Kyoto is a city with a distinct spirit that quickly endears. After a day of seeing the major sights, Matt and I enjoyed a few days of just wandering around Kyoto and capturing its essence. By serving as the imperial capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, the city is dotted with history-rich palaces, shrines and temples and brings to mind images of samurai and geisha. But make no mistake; it is also a modern city – the 7th largest in Japan with population of almost 1.5 million people. Modern buildings of steel and glass coexist with tile roofs and sliding paper doors. Both cars and bicycles carry people down broad modern thoroughfares and narrow alleys strung with paper lanterns. Throngs of tourists from across the globe walk side by side with Japanese in kimono and haori.
With every turn, whether at the 400-year old market or 20th century train station, Matt and I found something to marvel at and behold. And it wasn’t just because we were trying out our new digital camera. We spoke more Japanese than we have our entire time here and at the same time more English with Japanese speakers. The people of Kyoto we encountered, from the tradesmen to the taxi drivers, took great pride in their city and were excited to share its delights with us. This was special to me because in my travels, I have become slightly jaded and weary of those who want to sell, sell, sell. I think the proof is in our experiences – one of our taxi drivers presented us with a hand drawn map of the city that he had created with pen and ink; at a family kitchen store, the saleswoman wanted to make sure I knew exactly how to use a certain type of knife and then gave me a lesson on how to care for it so it would last a lifetime.
I fell in love with Kyoto for its beauty, its people, its magnificent historic sights and one-of-a-kind experiences. But I also fell in love with Kyoto because, as I told Matt one evening as we were dining on some of the best sushi in the world, it is a romantic city. It was the perfect place for us to stroll hand in hand through gardens of cherry blossoms or dissolve into our own world over a meal with chopsticks and hot tea. It was just the right place to live in the moment with each other – reveling in each other’s excitement when we saw something delightful, fussing at each other when trying to figure out how to put on a kimono and laughing endlessly over stinky shoes and the quirks of Japanese bathroom decor.
I don’t know if our pictures truly do the spirit of the city justice because it was an experience that captured all of the senses. But I hope you are able to get a glimpse of what Matt and I enjoyed about the city. Welcome to Kyoto!
1 comment:
Very cool!
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