game section and the largest selection of gacha balls (plastic ball vending machines) I have seen. Last time we were there we checked out the new Nintendo 3DS- pretty neat.
PS- Amazon.co.jp is pretty great too. Most things are free shipping (anything over 1500Y). It is possible to pay via credit card, but also through payment centers in convenience stores- the red ones in Lawson for example. We have bought books, legos, an office chair, a heater and more through Amazon. Usually even with the free shipping it arrived the day after we paid at the convenience store.

Yu Kids Island in Aeon mall

On the top floor of the Aeon mall they have this amazing playground for kids in 2nd grade and younger. It has all sorts of inflatable moon bounce kinds of things that keep the young ones entertained for as long as the adults can stand it. It is a pretty fun place to go on a cold winter day. Our younger two could have stayed all day bounding from play area to play area
Here is the info:
500y per hour per child UNLESS you are a member in which case the price is the same but there is no time limit.
Membership is 1000Y BUT if you get a multiple use pass (available in 5 or 10) or one/three month pass then membership is free.
We got a five visit pass for 2000Y with the included membership. For each visit we can us two tickets for each child. (I guess we'll have to pay for one the third time we go.)
They have them all over Japan and apparently, even one in San Fransisco (though I can't find out any info about that one- whacha think sis?)
Aeon mall website
Company website (in English)
They have another branch inside the Kyoto Jusco Family Mall, west of the Saiin station on Shijo.

Sanjusangendo archery

Every year on the Sunday closest to the 15th there is an archery competition at Sanjusangendo- the temple of 1000 Kannon on Nana-jo south of Kiyomizu. This dates to the 1600's when the competition was to shoot the entire length of the temple. Nowadays you only have to hit a target half the length, still a difficult task from what I saw. Anyway, the event is from 9-3:30 and there are thousands of contestants who give it a try. The contestants are usually people who became 20 this last year and thus who celebrated coming-of-age on Seijin no hi. They appeared to be members of archery clubs from colleges across Japan. It was worth it just to see the kimono they had on (the same one's they wore for their coming of age ceremony earlier in the week I am sure), but the archery made it especially cool. Part way through they switched to a few rounds with really good archers and smaller targets. They still had difficulty, but hit the targets much more often than the 20 year olds before them. We only stayed for about an hour, but were glad to have seen it. It was crowded, but we were able to find a place to watch a little of it on the stands about midway across the field.
Also, FYI the entrance fee to the temple is free on this day and they have several stands for Tai-yaki, okonomiyaki, tako-yaki, sweets and so on for hungry kids.

Renting bikes with child seats in Kyoto

The kids grandparents came over new years and we had a lot of fun. When I was looking for bike rentals for them I found this place by the Eiden Demachiyanagi station that also had child seats on some of their bikes. Here is the website. By the way, it was also the cheapest place I found. 500Y per day, 2000Y per week, 2500Y for 2 weeks and 3000Y for a month.

Kid friendly restaurants in Kyoto: Ramen

Our kids love ramen and pretty much all ramen places are the same in their eyes. Since ramen shops are pretty much ubiquitous this makes finding somewhere to eat pretty easy. Unlike the kids WE have some places that we prefer more than others- when we find places that stand out I'll post on them here. In the meantime, (on the suggestion of another Kyoto parent) here is a useful phrase to help order for kids: Negi nashi kudasai- no green onions please. (Nashi is a useful word to put after things the kids don't like- some of our kids don't like ketchup: so we use it a lot. "Kechappu nashi kudasai" "Sōsu nashi kudasai" etc.)

Here is an unusual place- Mamezen. It is "Kyoto style" ramen with soy milk broth,with yuba and plum as toppings. We saw it on Kyoto Foodie and gave it a try- very delicious. It worked well because we were the only ones there, but the small space might not work so great with other diners. The couple who run it are super nice and have a young child of their own, so they looked with understanding at the antics of ours. The other downside is that they open late: 7:30 and we usually prefer to eat about 5:30 or 6. Lunch would be great though. They do have a kid's set that was perfect for our 5 year old.

Kid friendly restaurants in Kyoto: Other all-you-can-eat places

After the post on Obanzai I thought I would post about other similar places. Some of which we have tried and others we haven't. As I said before, these are good because the kids can pick and choose.
1- Harvest in Porta (under the Kyoto train station)
We went here early on in our stay and really enjoyed it. It is about twice the food for about twice the price. They have a decent array of deserts too. Drinks cost extra and there aren't many choices (basically tea and coffee). Lunch: 1468Y (1888Y on weekends and holidays) Dinner: 1993Y Elementary school kids: 838Y Younger than elementary school: 523Y
They also have a slightly cheaper branch near Shijo Kawaramachi.

2- Hasegawa Obanzai on Sanjo: south side of the street just east of the post office and the Kyoto museum. Similar spread to Obanzai, perhaps a little harder with kids because it was a smaller space.
Lunch: 950Y Dinner: 1500Y

3- 808 Cafe in Aeon Mall south of the Kyoto station
We haven't tried this yet, but the huge selection of deserts (including a chocolate fountain) certainly caught the eye of the kids. We'll certainly give it a try one of these days.
Lunch: 1280Y　Elementary school: 640Y　under:　350Y
Dinner: 1580Y　Elementary: 790Y　under: 400Y

Update: We gave this a try as promised and it was great. The food is primarily vegetable based and a hit with the adults. They had chicken karage and curry that went over well with the kids, but the kids really liked the all you can eat ice cream and cakes after dinner. (We did make them eat one plate of food before hitting the deserts- what meanies!) Maybe the best of the bunch.

4- There is another up the road from the Randen (Arashiyama line) station in Arashiyama, but I know nothing about it.

Kid friendly restaurants in Kyoto: Obanzai

Obanzai is an all you can eat natural food (mostly vegetarian) place near Karasuma Oike. It is mostly home style "natural food" cooking. Unlike other all you can eat places we have been to, it doesn't have a huge array of dishes but I liked what we had there. It is nice that the kids can choose what they want and when they find something they like, they can eat a lot of it. We also went for lunch and it may be the case that they have more for dinner. I think we'd probably stick with lunch anyway. They have a single price for kids and adults, but they didn't charge us for the kids under elementary age.
Nitty gritty:
Lunch: 840Y on weekdays 1050Y weekends and holidays
Dinner: 2100Y (closed Wednesday evening)
It is three blocks west of the Karasuma Oike intersection and almost a block north (on the east side of Koromonotana Street). Basically go north after the Roukin bank with the rainbow on it. It is a little hard to find so just keep your eyes peeled on the East side of the street.
I think Obanzai must be in Lonely Planet or something because there were several foreigners there.
phone: 075-223-6623

Kid friendly restaurants in Kyoto: Buta Gorilla

I think I'll try to post a series on restaurants that we find to be kid friendly. The first is a neighborhood one: Buta-Gorilla or "Pig Gorilla," a tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) place. This restaurant has a family set for either 3 "san nin" (2980Y) or 4 "yo nin" (3980Y). The 4 person family set was plenty big enough for us, and it includes several cutlets, a croquette, hot dogs, shrimp and all the miso soup and rice and cabbage you care to eat. The 3 person set was the same, but without the shrimp. B-G even has kids books based on Disney and Ghibli movies, crayons and pig-gorilla's to color while you wait. We have usually gone when it was pretty early, but there has always been seating.
Buta-Gorilla is just up the street from the Marutamachi-Shichihonmatsu intersection, easily accessed from any bus stopping at either Marutamachi-Shichihonmatsu or even Senbon-Marutamachi.
Phone: 075-812-7757

Hiking in Kyoto

One of our favorite things to do is to go hiking and there is no better time and place than fall in Kyoto. This is the first of periodic postings about various hikes we like.
Along the Kiyotaki river:
This is a great place to play in the water and I mentioned it in my earlier post on beating the heat. The hike has several options for starting and finishing depending on convenience and how far you want to go. Basically, the hike follows the river from Takao through Kiyotaki to Ochiai, where it meets the Katsura river. Here is one option: Take a JR bus to Takao (leaving from the Kyoto station with a stop at the Nijo station-I also hear city bus #8 will work ), hike down the river until it reaches the Katsura river (about 5k). Just before it reaches the Katsura river the trail goes uphill to a road. It is possible to take that road back to Arashiyama (about 5km from that point) or continue across a bridge and through a tunnel along that road to the JR Hozu river station that can take you back to Arashiyama or Kyoto station. (First you will come to the Torokko station that only goes to Arashiyama- the regular station is further down the road.) You can also start at Kiyotaki for a shorter trip (about 2k until it meets the Katsura river). City buses 62 and 72 go to Kiyotaki and leave from Kyoto station and also from right in front of the Arashiyama city train.
Another great hike leaves from Kiyotaki and goes up Mt. Atago from there.

More cultural activities

So we went to the Zuiki matsuri and I must say it was one of my favorite matsuri I've been to. We watched it in the Kamishichiken area along with some Kyoto maiko. It was also nice to be so close to the procession. I'll try to post some photos from it soon. We also participated in a local matsuri at E's school. This is E at the matsuri. That was fun and we got to carry the mikkoshi. We are looking forward to the Kurama fire festival on the 22nd of October. That afternoon is also the Jidai festival- one of Kyoto's biggest. We'll see if we can make it to both, but if we had to choose we'll go to the Kurama one. Kurama is one of our favorite places in Kyoto- a great place to hike and get out of the city. The fall is beautiful up there.

Cultural activities

So every so often we like to go out and do something cultural in this very cultural city. That said, we'd been here over a month before we even went to a single temple. One highlight so far has been the Moon viewing festivals for Jugoya. On the actual Jugoya we went to a local shrine- the Hirano Jinja to see the lanterns, look for the moon through the clouds and listen to some really nice koto music. The kids were pretty good and since it was an outdoor performance as long as they weren't too loud they could wander around while we listened. Our oldest said it was not quite happy music and not quite sad music, but that it made you think of long ago. I don't think I could have said it better myself. The shrine was really beautiful all lit up at night. We also went to the moon viewing in Daikakuji. This lasts for three days so we thought we could see two. It was a very long bike ride from our home to Arashiyama- longer than we expected. But even E was good natured about it. Once there the shrine was really nice and they had some food available in stalls on the grounds- we had some mochi treats. For a fee we could have ridden a boat on the pond while drinking tea. That would have been nice, but not really kid friendly. Again there was some nice music including some classical chamber music. On the way home we saw a film crew at a nearby lake filming a night-time flood scene. I wonder what that was about?
We have also tried Tenjin-san. This is the monthly flea market at Kitano Tenmangu. Getting there early is definitely advisable. The kids enjoyed the matsuri food in the stalls and looking at the interesting wares for sale. They were especially intrigued by the games where you can win toys.
This week there is the Zuiki matsuri (festival) at Kitano Tenmangu. E has been learning about it in school and has even been on a field trip to see them harvesting the zuiki (taro stalks) for the portable shrines. I'll let you know how it goes.