How to find the Nintendo Building!

Other than raping your credit cards in neighbouring Osaka’s Den Den Town and discovering if they really do sell dirty panties in vending machines, every Gaijin in Kyoto’s top pilgrimage is to the proud white HQ of Nintendo Co. Ltd. Here’s how you get there…

From the gigantic Kyoto Station you need to take the JR Nara Line to Tofukuji Station, which shouldn’t cost you more than 140 yen. From here, you should disembark the train and follow the signs towards the Keihan Line, which for the measly price of 150 yen will take you to Tobakaidou Station – our final destination. From here you should exit the station and turn right…

If you’re interested – which if you’re nerdy enough to take this journey, you probably are – you can take another immediate right down this residential street to discover the Nintendo R&D building. It’s large, has Nintendo written on the side, and is awesome.

Turn around and go back down the street you came from, then turn right again, walking away from the station. You’ll cross this bridge and eventually be able to see the approaching mecha in the distance… it’ll all be worth it soon.

For what seems like forever and a day, you should keep walking straight down this road, passing the occasional dim factory and Kit Kat-packed convenience store. Eventually you’ll come to a pachinko parlour and a turning on your left, ‘Shin Machi Dori’ street. Down you go, and there’s our end goal; the ever proud, strangely not-as-bustling-and-fun-filled-as-you-imagined Nintendo HQ. Go MENTAL.

To reward your hard work (and make up for the disappointment of Mario’s house not being quite as exciting as you dreamt), scale the south wall of the building until, behind a convenience store, you discover a beer vending machine. Go on, have a cold one on us, you nerdy adventurer.

Related: WHAT’S INSIDE THE BUILDING?! Clue 1. Clue 2. Clue 3. Clue 4. Clue 5.