Torokko Arashiyama Sta. — Local services in Kyoto

最低！最悪！

Foreign tourists visiting Japan, please try to get out of Kyoto because this city offers subpar service by Japanese standard.

My experience at this station is an example. At 2:15pm I asked for three tickets. The women at the window said only standing tickets were available for 3:05 but seatings were available for 4:05. I said let me check with my family but before I left, she said sorry 3:05 just sold out. I talked to my family for 2 minutes and returned to her to buy three 4:05 tickets. I asked for 4:05 specifically and she quickly pointed the 4:05 in the schedule and I said yes. She confirmed the seating arrangements with me but did not point out to me that she actually sold me three 3:05 tickets. I guess someone cancelled in that two minutes. I was under the impression that I’m buying 4:05 tickets and did not expect them to be 3:05 because she told me 3:05 are out and crossed out that 3:05 in the schedule in front of me.

my family killed almost two hours of time wandering around because we were waiting for our train and to my surprise, I found out they are for 3:05. I checked with her but she did not admit I asked to buy a 4:05 tickets and insisted even tho there are availabilities for the 4:05 right before departure I had to repurchase tickets. She even claimed because my receipts said 2:18, she was telling me the 2:05 tickets were out when I first asked her, which is a complete lie. Why would I care about 2:05 tickets when it was 2:18? I admit I didn’t double check the time on the tickets but the fact that she made such a bad excuse to get out of her responsibility was so low and ugly and so not Japanese standard.

She clearly did not care she ruined several hours of our time traveling in Japan and did not care to make it up for us even though she could have. All she cared was to lie to make ridiculous excuse for her poor service and carelessness.

Never again, Kyoto. Seriously, this city is not the true Japan. You can find better food, service, people or scenery is any other...

The view is nice. But i have something to talk about the photo shooting service during the journey. A young lady will approach you, English speaking, offering photo service, the shooting is free, and let you decide whether yo buy the photo later. (Of course) What i did not expect is that, she has a photo printer with her, and can print it out before the train journey end, with a cute paper cover, and show it to us, and offer this with 1500yen. The price is reasonable to me, but i do question about the selling strategy. When we are looking at the photo and thinking about buying or not, she knee down on the corridor (in a japanese way? Not sure) waiting for our reply. At the end we bought it, because i really mot comfortable when someone knee next to you. First i thought i can review the photo after the journey, maybe through a screen, then decide to buy it or not. (Just like some theme parks) I was wrong. I would say the selling strategy and the use of "foot in the door" technique is textbook standard. Again, i think the price is reasonable and i will pay for it, even without this selling strategy, but this selling strategy did make me uncomfortable. The photo is already print out! What will she do if we deny to buy? Tear it apart?? Based on her interaction with the train captain, i think her service is acknowledged by the...

We took this train towards the end of Nov. Temperature at this time is towards the lower 10C. This train is with open window, hence with wind chill, it can get pretty cold. One way ticket from JR west is 630yen. But it can be difficult to get during peak season. Either book early or get the ticket from an agent online. (it can cost you as much as double the price). I would suggest to take 1 way scenic train will do. Take normal JR train for the other way. It is a 10 mins walk at the kameoka side. There is nothing mutch at kameoka town. So don't suggest to spend time there. If you take the kameoka to arashiyama scenic train, you can choose to stop at Torokko arashiyama stn and visit the bamboo groove. Taking the standing ticket for the scenic train is not too bad an idea as there are at both sides of the train. It is not too bad an experience especially during the...