Student Life in Kyoto: Expedition 蛍: Firefly!

These days it is possible to see fireflies in Kyoto, but the firefly-season only last for a couple of weeks so on Tuesday me and some of my friends hurried out to look for them.
There are only a few places in Kyoto where you can actually find fireflies, so we was quite uncertain whether or not we would be able to see any fireflies at all.

Arriving at the Philosophers Road the sun was about to set.

 To get to the river where the fireflies are, we followed Imadegawa Doori (今出川通) to the intersection where the road called Tetsugaku no michi (哲学の道 - the Philosophers Road)
When you arrive at the intersection you can see a sign where it says 哲学の道, and then you simply cross the little bridge to the north and follow the road alongside the river Shirakawa (The road is called Shirakawa Sousui doori - 白川送水通)り to the left. After a minute or two the river bends to the right, and that is where the fireflies use to show up.

We found ourselves a bench and waited for the fireflies to appear. 

We had brought food and beverages with us, so we had a good time waiting for the fireflies to show up. And after having waited for 10-15 minutes, the first fireflies started to appear.

Looking for fireflies by the river

There was also a little girl there, she had brought with her a plastic box, and she caught a couple of fireflies which she gave to us. Thanks to this we got some nice 蛍-pictures!

Fireflies in a plastic box

蛍

神秘的な蛍

Holding a firefly

Firefly on my arm

The camera made some strange effects in the dark..

Fireflies flying around by the river

Of course, all of the fireflies was released after we had taken our pictures:)

For those who are interested in finding fireflies in Kyoto, I found this page which has a lot of information about where to go. Though it is in Japanese there is also a map at the bottom of the page where the firefly-places are marked. Beware though that the firefly-season probably ends pretty soon, so if you want to see them you should hurry up;) Apparently there are most fireflies on the day before a rainy day when the air is humid, so keep track on the weather forecast if you want to see as many as possible.

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.