My Japan Trip - A Trip To Arashiyama Bamboo Forest And More!

Hello there! It's my 10th post in the new World Map Pin community! Trying to do the tag as well! If you haven't read about them, please take a look at this link.

As background, I have done a few overseas trips last year, as some of my friends here would know, and I have been wanting to share some of the interesting places that I have visited. However, life has been busy and I have been procrastinating penning these entries and recently, I revisited this target of mine and finally broke the inertia!

One of my memorable trips in 2023 was to Tokyo, Japan, and during that trip, I did quite a few day trips to nearby cities and towns. This included trips to Karuizawa, Atami, Nikko, Kamakura, of course, Tokyo itself.

In 2024, which was earlier this year, I was back at Japan once more. This time, it was to Osaka, Japan. Our first attraction would be the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest! So come join me on this trip!

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I have heard great stories and seen many nice photos online for Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, and was looking forward to visit this place. We took the train from Osaka to Arashiyama, which was not too hard to navigate, and we reached around 9am in the morning. The forest was an area so there wasn't really a "start point" or "entrance" I think, but the bamboo forest did get denser and denser as we ventured along. Look at the people who were already here as well!

I think this was the part that got more exciting. By then, we have walked for quite some distance and it was deeper within the forest and there was relatively lesser people. The bamboo trees were in full display and like I have always said, it's so therapeutic to be in such closeness with nature.

This was my favourite spot to take selfies! I felt that they carved out this area so that tourists can take selfies and group photos. Haha.

On our way out, I was surprised to see so many people on their way in. So if you are planning to visit the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, please come early! By then, the whole place was buzzing and the peace was lost! Haha. There were content creators doing livestreams, brides and bridegrooms taking wedding photos, students probably coming as part of their school excursions. It would have been much more difficult to take nice photos with so many people around.

We chanced upon a garden while making our way to the main road, and it was pretty so I snapped some photos.

And then it started to rain! Oh no!

So we figured it was a good time for breakfast! There weren't many food options in this area since it's not a city, but I still had a filling meal and got my Japanese drip coffee.

And how could I forget, my favourite Matcha ice cream! It's kinda weird to be walking in the rain, and eating the ice cream while the raindrops hit it. Lol!

There were some shops selling little souvenirs and we chanced upon a Rilakkuma shop! Omg these bears were so cute! And they even had cookies and sweets with these cute stuff printed on them. Who would bear to eat? Haha.

After spending some time doing some mini shopping and getting little snacks at the shopping street, we came to Togetsukyo Bridge. The weather was not perfect but we still managed to get to see some scenic sights, the mountains, the waters, and I am not sure if you could tell from the photos, it's actually still raining!

Of course, we also visited a local onsen to get a feel of the Japanese experience, before heading back to the city, Osaka. Overall, it was a relaxing trip to Arashiyama and we covered the main attraction, which was the bamboo forest, and explored the surrounding area.

Have you been to Arashiyama? Let me know in the comments if you have been here too, and what are your thoughts about this place?

Finally, thanks for reading my post in the community under World Map Pin! More to come I promise! :)

P.S. I have also tried to document my posts in one table so it's easy to reference too!

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