It was around five in the afternoon, and after settling into our Pokémon Room at Mimaru Kyoto Kawaramachi Gojo, Christian went out to grab food and supplies at a grocery store nearby. He returned after a while and was surprised to see Akira and me slumped on the sofa, fast asleep—and Snorlax, right beside us. He grinned and unpacked our stuff, hoping that we’d wake up for dinner. That never happened; we both woke up the next day.
For the past thirteen years, Christian and I have spent school breaks on backpacking trips. These trips help me reboot from my work as a teacher. This annual thing went on even after we had our son, Akira. It’s usually a mix of local and international trips for two months. And although we’ve been to Japan a few times already, we still chose to spend our 2026 school break here. This time around, we spent two weeks in Kyoto, Himeji, Kobe, Nara, and Osaka.
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It was just recently that Akira found his newfound love for Pokémon, and so we thought of surprising him with a Pokémon-themed room at Mimaru Kyoto Kawaramachi Gojo.
Hotel Overview
Mimaru Kyoto Kawaramachi Gojo is a branch of the MIMARU hotel group, known for its apartment-style hotels. The rooms are spacious, by Japanese standards, and have their own kitchens. The rooms vary in size from roughly 40 to 100 sq.m. and can accommodate four to ten guests—perfect for friends and families traveling together.
They also have 29 locations in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, all of which offer different room types, including Japanese-style rooms, bunk beds, suites, and Pokémon-themed rooms.
What I like about the Kawaramachi Gojo area is that it’s located near the Kamo River, Kiyomizudera, and the Higashiyama Area. It’s practically on the quieter side of the city, and Christian loved his morning walks around the area—see his MIMARU Kyoto review.
How to Get There
We arrived at Kansai International Airport in the morning, headed straight to the train station, and hopped on the train that brought us to Kyoto. I love how efficient the train systems are in Japan, but it can get confusing, especially if you’re in a big city, so it’s better to plan ahead.
We got off at Kiyomizu-Gojo station, the nearest subway station to the hotel, and walked for three minutes straight to our home for three days.
Facilities
The first level of Mimaru Kyoto Kawaramachi Gojo is dedicated to its well-curated public spaces: a gym, kids’ play area, coin-operated laundromat, ice and water dispensers, vending machines, a theater, and luggage storage.
Akira, of course, had to try the play area and used the huge brick pieces to build a castle. There were also some books, shape sorters, and other stuff.
Checking In
The check-in time is three in the afternoon, but our room was already available when we arrived at around two, so we got to settle in right away. I was asked for all of our passports and was then provided information on the facilities and other stuff in the hotel.
As with some of the hotels in Japan, coffee and tea facilities were available at a nook in the reception area. There’s also a 100-yen UCC coffee vending machine.
Other bath amenities such as toothbrushes, bed slippers, and disposable shavers are available at the front desk upon request. Board games and a calf massager were also available for you to bring into the room.
Upon confirming our reservation, we were given the keycards to our room. We all went up to check it out.
Pokémon Room
Akira was speechless when we opened the door to our room. This is very unusual for him ‘coz he’s the kind of boy who’s constantly yapping all the time. He told us later on that he felt overwhelmed and thought that everything was just a dream.
We were going around the room while I was telling Akira about the 100 Pokémon characters around, but he was engrossed with everything; he was unable to pay attention to a word I was saying. Only when I handed him a printed copy of the 100 Pokémon characters did he start to respond.
Opposite it was the door that led to the bathroom. The lavatory was spotless, and there were some towels, a liquid hand wash, and a vanity mirror. Next to it was the door to the bathroom with a fixed bathtub. It also has a shower area complete with bath amenities of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. What stood out were the water-type Pokémon characters on the wall, whose names Akira recited one by one.
The kitchen was my favorite part of the room because it’s complete with a fridge, microwave oven, water heater, induction cooker, cookware, cutlery, and utensils.
Akira was surprised to see the dinnerware set that featured the Pokémon logo, which was a really fun detail. There's also an exclusive Pokémon Gift which includes a laundry bag, drawstring bag, small purse, and a sticker.
The dining area doubles as the lounge area with comfy sofas and a TV set; too bad that it only came with local channels and cannot be connected to the internet (which was really fast, I must say).
The sleeping area was Akira’s favorite, as it featured bunk beds and two double beds with the accent piece of a traditional Japanese shoji window shutter.
There’s also a huge Snorlax Pokémon stuffed plushie sitting on the bed, which is so cuddly that Akira immediately got it off the bed and let it sit beside him in the lounge area.
I handed him the list of the 100 Pokémon characters scattered around the room and let him do the hunt. He loves puzzles and games, so he easily found all of them.
We had a quick late lunch/early dinner at a nearby restaurant and went back to the hotel right away as we wanted to take a rest before exploring the city at night. We were so tired that day that our supposed nap turned into a 13-hour uninterrupted sleep, which kick-started our Japan adventure really well.
We prepared our breakfast meals for the next two days in the room and bought all the stuff we needed at the 24-hour grocery nearby. Akira also enjoyed his nightly bubble bath in the tub together with all his water-type Pokémon friends.
Checking Out
After checking out at eleven in the morning, we left our luggage for free at MIMARU’s dedicated storage, which featured a combination lock that you could set on your own. It’s open from seven in the morning until ten in the evening. Depending on availability, they also accept long-term storage for 500 Yen per piece of luggage per day for storing it outside of the above hours and days.
It was truly the perfect way to start our fourteen-day trip around Japan. The funny thing, though, was that it felt like Christian and I enjoyed the Pokémon Room more than Akira.
©Pokémon.
©Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc.
MIMARU Kyoto Kawaramachi Gojo ►BOOK ONLINE
17-1 Hirai-cho, Gojo-sagaru, Nishitakasegawa-suji,
Kyoto-shi Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8118
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