May/June Kyoto travel/visitor questions thread for non-residents. Specific questions only. General questions to r/JapanTravel or r/KyotoTravel

2 comments

1. Hello residents of Kyoto!

   My fianceé is in your beautiful city doing a brief study abroad and I would like to know how to address letters properly so I know they will get to her. She is in a hotel or house with multiple rooms, something like that. It is hard to get ahold of her between the studying, field trips (a lot to see there!), and the 13 hour time difference.

   Can anyone tell me if this is even a remotely correct way to address an envelope to someone staying in, I think, a hotel in Kyoto for a study program? She’s hard to get ahold of and I don’t know what all the “prefecture” vs “area” vs “city” mean in instructions I’ve found online.

   The best I can figure out so far, since things like “prefectures” and “areas” are not things I know about, most examples are for Tokyo, and I don’t know which is which when I looked at official sources for addressing envelopes.

   My best guess:

   NAME

   6048413

   20-1 Kangakuincho (is this a building address? Maybe? Room x

   Nakagyo-ku, Nishinokyo

   Kyoto, Japan

   Does this make sense to anyone? I feel like a total idiot trying to send basic letters. 😆 She is very fond of the epistolary tradition and calligraphy (she is visiting the best stationary shops, and I do origami so has promised me beautiful Japanese washi paper), so this is important to us, but they take so long to mail. I must do them early in the month or they will arrive once she is gone.

   Please advise, and much thanks!

   Thank you

   Miranda

   Edit: I should mention I have found a “guide for English writers” which is sort of above, and the normal one in Japanese looks backwards, but of course I can’t read it. So I’m looking for what they would expect and deliver in English, as I am sadly monolingual.

2. Hi Kyoto residents! Is there a reason so many school kids are out and about at all the tourists sites? My husband and I are here this week and keep making jokes about the kids never being in school. I would love for someone to explain this to me!!