Go to Kyoto now. No, seriously. #japanlife #travel #japantravel #kyoto #kyototrip

Go to Kyoto now. No, seriously. #japanlife #travel #japantravel #kyoto #kyototrip

What is good everyone? Welcome to the channel. My name is Paul. I make videos about Japanese society, life, and culture from the viewpoint of a long-term foreign resident. I’ve been here for 20 years. And today, I want to talk about the trip I took last week with my good friend Patrick from the United States. We traveled to Kyoto and Hiroshima. And I wanted to go over kind of our travel log and share with you the places we went and whether it’s worth going out to Kyoto and Hiroshima in these hot summer days. And during the time when it’s often reported that there’s over tourism, there’s too many foreign tourists in Japan. Now, there’s a rise in anti-forigner sentiment because people feel like there’s just too many foreign tourists, you know, and not following the rules and breaking the manners and norms of Japanese society. So I want to share if we experienced anything of that on our journey because well we traveled to two of the most highly cited places for over tourism Kyoto and Hiroshima. So did we actually witness that on our journey? Now I dropped a video earlier this week where I basically interview Patrick getting his unvarnished thoughts about his travel time in Japan. And I think that’s interesting because he has never been to Japan before and has no particular interest in Japan. So he basically came here with no expectations and basically he came because I kept pestering him to come visit me and he finally did. So if you want to check out that video and find out what a complete Japan newbie thought about this place, especially not knowing anything beforehand and not being a Japanophile of any sort, please check out that video. Now, for today’s video, I’m going to be taking you through the places we went and basically giving you our rundown on whether we felt that they were worthwhile visiting or not and whether we felt that they were overouristed or did we experience any hostility from local people visiting these places. And I will give you our rankings of all the places we visited, whether they were worth it for me, a 20-year resident, or they were worth it for him, a complete newbie to Japan. So, wherever you fall on that spectrum, this could be of interest to you. Now, I’m going to start this travel log with a very bold claim. Right now is the best time to visit Kyoto. You might think, what are you saying? Isn’t Kyoto the epicenter of the over tourism? Well, there’s two reasons why I say this. The first reason is going to surprise no one who watches the channel. You’re going to know what’s coming out of my mouth next and that is the foreign tourists visiting Kyoto all go to the same places. They are all visiting Kiomizera Arashyama Bamboo Forest, King Kakuji Gold Temple, Fushimi Nitisha. They’re all going to the same kind of golden route within Kyoto. And so as long as you don’t go to those places, you’re not going to run into many foreign tourists. Which leads me to the second reason I think Kyoto is a great place to go now. That is Japanese are avoiding Kyoto currently. Basically, the reports of over tourism has Japanese avoiding Kyoto cuz they don’t want to mess with all of the foreign tourists. Which means again, if you stay off that golden route where all the foreign tourists are going, you’re going to be almost alone anywhere you are elsewhere in Kyoto. In fact, the temple that Patrick and I visit that we both rank as our number one place we visited in Kyoto, we were the only two people there. the best place we visited. We were alone except for one monk chanting sutras and three elderly people who were selling the omorei charms and trinkets and things, you know, Buddhist prayer beads and that kind of thing. So having that place to ourselves made it even more magical. So let’s go off to Kyoto together. Starting with the Shinkansen. When we arrived on the bullet train at Kyoto station, it was an absolute mad house. And Patrick and I felt like we were just another pair of foreigners in a sea of foreign tourists. It seemed like everyone in the station was not Japanese except for the Japanese people who were selling things in the shops. Basically, the staff was Japanese. Everyone else wasn’t. And that was, I guess, to be expected. That kind of fit the reports that you keep hearing about Kyoto and the over tourism of foreign tourists. However, once we left Kyoto station, that is where our experience changed because I’ve been all over Kyoto many times and I know how to avoid the golden route. And so that first day after catching lunch we left our hotel which was in the heart of Gon district and we walked south where we were headed was Sanju Sanendo which is a temple most famous for the 1,000 statues of Canon the goddess of mercy and it is really an impressive site. But first, on the way down there, we just happened across a shrine that I had just read about recently in a book that I recently picked up. It is a book that I would recommend to you if you want to have a unique experience in Kyoto. In fact, I’m going to give you two book recommendations because I feel like if you have read about places, if you’re into history and sources of culture and like the birthplaces of certain Buddhist sects and the birthplace of certain things like tea ceremony, there’s all these wonderful places to visit in Kyoto that most people don’t know about. The first book that I recommend, which is the one that this shrine is in, is called Deep Kyoto Walks. And the other book I recommend is Kyoto. These two books are absolutely fantastic for basically reading up before your journey there so you can find your Kyoto and find the places that you really want to visit that are going to remain special in your mind. Cuz while you were there, you knew what you were looking at. You could say, “Oh, this is the site of this, and oh, this place is where I read about this happen.” And that makes Kyoto for me a far more interesting and enjoyable place to visit rather than just going and seeing, oh, a pretty temple. Oh, a rock garden that looks nice. Yay. Might be beautiful, but if you don’t really understand much about the meaning behind it, what are you actually really getting out of the experience? Except maybe some interesting travel photos. Which leads me to one bonus book recommendation which is Another Kyoto by Alex K. Because that book doesn’t really make so many recommendations of places to visit rather it goes into detail about the kinds of things that you’re seeing when you look at architecture in Kyoto. So if you want to know more about what you’re actually looking at when you visit places in Kyoto, another Kyoto by K is a really good one. Now, the shrine that we stumbled across that I just read about was basically dedicated uh to Toyotomy Hideoshi, former warlord of Japan. And it’s his statue that you can see in the photo here. This shrine, big grand, beautiful shrine, had basically no one was there. It was the two of us and there were about five other people walking around the grounds. Now, the wildest thing about this shrine is that there’s a burial mound outside in the front of it. And this is a bit creepy, a little bit weird. I don’t know if I really recommend this, but it’s a burial mound that is filled with the trophies from Toyoto Mahiroshi’s attempted conquest of Korea. Basically, it is a mound of severed ears. um if you want to get a little bit creeped out. And it it’s kind of a large mound, too. I didn’t take a photo of it because I didn’t really want to have a photo of a mound of ears, but uh yeah, that’s there. And as such, Patrick and I both ranked this place as uh last of our favorite places in Kyoto to visit. I mean, as far as shrines go, it’s not particularly special. like it doesn’t look all that different than many other shrines you might visit, but unless you’re really into him, there really isn’t much reason to visit this shrine. So, we continued on from there to Sanju Sanango, which is definitely worth visiting. And while we were there, there were foreign tourists. In fact, there were more foreign tourists than Japanese, but it wasn’t crowded by any stretch of the imagination. There wasn’t any point when we were like, “Oh, we we can’t see something because there’s too many people in the way.” Basically, we could take it at our own pace. We could see everything we wanted as we walked along. Um, the 10,00 said that if you look at them long enough, you will find the face of someone you know, or perhaps even your own face. And well, Patrick being of Lutheran persuasion in re religiosity, he said it they’re kind of like arranged like they’re the heavenly choir. It’s kind of the it’s choir rehearsal. And that’s what we’re seeing. That said, Patrick and I ultimately rated Sanju Sanangendo fourth out of the five places that we visited in Kyoto. Not because it’s close to the Hideoshi shrine that we just spoke about, but because the other three places were just that much more spectacular. Now, you might say we only went to five places. Well, we took it slow. We didn’t rush around Kyoto very much. And one of the places we went to pretty much takes at least a half a day to get up there and explore. So that’s why we were only there for 2 days. So moving on to the next day. Basically, we took it easy. We just had dinner, turned in after a few drinks, and then the next morning, we woke up at 5:00 a.m. Headed down to Fushimi Naritisha. Fushimi Tisha. You may notice I mentioned it earlier as one of the super over touristic places because it’s on the golden route for foreign tourists. That said, if you go 56 a.m., you’re going to be some of the only people there. It won’t be empty, but it definitely is not crowded. And you can take beautiful shots, beautiful video, get your shots for Instagram and the beautiful early morning light. You’ll be able to see the cats that are there pretty much only in the early morning before they’ve fled the crowds of people. And there are some grounds keepers and uh I believe shrine associated people who feed the cats there. So that’s one of the reasons they hang around. We toured around Fushimi for a while. Had a really lovely time. It’s such a beautiful spot. And we both ranked that as number two on the list, mostly because it’s magical. It’s just absolutely a magical place to to visit, especially in the early morning when there aren’t many people around. Alternatively, later at night after dusk when the lanterns are lit up and again the crowds have passed on, that is a good place to check out. And then we hit the road heading up to the northeast corner of Kyoto which if you know anything about that in the design of Kyoto city the northeast corner is considered to be the place that uh from which demons or evil spirits can enter and so it’s a corner of the city that is important to protect and that is why the holy Buddhist complex of N Vuji was created. ated up there partially as a new sect, the seat of a new sect of Buddhism, but also as a protective force for the city of Kyoto. But before we ascended the holy mountain of Hei, we went to Seekan Zenin Temple. And the reason why we went there is Patrick was obsessed with this idea of syncreticism. how in Japanese culture it’s possible to mix Shinto and Buddhism together. If you’re coming from the west and you’re used to monotheism, you know, Islam doesn’t mix with Judaism, doesn’t mix with Christianity, doesn’t mix with Hinduism. It’s like, well, Hinduism is not monotheism, but you you’re one or the other. You’re not both. If you believe in one god, you can’t believe in many gods. So this syncreticism of mixing Buddhism and Shintoism over the history of Japan, like the concept is a little hard to grasp. It certainly was hard for me to grasp until I experienced both the ceremonies and how things are mixed together in just sort of daily life in Japan in terms of what kind of customs are kept. But the reason why we went to this particular temple is because it’s one of the finest examples of syncraticism in actual religious structures. Like as you go through this temple, you’re seeing elements of Shinto and Buddhism simultaneously. And that is why we chose to go there. And this is the place that we rank as number one because it was fascinating to see. There was actually a monk chanting sutras while we were there. So, we stopped and listened to that. [Music] And interestingly enough, when we went to get my goino or my temple shrine book signed and stamped because you can essentially get that done at any temple or shrine you go to. It’s lovely because you get to watch them write the calligraphy and it’s going to be the calligraphy of the temple and the stamps of the temple and then the date will be signed on there as well. But when you have it done at this place, they actually ask you, do you want the Shinto version or do you want the Buddhist version? You get to choose which religion stamp and calligraphy you want in your book. Now, in hindsight, the smart choice would have been I’ll take both, but I didn’t think that cleverly, and so I only got one. And so, maybe I’ll have to go back in the future. But it was lovely to see the gentleman write in the book. And our experience there was pretty magical because we had the place to ourselves. Despite the fact that it’s a really interesting place historically and spiritually given the synrcreticism, the mix of the two, it’s pretty much a great representation of how eclectic a mix Japan’s religions really are. After that, we ascended Mount Hi and we visited Eny Yakuji, which is probably most famous to people who are into history as the place that Oda Nobunaga, the warlord and actually the boss, the former boss of the Hideoshi guy that I talked about earlier, he raised Hazison to the ground. The reason he did so was because Hazison had risen to such an enormous height of power. They had their own army of warrior monks and Odon Nobunagago is trying to solidify his hold on power in Japan and he couldn’t have a powerful Buddhist sect with its own warriors at his back. So he went up there and put the place to the torch. In fact, there’s only one original building there from the time before Udu Nabanaga. Everything there now has been built from like 1600 on to earlier and it’s about one eighth of the size that it used to be. But even so, it’s got something like over 70 buildings there. And so, you know, multiply that by eight and you get an idea of how big it was at its powerful height. And both Patrick and I had said that was definitely worth visiting, especially in the summer because once you get up on the mountain, it’s cooler. There was a breeze up top. It was a little bit of an escape from the heat. And again, it wasn’t empty. There were more people there. And there were actually a few foreign tourists. I didn’t see any white people to be honest. It was Asian tourists that I saw up there. But here it was almost entirely Japanese tourists. So definitely no crowds, no waits for anything. Um, no one in the way when you were trying to see something in particular. It really was um again a magical experience for the fact that you’re walking on a place that holds so much history and so much spiritual importance and while you don’t have the place to yourself, it’s far from the crowds that everyone associates Kyoto with. So, those are the places we visited in Kyoto, and I would highly recommend all of them except maybe the Hideoshi place. For those of you who often ask where I’m walking in my videos today, I happen to be next to Lake Kawaguchi or Kawaguchko. Um, this is close to where I used to live when I lived out in Yamanachi Prefecture. Mount Fuji is that direction at the moment. Can’t see it from here though. Too many trees and hills. But after Kyoto, Patrick and I moved on to Hiroshima. And this is where he changed his ranking a little bit. He dropped Fushimi Inari and the others beneath it. And he put um Bajima or the Utskushima shrine at his number two favorite place that we visited, which is the place with the sacred deer, the floating tori gate, and the shrine kind of floats on the water itself, at least when the tide is in. I was very happy to visit it this time around because it’s my second time to be there. But the first time I visited, uh, the tide was out and so the shrine was basically on top of a sand and mud flat and wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the photos we and videos I managed to take this time. So, that was a beautiful place to visit. Uh, very, very enjoyable. In incidentally, you walk up the hill there and there’s the place where Toyotomy Hideoshi again that same warlord is interred uh in a big kind of templeish looking shrine with uh places ornamented with these giant rice scoops like giant wooden rice scoops basically like looking like giant spoons or spoons for giants rather. And the island experience was very nice. the ferry. It’s It’s very easy to get to. It’s like one straight shot from Hiroshima station and it’s like a 20-minute train ride and then it’s a fiveminute ferry ride across the water. And the ferry ride’s nice. Again, being out on the water a little bit is a brief break from the heat. Although it was a very hot and oppressive day while we were out there. Of course, while we were in Hiroshima, we visited the peace park and the museum. Those are their own thing. I don’t think it’s appropriate to rank them in terms of like most enjoyed spot to visit because that’s just something completely different. It was my first chance to visit the museum despite being my second time to Hiroshima because the first time I went was over a New Year’s holiday, my first year in Japan before I realized or before I knew rather that museums and everything tends to be closed around New Year’s in Japan. So, I was disappointed the first time I went out there because I wasn’t able to visit the museum. But, it’s heavy. It’s uh every bit is heavy as you can imagine. It was very crowded because we were there on a Saturday, but everyone just kind of somberly files through. I mean, the sort of tunnel hallway before you get to the museum itself was alive with people talking, you know, people were talking to other members of their groups or their family or whatever. But once you’re inside, it is quiet. It is very quiet. Uh except for, you know, the sounds of some people sobbing as they pass through the exhibits. But it’s worth seeing as sort of a monument to what humankind is capable of inflicting upon each other. and it’s uh worth visiting if you manage to make it to Japan and certainly if you manage to make it to Hiroshima. The last thing I’ll say about Hiroshima is maybe going to be controversial. I had the famous Hiroshima okonomyaki while I was there. different from okonomiyaki in like Osaka for instance because they put noodles in the Hiroshima version. And I think because of the noodles, I’m going to come out and say that I prefer kansai or oksaka okonomiyaki better than Hiroshima. I just feel like the Hiroshima there’s too much going on. Like there’s just like adding the noodles and the other stuff in there, it was just too much. like it was a party in my mouth, but it was a party that got out of control. And so I think I prefer the more simple simple is the wrong word. I prefer the the toned down Osaka version or Kai version. So there, if you’re from Hiroshima or you prefer Hiroshima, sorry, that’s that’s just my preference. Don’t hate on me, but at the end of the day, I think the majority of Japanese agree with me as well. But shh, just just don’t tell Hiroshima people. They’ll be angry with me. But overall, the trip was fantastic. Maybe August not the best month to do it. But would I strike Kyoto and Hiroshima off the list of places to travel to even during a over tourism boom? Not at all. I think they’re very much worth visiting because in Kyoto you can avoid the crowds and Hiroshima what’s there is worth seeing and should be seeing. So it’s not like a crowd where you’re going to feel like you’re out of place. You’re you’re part of the press of humanity that needs to understand what happened there. And then Miaima is just a lovely diversion. Uh we went to Miaima after the museum actually which is I I would say is the way to do it. You don’t want to end on the museum I don’t think. But any rate I stand by my assertion that Kyoto is not overouristed and we did not experience any kind of rudeness from any Japanese people. We did not experience any kind of bad behavior by foreign tourists. We didn’t see any tick tockers or people lobbing litter everywhere. Um even in the places where you know things are more busy like Fushimi Nadi and Miaima. But that said, of course it’s happening. But I think social media and traditional media amplifies all of that. And as a result, you know, people have this image that Japan is going to hell. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think that bad things are happening in certain areas, certain places. The problem that needs ironing out or fixing is how do we spread the tourism out of it? How do we get people to not all go to the same places and therefore concentrate their trash and litter and their bad behavior, you know, in areas where they won’t be called out on it because they’re surrounded by other tourists, right? At the end of the day, I think that you could still safely travel in Japan and have a great experience without worrying about Japanese treating you differently or without worrying about being too overcrowded with foreign tourists. As long as you’re smart about what you choose to do, let me know in the comments what you think about the places I went. Have you been to any of these places yourself? Or do you have similar recommendations along the same lines? places that you’ve been in Kyoto or Hiroshima or even elsewhere that are not overouristed despite being in an overouristy area, let us know in the comments. And at the end of the day, I always thank you for watching these videos, making it to the end. If you haven’t subscribed or hit the like button yet, please do so now. And I’ll catch you on the next one. Sorry about the wind. Peace.

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