What happened at Sakura House Kyoto during 2025

The typically calm and relaxed atmosphere of our Machiya Style Houses in Kyoto were filled with new beginnings, exciting events and many activities this year!
In this blog, we would like to share with you a recap of what went on in SAKURA HOUSE KYOTO during the year 2025!

We began this year with a new start for one of our rooms, SAKURA HOUSE KYOTO C room 201. Formerly a shared dormitory room, we transformed this room into a private bedroom featuring a double-sized bed, sofa relax space, low table, height adjustable electric desk, ergonomic chair and floor stand lamps!

As it is equipped with air conditioning (heat/cool) and free wi-fi, we had many couples and individuals enjoy this spacious private bedroom comfortably working from their rooms throughout the entire year!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

While we were at it, we decided to add a few new additions to one of our largest rooms, SAKURA HOUSE KYOTO A room R-2F! This room became much cozier with the addition of living room space!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

We didn’t stop there; we also swapped the home appliances of the common areas of our Share Houses with some nice retro design ones, matching the Machiya Townhouse’s aesthetic and nostalgic feel! These appliances also have a wider variety of functions while also being easier to use than the previous ones! We regularly see our residents cook their wonderful meals with these appliances and are very happy to see that it is helping them in their daily life as they live in Kyoto, Japan!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

Speaking of new beginnings, spring approached soon after and blessed us with a wonderful Cherry Blossom Season. Parks, Shrines, Temples and the main streets of Kyoto were covered in a beautiful pink, attracting both locals and tourists from outside of the city and country!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

Alongside new beginnings befitting of the season, new challenges took place.

Believing it could be a great opportunity to learn and enhance the experience of living in a typical Japanese house for our residents, we held a cultural workshop explaining how to replace the Washi Paper of the Shoji door! During this event, our residents had the chance to have hands-on experience on this typical activity of living in a Japanese house.
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram) 

Following this, we have also decided to replace the tatami mats of both rooms of SAKURA HOUSE KYOTO B room 201 and room 202. Doing so gave the rooms a nice vibrant look thanks to their brighter design.
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

As we were taking on new challenges, summer had already arrived, and with it came one of the biggest festivals of Kyoto during the summer– the “Gion Matsuri”.

During the night streets of Kyoto were completely blocked for people to walk around, eat and drink from the many “yatai” (food stalls) decorating the streets enjoying and paper lanterns with the great floats of the Gion Matsuri parade which some residents were kind enough to invite our staff to go see with them!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

Another activity we did during summer was taking a walk with our residents through the local neighborhood and taking a small hike up the local Mt. Funaokayama on Mountain Day.

Although it was rainy this day, our eager participants did not let that prevent them from exploring the hidden gems and shops of the local neighborhood, the small mountain and learning more about the Japanese holiday celebrated annually on August 11^th, known as Mountain Day!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

As we approach the Holidays at the end of the year, the city atmosphere shifts and places like Kyoto station, department stores and venues of winter festivals are noticeably decorated with light displays and illumination shows!
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

As our last event of the year, we invited all of our residents from all our houses to have an opportunity to meet each other at the end of the year. We were happy to see our residents from different houses seeing each other and getting along over tea and Japanese snacks.
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

Interestingly, the residents seemed to have become very close with one another and decided to plan their own Christmas party on a later date! We are happy to see our residents continuing to get along together and share their experiences with one another. They were also kind enough to write our staff Christmas cards as a thank you for allowing them to host a party themselves.
(Related content: Sakura House Kyoto on Instagram)

We thank our residents for making this year very eventful!

Our staff wishes a wonderful remaining of 2025 and look forward to making next year an even better year for everyone at SAKURA HOUSE KYOTO.