Tenugui as decorative wall hangings

I don't really get why traditional Japanese crafts like pottery or kimono costs so much. Honestly, I don't even find them interesting or artistic. However, I loooooove when they merge Japanese art with modern technique or when they draw Japanese patterns on a modern product like those 和風 (wafuu - Japanese style) Disney Japan merchandise.

An example of wafuu Disney merchandise

My current favorite Japanese craft is tenugui. More precisely art tenugui. Tenugui is actually Japanese cotton handkerchief. But its use has evolved to be washcloth, dishcloth, headband, gift wrapper, souvenir and even as decoration.

This Maiko in autumn design is great as a memento of your stay in Japan

Kyoto's famous sites - the Kiyomizu Temple (left) and Toji Temple (right)

This booklet art tenugui has won the 2007 Japanese Good Design Award

I am selling these decorative tenugui here: Beautiful Tenugui Facebook Page

I started the page for Malaysians, hence all the prices are quoted in Ringgit Malaysia. But I can also serve customers from other countries. I've added the International Shop tab at the page and as an introduction, we don't charge for postage.

Do check it out :)

Special night light up at Kiyomizu Temple

Kyoto has hundreds of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Excuse my lack of cultural intelligence but personally I think they're all more or less the same in design, landscape, what tourists get to see/do etc. So I make it a point to visit only those that were gazetted as a world heritage site by UNESCO. And at the top of that list is Kiyomizu Temple.

Coming to Kyoto and did not visit Kiyomizu Temple is like going to Mecca and did not visit the Holy Mosque :p The temple is considered one of Japan's national treasure. It was established in year 778, that was even before Kyoto became the capital of Japan .

Visiting the temple during the day is great, but it's even better if you can catch the special night openings. You can check the schedule at their website. We caught the final day for Kiyomizu Temple's 2011 Autumn light up. There were sooooooo many people. The line for tickets goes all the way down, blocking the entrance to the souvenir shops in front of the temple. But as always, the Japanese are very efficient in making sure the queue moves in no time.

There are stairs EVERYWHERE within the temple site since it is located on a hill so baby strollers are not recommended. Strollers are OK to push your baby up the slopes heading towards the entrance but not to bring inside the temple. They do provide a stroller parking area. With the crowd and not enough lighting to see your way, I highly recommend using a baby carrier instead.

View of Kyoto skyline from the temple. On the right is Kyoto Tower.

What's special about autumn in Japan is that you get to see multiple colors of leaves on one tree. They're not just brown... they're red, orange, yellow... nice!

The famous Kiyomizu Stage. Those huge 12-meter high pillars underneath were assembled without using a single nail! Glad I knew that AFTER my visit. There must have been hundreds of people on the stage at the same time that we were on it!

Visiting this pond alone is worth the 400yen you had to pay to get in (200yen for children 6 years and above). The reflection of the red trees and lights and the temple... It was breath taking!

Piccoli Children Library

Piccoli is the children section of Kyoto University of Art and Design library and is located near the front entrance of the university. There's no problem pushing your child in a baby stroller to get there. You can leave the stroller at the library entrance.

Operating Hours
Thursday, Friday, Saturday  10.30am - 6.00pm
Sunday and Public Holiday  10.30am - 5.00pm

Getting there

You can take the City bus No.3, No.5, No.65 or No.204 and get down at Kamihatecho Kyotozokeigeidaimae (right in front of the university).
Nearest train station is Chayama Station on the Eizan Line. Then, a 15 minutes walk from the station to the library.

The library staff are very friendly but I'm not sure whether they can speak English or not. The library dedicated two full book racks to English/Foreign children books and have 17,000 books in total. However, the library has been open since 1978 so expect a lot of old titles in their collection. Members of the public can borrow the library books at no charge. You can borrow a maximum of 5 books within a period of 2 weeks.

Apart from that, the library is very active in hosting children related activities.

• Book Club: discussing/introducing children picture books (in Japanese), once a month on Thursday, 3.30pm - 4.00pm
• Children Workshop: making stuff from things found around us, every Saturday 1.30pm - 4.00pm
• Movie Show: once a month on Sunday or Public Holiday, 10.45am onward
• Toddlers Club: playing wooden toys and puzzles for children 0-1 year old, twice a month on Friday 10.30am - 12.00pm
• Computer Projects: learn to design/make things using the computer for elementary school children, reservation needed, every Saturday 11.00am - 11.45am

Their book collection is great but I don't think I'll be bringing my 3 year old toddler there. Not enough entertainment for children that age. Children up to 1.5 years old would be okay. 

Keihan Railway Special Train - Thomas the Tank Engine No.2011

My 3 year old boy looooove Thomas & Friends. Since Thomas Land is a bit too far for a daily trip from Kyoto, we took him for a Thomas-filled day on Keihan Railway instead.

We bought the 1-day Thomas pass from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station which costs 850yen per adult. Children 1 to 6 years old are free, just like the regular train fares for kids. But they gave a special big-sized Thomas ticket for kids as a token. You can get the tickets from the train station's information counter. The attendant at Demachiyanagi Station can speak English. The ticket covers a round trip from Demachiyanagi Station to Hirakatashi Station, as well as unlimited ride on the Katano Line.

Every station along the Katano Line are decorated with pictures of a particular Thomas & Friends character. Starting with Percy at Hirakatashi Station and ended with Thomas at Kisaichi Station. Yes, they made you go all the way for the main character :p But for us it was well worth the trip. Even though the attraction is simply big pictures of the characters on the station walls, it was enough to get my son and a few other Japanese kids with their familes excited. Personally, I see nothing interesting surrounding the stations so you don't really have to get out from the platform area. But some stations do put wall panels of Thomas & Friends outside the ticket gate, as well as remembrance stamp, so it's better to get the 1-day Thomas pass to enjoy those.

The train itself is actually a normal passenger train that goes along the line so regular passengers, not only fans of Thomas, would ride it as well. What makes it special is that the train was heavily decorated with Thomas & Friends characters inside and out! You could also hear voices of the characters played as announcement inside the train. There would only be one or two Thomas decorated train in hour. You can get the special train schedule at Hirakatashi Station. What we did was, we just hop on a regular train and went on to visit the next station first to take pictures and just went along the line until we caught up with the Thomas train.

The train design running on Katano Line is called Type 10000. Another one, the Type 700 runs on the Ootsu Line. It seems that these special Thomas trains are yearly attraction done by Keihan Railway, where they would change the train/station design every year. Here's the link for Thomas the Tank Engine No.2011 on Keihan Railway website. The site is in Japanese only.

One of the most common attraction at Japanese tourist sites is remembrance stamp. Keihan Railway is currently running a Thomas & Friends Stamp Rally at Katano Line, Ootsu Line and the Michigan Paddle wheeler Cruise on Lake Biwa. If you don't wish to join the competition, bring along a notepad cause the stamps are worth collecting.

The whole activity takes about 2 hours. This attraction is highly recommendable for a cheap day outing with kindergarten-aged boys.