While visiting Kyoto Japan, Will and I found some spare time to experience traditional Japanese Kimonos.
Kimonos are traditional Japanese garments that are usually worn during weddings and other special occasions. However, being good business men and women, the japanese have many Kimono rental shops throughout popular tourist locations.
Thank goodness! 😉
We stumbled upon Kimono Rental Yumedokoro which had a couples package for 9,000 yen (~$90). 💸 (but totally worth it!)
This included:
- 2 Kimono with matching Obi's (sashes) of our choice
- Tabi & Zori (Socks and sandals)
- Kinchaku's (Matching bags)
- Hair-styling
Choosing the Kimono was the hardest part! They had a whole rack of different colors with seperate sashes to choose from.
Our bags..
..and our teeny-tiny shoes (I wear a size 10 US women and these were half my size!)
Standard rentals are about 3 hours long so we took to the streets to take some photos!
Sanrio Store
Here I am next to Hello Kitty, dare I say that my Kimono is prettier?
Here I am next to my favorite character Gudetama (i.e. the lazy egg yolk). If you're not familiar, google him! you won't be disappointed.
Small Bridge behind shopping district
Did I mention my hair?!
I honestly don't know how they did it, in under 20 minutes my hair went from a frizzy mess to a beautiful updo! Complete with a flower clip that I got to pick out!
Couples lane 👫
While in Kyoto our tour guide explained that this bridge over looks "couples lane". Couples lane is made up of two walk ways on either side of the river.
Young local couples come here for spring and summer picnics to enjoy the weather and each other. In the background you can see people strolling hand in hand but unfortunately no picnickers, admittedly it was quite a windy day.
If you cannot guess from this narration so far, I was really excited to do this and clearly trekked all over the place for pictures.
Will on the other hand... was a slightly less willing participant. But as you can see he came around! (And earned major bf points)
In the Studio
Selfies
What would a photo shoot be without some selfies?
Yes.. Will clearly earned some smooches 💋 💋
Conclusion
Do this! If you have some time in Japan, I completely recommend trying this out. I learned that Kimonos are actually quite intricate and involve multiple layers of cloth and corsets. Trying these on was a literal "walking in their shoes" experience!
Hopefully I peaked your curiosity~