A Trip of a Lifetime To Kyoto

Above, Kyoto's famous Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The U.K. Telegraph has an article by Danielle Demetriou explaining how to tackle Kyoto, Japan's ancient imperial capital.

She writes:

A red-lipped, kimono-clad geisha vanishing around a corner. Riverside cherry trees bursting into cloudlike bloom. Zen gardens with raked sand and haiku-inspiring rock formations. There are perhaps few more evocative city names than “Kyoto”. While Tokyo is all high-speed trains, flashes of neon and skyscrapers, Kyoto moves to an altogether different rhythm. 

A calming antidote to the futuristic capital, Kyoto is synonymous with ancient temples, tea ceremony masters, traditional ryokan inns and centuries-old craftsmanship.

But Kyoto is not just about the past. Despite its well-preserved heritage, it effortlessly embraces the future, with modern buildings, a high concentration of universities and a thriving technology industry (it’s the birthplace of Nintendo).

This is evident to some visitors the moment they step off the bullet train, eagerly look around in search of a geisha – and instead see the ultra-modern glass-and-metal Kyoto Station and a Starbucks across the street.

But as they soon find out – and as the city’s 1.4 million residents are happily aware – Kyoto’s greatest charm is the fact that it looks both forward and backwards with peaceful ease.  

It is worth reminding kaiju fans that Kyoto Station was the final battleground between Gamera and Irys in Gamera 3.

This article is well-worth a read as it gives much information on visiting the city. To read it, go here.