Japan: Kyoto

Kyoto is old Japan. Even the new part of the city doesn't feel like it's there for commerce. It's small, clean, polite & very beautiful. 

We spent our first day exploring ancient temples & shrines, meandering along Philosophers Pathway (which these days is a well maintained path surrounded by mongers of ancient crafts/tat).  

Day 2 was all about the geisha. Mixed feelings about this aspect of life. These days there are only 300 Geiko (adult geisha) in China, all in Kyoto and all commanding very high fees for their services (officially pouring tea, flower arrangement, dance & song). Tourists don't really get to see their work as it's in their interests to cultivate high-wealth repeat clients.  A simple tea-house meeting with a Geiko will set you back around $800 US per person.  

Maiko (teens in training) are more numerous and as they have to earn their keep, do put on shows for tourists but the whole business doesn't suit our politics so we gave it a swerve.  Increasingly the childhood dream of being a Geiko is reducing in appeal. Although hundreds of Maiko live in dormitories (sponsored often by ex-Geiko), most realise that a life timeof servitude, no matter how 'artful', is not the best option the world has to offer them & drop out.   Before this epiphany they live in shared dorms, technology free, boy free, sharing everything from food to kimonos with only 5 days off a year.  The number of Maiko in a dorm is shown by the number of rosettes hung outside the door. As the owners must provide at least one kimono per girl (around $3000 each) it's a serious show of wealth.   

Leaving questions of 'is that just pimping?' behind, we headed across town to the oft-photographed Fushimi-Inari Taisha: The series of bright orange inari gates that lead up a hill to a cluster of temples. 

We got there for 8.30 and were dismayed at the amount of people already gathered. Thankfully we didn't have to climb much before numbers tailed off and by the time we reached the top we had it pretty much to ourselves.  As strangely hypnotic to walk through so many orange gates as it was to see Christophe in an environment of outdoor camouflage.  

The much admired Arashiyama Bamboo Grove was an anticlimax but we'd read enough to suspect as much and had made it the afternoon 'it'll be packed but suck it up' option. It is lovely but very small and very busy. The wider park however is stunning and the combination of cherry trees, pine trees & a big river flowing through it all was great. 

We schlepped up another big hill to the monkey park, the walk more fun than the park itself. I always forget that I don't really like monkeys until I'm up close with one. These old-man-face-red-bums creatures did nothing to change that view. 

Liked Kyoto a lot. But time to move on to see some historical misery and then head for the hills.