Kyoto’s NIshiki Market and Modern Train Station

Exploring new places is certainly fun. Aside from our temple visits in Kyoto, my friend and I were able to visit Nishiki Market which is also referred to as “Kyoto’s Kitchen”. It is the favorite traditional food market in Kyoto where locals and chefs go to buy ingredients for cooking.

Nishiki Market entrance

Locals and foreigners visit the market to buy
various Japanese food products

Nishiki Market is a four-hundred year old market where one can buy fresh seafood, fish, vegetables, meat, tofu, pickled vegetables, sushi, etc. Some stalls also sell ready-to-eat Japanese snacks and small restaurants offering Japanese food.

As we strolled through the narrow walking area in the market, we saw a stall selling skewered Japanese snacks similar to fish cakes and available in different variants. My friend tried the cuttlefish while I tried the octopus.

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Another place that we found cool is the Kyoto train station. The modern station was designed by Japanese architect Hara Hiroshi, the same designer of the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka. The station features a large main hall with exposed steel beamed roof called the Matrix. Kyoto station is Japan’s second largest station building and includes a shopping mall, hotel, movie theater, a huge Isetan department store, restaurants and local government facilities.

The  Kyoto Train Station is modern with exposed steel beamed roof
called the Matrix and was designed by Hara HIroshi. 

When we went to the sky garden area of the station we also saw a beautiful play on lights on the staircase that leads to the garden and the other floors of Isetan department store.

The sky garden provides one a nice city view of Kyoto.

City view of Kyoto from the Kyoto Station sky garden

Kyoto is a good place to visit to see both old and modern Japan. It gives one the option to visit large temples and shrines with beautiful gardens but at the same time it also gives one a glimpse of modern day Japan and city living with the contrast that the enormous modern Kyoto train station and interesting shops provide to visitors.