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A month near Kyoto, from Otsu
Otsu is the lakeside city next door to Kyoto. JR trains reach Kyoto Station from Otsu Station in about ten minutes, and the city runs along the south-western shore of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. It is a calmer place to live for a month, with Kyoto close enough for a morning at a temple and home for dinner.
Getting around
Otsu Station to Kyoto Station is about ten minutes by JR, and Osaka is under an hour on the same line. That makes Otsu a practical base for Kyoto and Osaka without living in the middle of the crowds.
Lake Biwa
Lake Biwa is Japan's largest freshwater lake, at about 669 square kilometres, and covers roughly a sixth of Shiga Prefecture. Otsu runs along its south-western shore.
On your doorstep
- Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, founded by Saicho and known as the mother mountain of Japanese Buddhism. It is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage listing, which covers Kyoto, Uji and Otsu.
- Ishiyama-dera, where Murasaki Shikibu is said to have begun writing The Tale of Genji, and a temple known for its flowers through the seasons.
- Mii-dera, head temple of the Tendai Jimon school, with more than a thousand cherry trees that are lit up on spring evenings.
- The Otsu Matsuri, the city's float festival, held each October.
Kichi Otsu
Kichi Otsu is a renovated 1970s timber house on a quiet residential street near the southern shore of Lake Biwa: ten minutes to the water and around twenty to Kyoto Station. It is 57 square metres, sleeps two or three, and is let on fixed-term leases of 30 days or more, from ¥390,000 a month.
Japanese guidance treats rentals shorter than about a month as lodging, which needs a lodging licence or a home-sharing registration. A lease of 30 days or more is a tenancy: your name on a lease, a tenant's privacy and a resident's price. That is why every Kichi has a 30-day minimum lease. The minimum applies to the lease, not to your calendar, so if you are coming for two or three weeks you book the month and use as much of it as you like.
Ready when you are
Live near Kyoto for a month.
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Questions
Questions people ask
How far is Otsu from Kyoto?
About ten minutes from Otsu Station to Kyoto Station by JR. From Kichi Otsu, allow around twenty minutes to Kyoto Station.
Is Otsu a good base for visiting Kyoto?
Yes, if you want a calmer place to live for a month. Kyoto's stations and sights are a short train ride away, and you come home to a lakeside city rather than the middle of a very busy one.
Can I rent a house near Kyoto for a month?
Yes. Kichi Otsu is let on fixed-term leases of 30 days or more. If you are coming for two or three weeks, you book the month and use what you need.