Japan Series Vol2: Complete Uji travel guide (Day trip from Osaka and Kyoto + Matcha Experiences)

After arriving late from Dubai to Osaka, we settled into our apartment hotel in Imazato, located three stops from Namba on the Sennichimae Line. We planned to head to Uji next morning, although a late-night visit to the local Izakaya meant that an early start was highly unlikely.

Beautiful Foliage in Byodo-in Temple grounds

If you are new to my blog, thanks for visiting. This post is part of a Japan travel series covering my visit to Japan after two decades, including experiences across Osaka (Check my previous post about Osaka Airport to City Arrival guide here), Kyoto, Nara, and Uji in the Kansai region, along with a detailed itinerary and practical travel tips. This post covers the following topics; you can read the entire guide or jump to sections relevant to your travel plans.

Table of Contents

1. Why I wanted to visit Uji?
2. Is a day trip to Uji from Kyoto or Osaka possible?
3. Travel Options: How to reach Uji from Osaka and Kyoto
4. Our experience in Uji
5. Uji – A Matcha lover's dream: Best Matcha Shops in Uji
6. Do’s and Don’ts for your Uji Day trip from Osaka or Kyoto

Why I wanted to visit Uji?

The first time I ever heard of Matcha (Japanese Green tea) was in Bangalore, India somewhere around 2016 when I happened to hop into a café with a group of colleagues. One of the cool girls among the group suggested we order Matcha, which most men, including me, promptly thought was a reference to “Macha” (which roughly translates to “dude” in Tamil/Kannada languages). It thankfully didn’t take much time to clear the confusion about why the ladies wanted to order dudes instead of drinks.

Bruised ego for not knowing trendy things of the day apart, I found the beverage to be far more bitter than I expected, I just couldn’t understand the reason for its existence. It was years later after multiple visits to China and other parts of East Asia that I developed a liking to all forms of tea, particularly green teas like Longjing green tea from China and Gyokuro from Japan.

Autumn Foliage in Uji 

In my wife’s words, my transformation from a 35-year-old Indian to that of a senior citizen twice my age was now complete with interest in beverages shifting from wines and beer around the world (as expected of someone my age) to teas and coffees. My wife’s sarcasm apart, this wasn’t true of course, I probably just read too much about Ikigai and the Japanese way of life focusing on things deeply.

Anyhow, I digress. Now that we were in Kansai region, it was only natural that we visit Uji, one of Japan’s most famous destinations for high-quality matcha and Gyokuro tea. Apart from Matcha, Byodo-in temple, a historical Buddhist temple and hiking trails around Amagase dam near Uji also attract visitors.

Is a day trip from Osaka or Kyoto to Uji possible?

Yes. In my experience, a day trip from either Osaka or Kyoto is enough time to explore the city’s historical sites and indulge in a few of the numerous cafes serving some of the best matcha parfait’s.

Japanese trains offer see through views of the driving cab, Commuter train to Uji

Travel options: How to reach Uji from Osaka and Kyoto

There are no direct buses. These are the main travel options from Osaka and Kyoto to Uji:

• Taxi (Costliest)
• Organized Group Tours (Klook has good options if you prefer this, Check here)
• Commuter Train (Cheapest, also perhaps fastest)

Day trip from Osaka to Uji and Kyoto to Uji- Train Options (Click for larger image)

From Osaka (Yodoyabashi Keihan Railway Station)	Transfer Required or Direct	Time/Fare (Approx)
Keihan Railway Limited Express bound to Demachiyanagi Station. (Keihan Railway Station is accessible from Yodoyabashi Subway Station on Midosuji /Red Line)	Transfer to an Uji bound Commuter train at Chushojima Station	1 Hour/¥490
From Kyoto	Transfer Required or Direct	Time/Fare (Approx)
From Kyoto Station: JR Nara Line trains bound to Nara	Direct	30 Mins/¥240
From Gion-Shijo Station: Keihan Railway Limited Express bound to Yodoyabashi (Osaka) Station	Transfer to an Uji bound Commuter train at Chushojima Station	30 Mins/¥360

Our Experience in Uji

We took the Keihan Line from Yodoyabashi in Osaka and transferred to a commuter train at Chushojima, which terminates at the Keihan Railway station in Uji. This station has an interesting architecture and was awarded a good design award.

Transiting to Keihan Railway from Osaka Subway at Yodoyabashi Station

Uji River and bridge

This station is right next to the Uji River, which has one of the oldest bridges in Japan that you can walk across. A short trail of Matcha and Souvenir shops to the left after the bridge, leads to Byodo-in temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Buddhist temple with many trees showing off their beautiful foliage during autumn. We enjoyed the paintings inside the temple, the museum and walking around the large yet silent temple grounds.

One of the many Tori gates you can find all over Japan

Byodo-in Temple

Cute green seats on the commuter train to Uji

Uji- A Matcha Lover’s Dream: Best Matcha Shops in Uji

We wanted to indulge in few Matcha drinks and parfaits and did our research before. Among the multiple matcha cafes in Uji we tried, below are our favourites (Also agreed widely as the best by various visitors and the internet):

• Nakamura Tokichi
• Itoh Kyuemon

The main store of Nakamura Tokichi Honten is a short walk after the temple towards the JR station (There are many signs in English). The next store Itoh Kyuemmon is a short walk away and has a relatively lesser waiting time in the restaurant. The experience was worth its reputation and although I didn’t quite enjoy Matcha noodles, it was a unique worthwhile experience.

Nakamura Tokichi Honten

Matcha comes in four grades with price varying by quality

There are limits to Matcha products sold to each customer depending on the store. We ended up buying one box each of all Matcha grades, some HojiCha and Gyokuro at both stores, you can try tiny cups of different teas at Nakamura Tokichi before deciding on your haul.

Mini Matcha Parfait and dinner at Itoh Kyuemon

Do’s and Don’ts for your Uji day trip from Osaka or Kyoto: Based on our experience (..and mistakes)

Do: JR Trains from Kyoto arrive at the JR station in Uji, this is further away from the Keihan Line station. If you are heading to Kyoto after a day trip at Uji from Osaka, depending on which part of Kyoto you are staying at, you can take the Keihan line and transfer at Chushojima to Gion-Shijo/Demachiyanagi Stations in Kyoto or take the JR line from Uji to Kyoto Station, be mindful of this and head to the right station.

Do: While the store to buy Matcha and other products at nakamura tokichi has no queue, there is a long waiting time if you want to dine in at their restaurant. I would recommend coming here first from Uji station, take the token for your turn and then check out Byodo-in Temple.

Don’t: There is a small charge to enter the main Byodo-in temple, where the history is explained. Unfortunately, we realized it is only in Japanese after we went, you can skip this if you don’t understand Japanese.

Don’t: If you are taking Keihan Railway Limited Express from Yodoyabashi (Osaka) or Gion-Shijo (Kyoto) to transfer at Chushojima, one car of the train is a premium car with reserved seating that requires an additional ticket in addition to the normal IC Card swipe (Suica, ICOCA etc). Be careful to not end up boarding this car or reserve seats prior from the kiosk at boarding stations after entering the station with an IC Card.

Interesting architecture at Uji Keihan Railway Station

Conclusion

The weather gets cold very quickly after sunset in autumn and early winter. We were there in early December, having spent the full day at Uji, we quickly made our way back to Uji Keihan station to take the train back to Yodoyabashi. Let us know how your Uji day trip experience from Osaka or Kyoto was and which Matcha spots did you love the most!!