Why Visit Now: Kyoto
While Kyoto's iconic temples are drawing record crowds, the city is experiencing a cultural renewal brimming with fresh, under-the-radar experiences. Discover how revived traditions and modern trends are offering a new perspective on the imperial capital.
With Kyoto drawing visitors in record numbers, one might think the ancient capital’s appeal speaks for itself. Indeed, suffice to say that the city’s iconic temples, teahouses, and geisha districts are world-famous, and still, beneath its polished surface, cultural renewal continues underway. Local organizations and creatives are finding new ways to share Kyoto’s heritage, and plenty of interesting experiences remain under the radar of the tour-bus crowds, waiting to reward those who explore a bit deeper.
Below is a curated list of timely and culturally rich reasons to visit Kyoto now, focusing on new openings, revived traditions, and evolving trends that showcase a fresh side of the timeless former imperial capital. Each illustrates how Kyoto honors its past while embracing the future, ensuring that the magic of the ancient capital endures for generations to come.
1. Geisha Dances Return to Historic Stage
Kyoto’s elegant geisha (geiko) and maiko culture is experiencing a renaissance, highlighted by the triumphant return of the Miyako Odori spring dance to its original theater. After a seven-year closure for seismic retrofitting, the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo theater, a century-old wooden playhouse, reopened in 2023. Once again, every April, dozens of impeccably dressed geiko and maiko perform daily shows of music and dance, continuing a tradition that goes back to over a century.
Gion Kobu
Watching the performances in the restored theater, with its curtained stage and tatami-mat seating, is to witness a living piece of history: the same school of dance has been passed down through generations, now enhanced by modern lighting and English audio guides for international guests.
2. See Heritage Sites in a New Light (Literally)
When night falls, Kyoto’s ancient landmarks come alive in dazzling fashion thanks to a series of seasonal digital art events by creative group NAKED, Inc., transforming temples, shrines, or castles with projection mapping and illuminations. These immersive art installations add a contemporary take on traditional appreciation of seasonal beauty.
Standout recent examples include stunning Autumn illuminations at Higashi Honganji, the enchanting glow of a Japanese Garden at Heian Jingu Shrine during Winter, a magical extravaganza of lights and cherry blossoms at Nijo Castle in Spring, or the ephemeral beauty of dandelions at Fushimi Inari Taisha this past summer. Events may or may not become recurrent, so it’s well worth it to check out the latest seasonal event, as it may be once in a lifetime experience.
3. Mix and Savor Your Own Kyoto Sake
Kyoto’s famed sake culture isn’t just for sipping! Now you can roll up your sleeves and participate in it. This year, a unique facility called My Sake World Oike Bettei opened in central Kyoto, offering visitors the chance to create their very own custom-blended sake. It’s the latest innovation in a city where brewing has deep roots: Kyoto’s Fushimi district has been a top sake-producing area for centuries, thanks to its soft spring water and skilled kuramoto (brewmasters).
Yuzuru Gima
Traditional breweries like the 130-year-old Sasaki Shuzo in downtown Kyoto still produce award-winning “jidai” sake beloved by locals. Now, interactive tours and tastings are on the rise. Some breweries offer morning visits to watch steaming rice and koji in action; others, like Kizakura’s mini-brewery, pair tastings with beer and even sake cocktails.
4. Join the Global Matcha Mania at Its Source
The world’s love affair with matcha, that finely milled green tea, is reaching a fever pitch, and Kyoto is the ideal place to take a deep dive into this fascinating tea culture. Just south of the city lies Uji, synonymous with top-grade matcha for over 800 years. As international demand for matcha surges, Uji’s tea farms and shops are responding with new experiences.
Vetre
You can stroll verdant tea fields with local growers, learn to whisk the perfect bowl of frothy jade-green tea, or experience a tea ceremony at Uji’s own municipal tea house. In Kyoto city, modern cafés like Itohkyuemon and Tsujiri present matcha in myriad forms: parfaits, soba noodles, even matcha tiramisu. Meanwhile, the traditional tea ceremony (sado) is being made more accessible, with some temples offering casual tea gatherings where anyone can participate.
5. An Opportunity to Experience Kyoto’s Youth Effervescence
With dozens of universities, Kyoto is also known in Japan as a “college town”, and every October its college spirit bursts out in the Kyoto Intercollegiate Festa, a far cry from traditional matsuri, fully driven by youthful creativity. With over 20 years under its belt since its inception in 2003, the festival is now aiming to rank alongside Kyoto’s ancient Three Great Festivals.
Ryoma Kawasemi
On a Sunday in mid-October, the broad promenade in front of Heian Shrine becomes the stage for an all-day extravaganza of student creativity. The highlight is Kyoen Sodefure! – an energetic dance competition where teams of students (and even some younger groups) perform colorful, choreographed routines fusing traditional festival dance moves with modern music. Even as its popularity increases, it still feels like a community event, and it’s a great chance to see contemporary Kyoto culture in action.
6. A Chance to Step Inside a Long-Hidden Castle Palace
After nearly two decades behind closed doors, one of Kyoto’s architectural jewels is welcoming visitors once again. Nijo Castle’s Honmaru Palace, a 19th-century shogunate residence within the UNESCO-listed castle grounds, finally reopened to the public in September 2024. Closed since 2007 for extensive seismic reinforcement and painstaking restoration, this opulent palace now shines as it did in the Edo period.
Romain C Productions
Visitors can wander through rooms adorned with gold-leaf fusuma (sliding screen) paintings of seasonal landscapes by the famed Kano school, and step on the “nightingale” floors that chirp underfoot, while feeling transported to feudal Kyoto, witnessing history in a space that used to be off-limits to the outside world. Advance reservations are required and well worth it.
7. Moonlight Tea Ceremony at Kodaiji Temple
While many flock to Kyoto’s temples by day, Kodaiji Temple offers a dreamy nighttime experience each autumn. During the weekends of September, this historic temple in Higashiyama hosts an “Autumn Moon Tea Gathering” after sunset at the the Kogetsu-tei pavilion, an elegant tea house where visitors savor matcha tea and seasonal sweets or a light temple cuisine meal, all while gazing at the bright harvest moon and listening to crickets chirp in the garden.
After the tea ceremony, guests are guided through Kodai-ji’s beautifully illuminated gardens; softly lit maple trees, bamboo groves, and reflections on the pond create an enchanting atmosphere with centuries of history: Kodaiji’s moon-viewing pavilion was originally commissioned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s widow to commemorate moon gazing with her late husband. It’s an intimate, reservation-only event (limited to about 30 guests each evening) that insiders book in advance to enjoy the seasonal Kyoto elegance under the night sky.
8. Dive into Kyoto’s Contemporary Arts Scene
Beyond its classical arts, Kyoto is cultivating a cutting-edge creative scene that’s drawing global attention. Each spring, the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival turns the city into a living gallery, staging photography exhibitions in atmospheric venues like converted machiya townhouses, temples, and industrial spaces. The city also boasts the sleek Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, reopened in 2020 after a large-scale renovation, which hosts world-class rotating exhibits ranging from contemporary Japanese fashion retrospectives to avant-garde installations by international artists.
cowardlion
At Nishijin Textile Center, the cream of the top of local kimono culture is showcased through exhibitions and craft experiences, as well as the opportunity to book kimono-wearing experiences, including kimono styles worn by geiko and maiko (geiko apprentices), or even Heian era nobility. And when it comes to performing arts, the place to be is ROHM Theatre Kyoto, run by Kyoto City Music Art Cultural Promotion Foundation and one of the most prominent venues showcasing local productions (both traditional and contemporary) as well as world-class theatre productions.
9. Experience Nintendo’s New Playable Past
Kyoto’s latest museum dedicated to the legendary entertainment giant quickly became a pilgrimage site among gamers and nostalgics. In October 2024, Nintendo opened its first-ever museum in Uji City, the company’s hometown, where visitors can journey through the evolution of entertainment. Many will be surprised to find out Nintendo’s origins in century-old Hanafuda playing cards, and the evolution journey that took it through vintage consoles and modern classics.
Interactive exhibits invite visitors to play and tinker with games enhanced by cutting-edge technology. There’s even a workshop where they can craft their own Hanafuda cards, and a café serving playful menu items. For travelers, it’s a chance to celebrate Kyoto’s contribution to global pop culture and relive childhood memories in the city where it all began.
