Japan Day 7: Manga, Nishiki Market… and Another Change of Plans

Day 7 in Japan was another day when the weather decided that our carefully planned itinerary needed a little adjustment.

We were supposed to have our kimono experience and photo shoot that day, followed by the Samurai Museum. But with rain in the forecast, our photographer contacted me and asked if we wanted to move the booking to the next day.

Since this was a private photo shoot, changing the date was surprisingly easy. The photographer was also managing the kimono rental as part of the package, so we didn’t have to coordinate with several different businesses. We simply moved everything to the next day, with no additional fees.

And just like that, we suddenly had a free day in Kyoto.

Changing plans isn’t necessarily a bad thing

Weather is one of those things you simply can’t control when travelling, so I always try to leave enough flexibility in our itinerary to move things around when necessary.

Japan wasn’t even our most dramatic experience with weather-related changes. During a previous trip to Italy, storms in Milan closed almost everything we had planned to visit, and we ended up rearranging three entire days of our trip!

Compared with that, moving our kimono day by one day was pretty simple.

The rain in Kyoto wasn’t actually that heavy either. There were plenty of people walking around the city with umbrellas, and everyone seemed quite accustomed to carrying on with their day despite the light rain.

So we did the same.

Instead of trying to invent a completely new itinerary, we simply borrowed something from another day: the Kyoto International Manga Museum.

The Kyoto International Manga Museum

The Manga Museum had already been on our itinerary, just not for Day 7. Since most of the experience was indoors, this seemed like the perfect time to visit.

My first impression?

It looked a lot like a library.

There were shelves and shelves and shelves of manga.

At first, I wasn’t entirely sure what to think. Was that it?

But the more we explored, the more interesting the museum became.

There is an enormous collection of manga, including books in many different languages. Visitors can take books from the shelves and sit down to read them, although we were more interested in exploring the museum itself.

As we continued through the museum, we discovered more exhibits and displays, and it became much more interesting than my initial “this looks like a library” impression suggested.

Kid 2 probably enjoyed the museum more than kid 1. Still, it was an interesting stop for all of us and a very good rainy-day activity in Kyoto.

And then it was time for lunch.

Which meant…

Back to Nishiki Market!

Nishiki Market, round two

Yes, we went back.

The previous afternoon, we’d arrived at Nishiki Market fairly late, around 4 p.m. We’d spotted several things we wanted to come back and try, so a second visit was already on our minds.

This time, we arrived around lunchtime.

That turned out to be a VERY different experience.

The market had been busy the previous day, but this time it was absolutely packed. We were there around lunch and into the beginning of the afternoon, which probably explains the difference. There were people everywhere, and with so many people talking, ordering food, moving between stalls and trying to squeeze past each other, it was also incredibly noisy.

Definitely not a peaceful lunch!

But arriving earlier also meant we had much more time to explore.

On Day 6, we’d mostly wandered through the market and discovered what was there. This time, we already knew there were things we wanted to go back for. So we ate some of the foods we’d noticed the day before, browsed more stalls and picked up a few souvenirs and gifts.

Lunch was basically Nishiki Market itself. Instead of choosing one restaurant and ordering one meal, we could try different things as we walked.

Despite the crowds, I’m glad we went back.

Would I have gone a third time? No. Two visits were enough!

If you’re planning to visit Nishiki Market yourself, the difference in crowds is definitely something to keep in mind when deciding what time to go.

Another rainy Kyoto day

Altogether, we probably walked somewhere around 5–7 km, which had become fairly normal for one of our sightseeing days in Japan.

Despite changing our original plans, we still managed to have a full day: manga, shopping, souvenirs and plenty of food.

And our postponed plans were waiting for us the very next morning.

Coming next:

The rain finally stopped, which meant our postponed kimono day could happen. But Kyoto’s summer weather had another challenge waiting for us…