Kyoto in Autumn, Day 1: A Retro Nintendo Hotel, Sweets and Kappo Dinner
AI helped me translate this post from the Japanese original.
In November, I went on a trip to Kyoto.
I’d always wanted to go when the autumn leaves were at their best.
It was a trip of seeing beautiful things and eating delicious food 🍁
Marufukuro, a hotel full of Nintendo romance
I love games, so at first I wanted to visit the Nintendo Museum, but our plans took a while to settle and the ticket lottery had filled up, so I gave up this time. (Someday I’ll go!!!)
But we did stay at a hotel with ties to Nintendo: Marufukuro, in the building that was once Nintendo’s headquarters.
The retro atmosphere was just lovely.
Nintendo started out as a company making hanafuda (Japanese flower cards) and playing cards.
So there are playing card motifs everywhere.
Old hanafuda and playing cards were on display too ✨
The room keys are apparently replicas of the ones used back then.
I love the big keys ❤️
It’s a bit blurry, but this is apparently how staff clocked in and out.
The front desk and entrance still look like the old offices, and it felt like traveling back in time.
The old warehouse has been renovated into guest rooms! Even the wooden crates for the products are adorable!!
And the library is full of pieces of Nintendo history!
I didn’t have much time to take it all in, but there were nostalgic things on display, like the Famicom and the Nintendo 64.
I found Mew!
Lots of guests from overseas were staying there too. The guestbook had Pokémon drawings in it, and some guests had Pokémon plushies sitting beside them. It was a place full of everyone’s favorite things ♪
Enjoying Kyoto’s Japanese sweets
When I’m in Kyoto, I want to try all kinds of wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets)!
First up, warabimochi, a soft, jiggly sweet made from bracken starch!
It was springy and delicious 😍
Kappo dinner
On day 1, after checking in, we wandered around town and then went to dinner at a kappo restaurant (a traditional Japanese restaurant where the chef cooks in front of you).
Every dish used Kyoto ingredients, and most were things I’d never eaten before.
Paired with sake, I just couldn’t stop eating.
The fugu (pufferfish) sashimi was especially thick and delicious!
(Apparently it’s usually sliced much thinner.)
To be continued in Kyoto, day 2 ♡
