Climbing gym Adsummum - Kyoto

Nice gym in the middle of the shopping street. Seems to be a converted cinema. Staff is really friendly and everything is thought out. It is bigger on the inside!

Great gym... very clean. A great variety of routes. Only negative is it's a little pricey ~~$30USD for a day-pass, which is a bit more than American prices, even in big cities.

Fun bouldering gym. The staff and climbers are all very friendly. The climbing is a different style from what I experience in US bouldering gyms. Here, it is more about precision and sticking to difficult holds. In the US (my home gym is Sportrock in Northern VA), the routes seem set to more dynamic movements. Very humbling too, I was bouldering a 2-3 grades below what I usually expect. The staff has a grade conversation chart posted on the wall which was helpful too.

Nice little bouldering gym on a super central location. The staff explained the rules super clearly (in English!) and gave me a quick tour around the gym. Tourist past which includes shoe and chalk rental totalled at 2500 yen.

Most reviews say the staff is very friendly, but that was not my experience. Maybe I got the wrong staff member on the wrong day, but I was appalled by his attitude. I went with two friends of mine who were first time climbers, I've been climbing for a few years. He gave us a standard waiver form to fill out and asked if I could read Japanese. I said I could get by, I've done this many times before. I thought he meant the part where I had to fill out my name and information, which I could fill out fine. We took the waivers back and he asked if I properly read the rules and regulations. I said I didn't but that I've climbed many times and was familiar with the inherent risks. He then said, in an incredibly rude, patronizing tone, "I asked you if you could read Japanese and you said yes, but that wasn't true, was it? If you were honest I could have given you the English one instead, but now you've gone and filled out the wrong one, didn't you? Well now you will have to read the English one anyhow, even though this could have been avoided had you done it properly". I'm paraphrasing of course, he spoke Japanese, which I do understand, but we were shocked. He handed me the English one and told me to read it properly, and stood there while I read the completely standard waiver info in English. I asked if I needed to sign this sheet too and he said no, so he could have just asked me to read the English one and been nice about it. This is getting too long already so I'll wrap it up this way: I've been to almost 20 different gyms in Japan and of course there is always an explanation of the rules and layout of the gym and facilities, this lasts anywhere from 5-10 minutes. No joke, we were treated to a 45 minute explanation, it was as though he thought we were complete morons. By the end we barely felt like climbing anymore. Neither my friends nor I could believe his patronizing tone and cold demeanor. I'm being honest here, I never write reviews but this was something I've never seen in 5 years of living in Japan. Whether he is racist towards foreigners, or sexist towards my early 20's female friends, I don't know (I realize these are terrible allegations, but I'm at a loss as to how to explain his attitude). The gyms itself is fine, I have no complaints about the climbing or the facilities, but I was planning on going at least twice while in Kyoto but there is no way I'm going back to that gym. It's a real shame. One person's negative attitude ruined what could have been a great experience.

Great problems- challenging and varied. Spent 2 hours here during a trip to Japan- would recommend.

Variety of bouldering problems for all levels, but very expensive at 3000 yen for a day pass (shoe and chalk rental included). Bright space. Can get very crowded.

I visited Adsummum because it was highly recommended. It is easy to find since you will be able to see the boulder holds. I was a bit afraid of it being crowded (Japan + Sunday) but it was surprisingly relaxed. With a big variety of interesting routes and a good difficulty (higher than in my home-gym) there was much to do. For my taste routes where too close to each other, but every hold was labeled as to be easily found. The only real downside where the „weathered“ holds and plates that could use a good scrubbing.