新年の挨拶
Welcome to 英語で雑談？Kevin’s English Room Podcast.
Hi.
Hello, hello.
Are you good?
Yep.
Doing good.
Very good.
It's the first recording day of the 2026 of this podcast, no?
Oh, it is.
Well, happy new year, guys.
Happy new year.
Yeah, yeah.
We've met already for the YouTube.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's right.
That's the first recording day of the new year.
That's right.
So, how was the new year?
Yeah, I mean, it was great.
Just as usual.
Went back to my house.
Went back to my wife's house, too.
And met, like, a grandparent and everybody.
The family gathering and everything.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And, yeah, it was lovely.
Lovely, lovely.
You know, peaceful New Year's Day.
Okay, okay.
Yeah, like how it should be.
Yeah.
We just spent time with my family.
Just, you know, doing some Trump games.
Wow.
Like, I forget the name, you know.
Daifugo?
I didn't do that.
Jokasagashi?
Yeah, that one.
I don't think that's the proper name.
What do you call it?
If you have the Joker laugh, you're fucking dead.
Yes, yes.
Babanuki.
Yes, Babanuki.
We did that.
We talked.
We did a little puzzle and everything.
Everything we should do for New Year's Day.
Wow.
Yeah.
Okay.
Quite peaceful.
Wow.
Did you have, like, kids there?
Like, little kids?
Is that why y'all did that?
Or just?
No, no, no.
That's great, man.
That's great.
It was fun.
Fun moment.
Wow.
Okay.
京都の新年旅行
Yeah, yeah.
How was your New Year's Day?
You said you went to?
Yes, I went to Kyoto.
Yes.
It was like a challenge for me.
Yeah.
How crowded is Kyoto during the Toshikoshi?
Right.
So 30th and the 31st and the 1st.
Okay.
The three days that it went.
Okay.
So now it's three days?
That's right.
First two days.
So the last two days of 2025.
Yes.
Oh, it was great, man.
Okay.
It was not crowded at all.
I went to Kiyomizu-dera.
I went to the shrine.
The 1,000 shrine in a row.
1,000, right?
What do you call that again?
Fushiminari?
Fushiminari.
Yes, yes.
Not shrine.
Yeah, right.
It's Torii.
That.
Yeah.
Didn't, like, weren't they crowded?
Yo, man, it was so smooth, man.
It was so smooth.
That's very rare.
It is very rare.
I took a video of how crowded it was to show you, man.
Thank you.
Yeah, it was, hold on.
Well, because like now, Kyoto is like packed.
Yeah.
Filled.
Right?
Like, it's overwhelmed.
Yeah.
It's so crowded, none of the Japanese people go there, right?
Like, if you want to go to Kiyomizu-dera, you know there's the road?
Yeah.
To the Kiyomizu-dera.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's too crowded.
You can't move.
You can't move.
You can just do nothing.
Look, so I took a picture at the Kiyomizu-dera.
You know where the famous picture spot at the, you know, the balcony.
Yeah, the balcony.
Yes, yes, yes.
Look, look, look at how many people there are.
Wow.
That's it.
It's so...
It's so...
There's so much room.
Nice.
There's so much room.
It's so...
Right?
It's so it should be.
Right.
So peaceful.
Wow, isn't it?
Yeah.
This is only the line for the...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chikara mochi ken nuki.
But this side of the road, it's like not even, right?
True.
Wow.
It's so cool.
It was so good.
It was so good.
Yeah, it was awesome, dude.
Lovely.
Yeah.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Kinkaku-jiの混雑状況
I went to Kinkaku-ji as well.
Okay.
Oh, Kinkaku-ji.
I went to Kinkaku-ji a few years ago, but it was...
It was like a fesu.
You know, like...
Look, this is...
Wow.
This is how crowded the Kinkaku-ji was.
There's so much room.
Like, if you try to squeeze in, you can go in the front.
Right?
Oh, that's so good.
It's amazing.
It's so nice.
Yeah, it's so nice.
Wow.
Yeah.
I would say one third or one fourth of the people.
Oh, right.
Of what you usually have, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.
Yeah.
Oh.
So, I guess that's the best timing to visit Kyoto.
Oh, yeah.
Luckily, it was.
Yeah.
Oh, nice, nice, nice, nice.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
観光と食事の体験
The first day.
Yeah.
Of course, the temples are packed.
So, I didn't even bother going there.
So, I don't know how crowded it was.
It must have been extremely crowded.
Yeah.
Clever.
Yeah.
Clever choice.
I went to...
I went to the place you recommended.
I went to most of the places you recommended, actually.
Okay.
Which one...
Like, where did I recommend you?
Okay.
So, you told me about...
Hold on.
Let me Google Map again to remember.
Did you went to the manga museum?
Did I say that?
I don't think you told me anything about the manga museum.
They have Kyoto Kokusai Manga Museum.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
No.
My wife loves manga.
Maybe that would have been interesting for her.
Oh, I should have told that.
Okay.
But, yeah.
So, I went to...
I went to Pontocho.
Yeah.
I went to Demachiyanagi.
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
That side.
Yeah.
Great.
I went to the Katsudon...
Katsudon...
No, not Katsudon, but...
Katsusando.
Katsusando place.
UK.
Oh.
Oh.
Went down your...
Went down your throat.
I'm just a tea.
Yeah.
Sorry, I'm good.
I'm good.
Yeah.
Katsusando.
The Katsusando place.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I went to the Japanese...
Koshitsu...
Not Koshitsu, but like the...
Yeah.
Washoku place.
Right.
A little bit expensive.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I went there on New Year's.
Yeah.
They had like the New Year's menu.
Oh, really?
It was great.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
A little bit like Osechi?
No?
It was not like Osechi.
It was like...
Yeah, it was like sushi.
You know, it was all Jap...
Kaiseki Japanese.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know.
They have like rolled little sushis, no?
Yeah, they have rolled sushi.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was great.
It was great.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I went to all that.
Oh, lovely.
So New Year's I went to the place that was most likely not crowded, which was Demachi
Anagi.
There was absolutely nothing there, dude.
I know.
I know.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Like no stores opened?
No.
Did you went to like the arcade place?
Yeah.
I did went to the arcade, yeah.
All closed?
It was all closed.
Oh.
Yeah.
You're talking about...
So, like, we were wondering, like, where was Yamachan talking about?
Like, what is it about the city that's great?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, so Yamachan was talking about, like, what is it about the city that's great?
川辺の散策
So you were talking about the arcade.
Well, to me, it's just the river side.
Oh, we didn't go to the river side.
Oh, where did you go?
River side.
River side.
Yeah.
It's the...
Where did you go then?
So, show you a map here.
This is the station, Demachi Anagi.
Yeah, that's the station.
The east side, and then across the river, and then the west side.
Okay.
I went to both of them.
Oh.
I was like, well, what the fuck was he talking about?
So, yeah, under, like, the east side, there's not many things to do.
There's just some coffee shops, like, small wagashi little shops and everything.
Okay.
But mainly, the places I love is just those, like, river side.
Oh.
Those places.
Oh, I see.
Oh, I see.
Just stroll around.
Oh, gotcha.
Just, you know, having...
Oh, I see.
Well, like, a coffee, cup of coffee.
Oh, gotcha.
Just walk.
I see.
And stop, and just have a conversation, read, or things like that.
I see.
So...
I see.
But if you went to the left side, the west side, weren't...
Like, did you...
Did you see the arcade, like, a shopping...
I saw the arcade.
I found an arcade.
It was all closed?
It was all closed.
Oh.
Yeah.
So, usually, it's open, and it's pretty, like, very nostalgic.
Oh, okay.
Good old shoten-gai.
Uh-huh.
I see.
With, you know, yaoya-sans, and little theater, little bookstore, little, you know, restaurants
and everything.
So, you know, the cafe and everything.
I see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it's a bit shame.
It's all closed.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, maybe.
Yeah.
Right.
But main reason why I went to those places were because there's not many things.
Okay, got it.
It's nature, basically.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I see.
That's why.
So, if you saw that, then that's...
Yeah.
Like a half right.
Okay.
I see.
I see.
You just have peaceful time.
At the, you know, at the Y, at the, you know, the acute angle of the Y, when the river splits.
Yeah, at the Delta, there were people playing around.
Okay.
The families were just skipping over rocks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was, you know, that was peaceful.
Right, right, right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the thing you should do.
I see.
I see.
Yeah.
寺社を楽しむ
Yeah, I mean, yeah, most of the trip was fantastic.
Oh, good.
Fantastic.
Good.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's, it's very rarely you avoided all those crowdness and just enjoyed
the temples and shrines.
I know.
I know.
It's a miracle.
Yeah.
In Kyoto.
I, I, yeah, I, you know, I was actually able to enjoy the temples, right?
Just...
Yeah.
Just actually enjoy it.
Yeah.
And, like, I kind of, like, I enjoyed it as if this was the last time I'll get to enjoy
it ever this peacefully.
Yeah.
Right?
So, yeah.
Totally.
Right, right, right, right.
Right.
And because most of the time you don't have time or room...
Yeah.
...to enjoy it.
Right.
There's other people right next to you just waiting...
Right, right, right.
...to, you know, go front and...
Yeah.
Oh, that's good.
That's good.
That's good.
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
Oh, nice trip then.
Mm-hmm.
Very nice trip.
Very nice trip.
Very good.
Very good.
I want to, on the next episode, I want to talk to you about the Katsusando.
Oh, yeah.
Please.
Yeah.
Yes, yes.
All right, so thanks for sitting guys.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
