Elementary school kids ride free on Kyoto city buses (normally kids are half adult fare) through 8.31  by saying “Eco-summer” to the driver when getting off the bus. This is good for up to two kids per group, so if you have a big group, make sure they sit apart and pretend not to know each other and maybe wear fake mustaches and trench coats. Kids under elementary school age always ride free.
Kyoto City buses are usually green like this one, although they are sometimes wrapped in full-body advertising …

In this first clip from the upcoming Peter MacIntosh/Nils Ferry video program Alive in Kyoto, Peter visits Nishiki Ichiba market and, after a snack of kara-age fried chicken, introduces a shop specializing in dashimaki omelettes, where the proprietor Mr. Tanaka shows us how it’s done.

The 2010 Gion Matsuri (festival) parade of yama and hoko “floats” is coming up. This is a spectacle of ancient pageantry not to be missed.

Also, on the three days and nights leading up to the parade, Yoiyama (16th), Yoi-yoi-yama (15th) and Yoi-yoi-yoi-yama (14th), revelers stroll up and down shijo street and the other main downtown streets, many in colorful summer yukata, eating, drinking, carousing, visiting the floats and listening to the distinctive music of the festival.

山城総合運動公園太陽が丘 • Yamashiro Sports Park at Taiyou ga Oka Here’s a recommendation for beating the summer heat in Kyoto. It’s open July 15 – August 31.
I had thought there was a simple public pool at this huge sports complex in Uji, Kyoto, but it turns out there is a really fun water park for kids that will save you time and money compared to going to “The Boon” at Hirakata Park. There is a huge main pool with artificial rock waterfalls, a gentle wave pool, simulated stream, and others. There …

Pretty amazing is this, a genius of some sort recreated Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto in pop-up Lego. That’s all you need to know about this.