I’ve been living in Kyoto for almost two months now, and I wanted to share a bit about what it’s been like staying at the YWCA Ajisai Dorm. Like any place, it has its pros and cons—but I think a lot depends on the person.
For me personally, one of the biggest pros is having my own restroom and shower. I also have a small hot plate, which makes it easy to cook simple meals. I was surprised to find some pots and pans were already provided when I moved in, so I didn’t have to buy any myself or worry about what to do with them later. The room itself is pretty spacious, and the other residents (not all are Doshisha students) have been nice whenever I run into them.
Since everything you need is basically inside your room, I don’t see the other residents very often. We have signs on our doors to show if we’re in or out, but most of the time it seems like people are away. I do like having a room to myself, but I sometimes wish there were more shared spaces or community events as it can feel a little lonely at times.
A few blocks from the dorm is a garden that a lot of people like to go to, so it can sometimes be busy walking by whenever I go to class or need to take the subway. I can hear the street noise from my room as well, when people get loud, I usually just put on headphones if I need to focus. However, since there’s a fire station nearby it does scare me sometimes to hear the emergence sirens since they sound completely different to the ones back home.
There’s a convenience store nearby, which is nice whenever I want to get a snack or have to print something last-minute for class. I also like to walk about 15 minutes to a supermarket I found, since it’s also a nice way to get out of the room for a bit.
Living here has also pushed me to learn new things—like cooking different types of meals and figuring out how to properly separate trash in Japan. Which thankfully the dorm has a booklet that explains how to do this, and we were given a schedule on what days to take out which kinds of garbage (I’m still adjusting to this).
Overall, living at Ajisai Dorm has started to feel like home to me despites its ups and downs.
For Golden Week, a few friends and I took a trip to Tokyo for four days. We packed so much into the trip that by the end, even right now while writing this, my feet are really sore from walking nonstop every day.
To save money, we chose to take an overnight bus from Kyoto to Tokyo. We left around 10 p.m. and arrived the next morning at 7 a.m. The ride itself wasn’t too bad—quiet, with reclining seats and just enough comfort to doze off with some music. The only downside was that the bus didn’t have a restroom, so we stopped every two to three hours at a rest area. Each time, these “subtle” lights would turn on, which made it hard to stay asleep.
Running on about two hours of sleep, we arrived in Tokyo and headed straight to a station to store our luggage in a storage locker. The storage lockers here are actually quite easy and convenient to use—you pay once (about 300 to 1000 yen depending on the size) and can leave your things there all day.
Since it was only 7 a.m. and most places were still closed, we started our morning by visiting Meiji Jingu Shrine. It was beautiful and surprisingly quiet, surrounded by so many trees that it felt like we were in a forest than a city.
After the shrine, we explored some iconic places like Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. These areas were super crowded—definitely tourist-heavy—but it was still fun to walk around and see famous landmarks.
Day 2
The next day there was nonstop rain. I didn’t have an umbrella, so I bought one at a convenience store. But with the wind, it broke at the first place we visited, the Imperial Palace. I used the broken umbrella for most of the day before finally buying another one—literally right when the rain to stopped. After thinking about it, it probably would’ve been smarter to invest in a good umbrella from the start.
Luckily, we had planned mostly indoor activities that day. We visited some stores we were interested in (such as a Ghibli and Miffy store), had lunch and then went to teamLab Planets. It was an amazing interactive art space, and we ended up staying there for over three hours. My favorite part was definitely the gallery with water. There was a part where the water could reach our knees, so we had to roll our pants up, but it had these koi fish swimming around. When you walked into them, they would turn into a flower and when you walked into the flower it would bust into flower petals.
What was nice though was for the gallery’s where there were mirrors on the floor, before entering they offered (I can’t really remember) a towel or shorts for those wearing a dress or skirt. For another part that was more active they also offered rental shoes for anyone who had heels or may just unconfutable types of shoes on so they can still participate if they wanted to.
I highly recommend visiting—and if possible, as early as possible. Our reservation was at 1:30 p.m., and while it wasn’t too crowded, earlier might be even better.
Afterward, it was still raining, so while my friends went back to the hotel to rest, I wandered around on my own to pick up something I had ordered. With my broken umbrella, I ended up soaked and feeling pretty gross. Thankfully, the rain finally stopped when we all met up again later to see the 3D cat in Shibuya and the Godzilla statue.
Day 3
Thankfully the next day was nice and sunny. It was also a day that had less plans, so we first visited a couple more shrines and had lunch together before splitting up for the afternoon.
I didn’t have any specific plans, so I spent time wandering around the Senso-ji Temple. It was extremely crowded—almost too packed to move—but still beautiful. The shopping street leading up to the temple was filled with interesting stores selling souvenirs, kimonos, snacks, and more. I had fun just walking through them seeing what each place had before meeting up with my friends.
Day 4
On our last day, we visited Gotokuji Temple, famous for its rows of lucky cat statues. It was fun seeing how each statue had its own little details and seeing some new ones with the older ones. I was unsure how to pray properly at a temple though (since it’s different from a shrine), but it was still a great experience.
After that, we went to Shirohige Cream Puff Factory where we got a Totoro-shaped cream puffs, then headed to Sanrio Puroland. It was a very cute place but felt more like a place for taking photos and seeing themed displays since it didn’t have many actual rides. The few rides they did have also had over an hour wait. It’s probably best for people who love Sanrio characters and enjoy that kind of “calmer” atmosphere (though busy as there are a lot of people and children there) than for those who prefer rides.
We ended our trip at Tokyo Station, spending a few more hours exploring on our own and doing any last-minute things before heading to our overnight bus. I was mainly exploring the stores in the station and grabbing some souvenirs, eventually I walked around outside the station since seeing the station from the outside and at night was pretty (so pretty there was many people outside too taking photos and sitting around it).
When we all got back together, we were organizing our luggage and making sure we had everything first before going to the bus. Unfortunately, we got lost trying to find the bus and—just our luck—missed it by literally a few seconds. We saw it driving away.
There wasn’t anything we were able to do, so we had to buy last-minute tickets for an early morning shinkansen. The earliest one wasn’t until around 6 a.m., so we had to figure out where to stay for the night. Nearby hotels were expensive, and even though McDonald’s was open 24 hours, it was takeout only. We ended up walking around a lot and eventually sat in a park for a few hours.
Around 3:30 a.m., we found a restaurant that was still open, it was getting quite cold outside, so we went in to get warmed up and also something to eat. Staying awake was a struggle—we had been up nearly 24 hours at this point—but we stayed up until we got to the right station and platform for our shinkansen.
Once we boarded, it felt like such a relief to know we were finally going back to Kyoto. The seats were spacious, they reclined well, and—unlike the bus—there was a restroom. The ride back to Kyoto was about two and a half hours, and we were finally able to sleep a bit.
This trip was a lot; it had its ups and downs but, in the end, these are all meaningful memories that I’m going to cherish. After all that, I’m just happy to be back in my dorm and finally get some rest.
DU Abroad 