
Two weeks ago I took a little trip to Kyoto/Otsu. I have an old house that I run as an Airbnb house in Otsu, Shiga prefecture. I had to do some maintenance. It has been more than a year since I went there last time. On my way home, I stayed in Kyoto for a day and met Jacopo, a friend of mine who was my housemate in Oakhouse Kichijoji 2.
Visiting the house in Otsu wasn’t entirely smooth. My plan originally was I leave Tokyo at 7am in the morning and I reached there by 11am. Have a lunch at a local restaurant and prepared for the things I need to do. The only problem was that it was the typhoon day and almost all train lines were affected that day. Luckily the Shinkansen was fine and I had no problem getting to Kyoto. Getting to Otsu was a problem. Just so you know, Otsu is located only two stops from Kyoto station and it only takes 9 mins by train and there are trains to catch every 5-10 mins. So it’s pretty busy line. However, it took me almost 45 mins to get to Otsu that day. There was only one train per hour and the train car was super packed with people who try to get in. Clearly, I picked a wrong day.
I finished my things in Otsu by 3pm and I had a meeting with my financial planner in Kyoto. Fortunately, going back to Kyoto wasn’t a problem. I decided to stay in Kyoto that day to avoid being stuck in trains. The financial planner is an old friend of mine who I met often when I used to live in Kansai area. Now we’re in business terms he helps me with tax stuff which help me save money.
Meeting Jacopo at Len
In the next morning, I met Jacopo at Len. Jacopo loves Kyoto and he works in tourism so he knows a great deal about where to visit Kyoto. I always ask him if he knows some cool places for Kyoto locals. His choices never make any mistakes. He told me about Len last time I visited Kyoto but I did not have time to go there. So I suggested that we should meet in Len for lunch.

Photo: Instagram
Len is not just a cafe. It’s also a hostel too. I’ve met one of the founders of this brand and they have some hostels in Tokyo as well. I love their design and concept. I’ve been to one of the places “toco” in Tokyo but visiting Len for me was the first time. They’re really good at building a space like this and their space is always designed to becomes the hub for the locals.

I went in Len’s cafe space and had a onigiri plate for lunch. The interior is modern but at the same time, it partially looks DIY and that’s something I really like. Look at the wooden table cut out of a giant tree. I asked the guy in the photo and he told me this piece is a real tree trunk. I love the lighting too. They use antique bulbs.

Usually there are two food menu available for lunch and I had a onigiri plate there. Jacopo told me that there’ll be more choices at night if you come here at night. Sometimes there are some music live performance are going on in this space. The sofa seat in the back of the cafe is super nice too.

I was surprised to realize that Jacopo knows almost everyone working in Len. He introduced me at least 5 people during the lunch time and it was fun.
I guess I’ll end this post with a beautiful photo of Kamo-river in Kawaramachi.
Have a nice day!
































































