"My" Kyoto

Kyoto, Japan, 28 September 2025

I'm not doing any of the usual things (parks, temples, and the like) for far too many people are doing that. As an Australian woman a few days ago remarked: If you're not into crowds, this is probably not for you.

Instead, I venture into sidestreets that turn out to be amazingly quiet. Hardly anybody is around save for the occasional elderly man watering the street or the plants in front of his house.

As hectic as the Japanese are in and around train stations, there is an atmosphere of calm and timelessness right around the corner. That at least is what I'm feeling here.

I'm reminded of similar sensations when, six years ago, I visited Japan for the first time. It was the calm, the quietness that made my ambling through the streets feel wonderfully light. I then thought it had to do with the attention to detail that I associated with the Japanese. When I mentioned this to the young Japanese photographer I visited in Kamakura, he dismissed it by stating that only few Japanese pay attention to details, the majority however does not. 

Be it as it may, I surely should be able to do without explanations. To see and feel I consider nowadays enough.