Hello everybody,
I am a Lv. 40 Mystic trainer that will go to Kyoto in two weeks time.
Just wondering how are the raid systems go in Kyoto and its surrounding areas (I have plans to go to Himeji, Hikone, etc.)
Is there a lot of players so you can just hop on to the gyms and battle? Or you would need organised raid groups to beat the boss?
Thank you!
I wrote a guide about playing in Tokyo (https://pokemongohub.net/user-guides/tourists-guide-pokemon-go-tokyo/) but I also played a bit in Kyoto; I’ll recap my experience for you.
Kyoto is another large city in Japan, so similarly to Tokyo, you’ll find a lot of people playing there. Pokemon Go is still one of the top games in Japan. You should have no problem walking up to a raid and finding people there. Something to keep in mind is that people do not often talk during the raids; they kinda just stand to the side of the sidewalk and look at their phones (at least in my experience in August 2017; maybe it’s different now)
As Kyoto is a large city with many people, you probably won’t have trouble with finding people to raid with. However, in Hikone and Himeji, it might be a little harder (but who knows for sure; a lot of people play this game + you could find tourists playing there too).
Theoretically, people will come and go to raids. You just need to look out for people.
If you want to ask someone if they are playing Pokemon Go in Japanese, you can say this (I’ll write it how its pronounced): Sue-e-ma-se-n, Poh-keh-mo-nn Gooh wo yat-teh-i-ma-su-ka? (Excuse me, are you doing Pokemon Go?) Worse comes to worse, just show them your phone screen. I’m sure many people will recognize it.
Hope this helps!
Hi Mitch,
Thank you so much for your reply!
If it is people not talking during raids, I am fine with it. Played in Bangkok, Singapore, and Hong Kong - and they never talk but just keep on pounding the boss. So no problems here for me 
Here in my city Jakarta, usually one needs to organise a raid group in order to do one raid, so we cannot come and go. It is a huge relief that even in Kyoto it is not a big problem to do the raids. I will be staying close to the beautiful Fushimi Inari Taisha, so hopefully there will be a lot of players there
I had played in Tokyo before too and it was madness. Even when the raid boss ticker goes down to 15 or 10 minutes, the lobby is still filled with people. How about Kyoto based on your experience?
Thank you for your help!
Have a good time in Kyoto!
Kyoto is a beautiful city; lots of things to explore.
In game, there are lots of pokestops and gyms in the downtown area. Luckily, because of sponsorship, you will find a lot of extra stops and gyms (from Y-Mobile, 7-11, Tully’s, etc.) I enjoyed walking around and playing. A lot of Pokemon to catch as well. You can find Farfetch’d in the city as well (although you probably already have it from the Global Catch Challenge).
Kyoto (and most Japanese cities) are full of cultural places (temples, shrines, etc.) so again you’ll find of lot of pokestops there as well.
Thank you!
Yes, this will be my fourth time in Kyoto, but the first time with Pokemon GO.
I hope they will release new batch of Gen 3 Pokemons soon (and hopefully Rayquaza too) so I will have loads of “souvenirs” going back home
Again thank you for your help!
It is likely that there will be 1-2 more gen 3 batches, containing two good pokemon, metagross and salemence.