An Le, CIEE: Kyoto, Japan Summer 2025
The one truly surprising thing about daily life in Kyoto was how early the sun rises compared to Pennsylvania. The light would already be hitting the corners of my eyes by about 4:40 a.m, and the city would be awake with students walking to school by 6:00 a.m.
I tried to keep a regular routine, waking up for either a konbini or cafe run before my classes. The hardest thing to navigate in Japan in general is the language barrier. Fortunately, Kyoto is an international city so many restaurant owners know some English. However, it wasn’t uncommon for one of us to pull out Google Translate once the details became too specific. My classes were stacked together, so I typically did not have free time again until dinner.
Since Kyoto is a city that sleeps, it could sometimes be hard to find a restaurant that was open past seven or eight. The restaurants that were still open were fast food places or izakayas. Fast food in Japan is quite different than in the United States. A burger in Japan is more of a specialty meal, and the typical fast food may just be more a convenient ramen or bento place. Not everyone in my program was interested in izakayas since most of them are small and manned by a small team of people, but I think they are a great way of gaining insight into the day-to-day life of Japanese people. A lot of salarymen can be seen entering izakayas with their coworkers after a long day, and it’s fun being able to do the same after classes.
That said, I’m sure I missed a lot of great eats due to my evening class. Definitely try to research and save restaurants for the future to try as it gets more difficult to randomly find them on the streets as the sunsets. Don’t be afraid to eat non-Japanese cuisine too! And while Kyoto is an international city, learning some Japanese will only help you. So if you can, why not?
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