Book - Our Kyoto - Where Locals Go

Our Kyoto: Where Locals Go is a guide to Kyoto written by the people who live there. In place of the temples and tour routes of a standard guidebook, it collects 180 places, products and moments that Kyoto residents actually seek out, chosen by twenty-six of them from a range of trades, ages and walks of life, together with the editorial team behind Kyoto-kan, an official Kyoto City website. It is a bilingual edition, in Japanese and English.

The selections are refreshingly ordinary, in the best sense. Alongside cafés, bars and izakaya (居酒屋) there are Italian and Chinese restaurants; specialist shops for tofu, dried goods, wine and chopsticks; long-loved standards and well-kept secrets from old Kyoto establishments; seasonal events such as the Gion Festival, the Daimonji bonfires and the city's antique markets; and the plain daily scenery of the place, the banks of the Kamo River (鴨川), Mount Daimonji and the municipal bus network. Each is offered from a resident's point of view rather than a visitor's.

The book is arranged by ward, e.g. Nakagyo, Higashiyama, so that nearby places can be explored together. A QR code in the opening pages opens a custom Google map of all 180 locations, and each entry carries its own QR code at the back for navigation on foot. Every place is shown with a single photograph, so the book reads as easily by browsing, like a photo collection, as it does by planning.

It was edited by the Kyoto designer and art director Sakai Yosuke, who develops work with traditional Kyoto artisans under his Whole Love Kyoto label. The contents draw in part on the "My Local Guide Kyoto" series from the Kyoto-kan website, along with material made for this book.

• Editors: Sakai Yosuke with the Kyoto-kan editorial team
• Publisher: Seigensha, Kyoto
• Language: Japanese and English, bilingual
• Contents: 180 recommended places, products and events, arranged by city ward, with QR-linked maps
• Format: softcover, 196 × 147 × 25 mm, 452 g
• Pages: 272
• Published: 2025
• ISBN: 978-4-86831-004-4

Please note: these are small, independent places chosen by locals, so opening hours and the businesses themselves may change over time. It is worth checking before a visit.

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Seigensha (青幻舎) is a Kyoto art-book publisher established in 1995, working across art, painting, photography, design, architecture and craft, with a catalogue of more than 900 titles.