Enter Kyoto

My mother and I are leaving Kyoto today. I will be posting many pictures soon. They, like all pictures, will not be able to speak for themselves, but they may provide just an ounce of what you might find, visually speaking, in this city.

The city is being eaten alive by a tasteless contemporary culture that, thankfully, would never be able to fully masticate the core of ancient beauty to which this city was the heir. The kind of urban sprawl that corrodes it is of a type less outrightly harmless than that of, say, Los Angeles, but also less vital (and even more concrete).

The old city could never have really been contained though; it was made primarily out of wood, so much of it has burned to the ground numerous times. Furthermore it did not benefit from laws that put limits on the kind of new construction that can be done in the city like those put in place long ago in the monumental cities and towns of Tuscany and Umbria. The result is ugly industrial materialed (my new word) high rises right next to some of the most beautiful monuments. The skyline is destroyed, but the heart of each temple is not.

Although the contemporary culture also seeps into the ancient sites, their ancient exuberance cannot be quieted. The temples of the Zen Buddhist sects (who used to battle each other in the good old days) can be very peaceful places indeed.

My favorite section of Kyoto is in Higashiyama (eastern mountains) where one can find the Philosopher's Walk. Kiyomizudera was, despite the flocks of tourists, outstandingly beautiful.

Last night an astro-physicist from Sapporo took me out on the town to explore the nightlife. At around midnight when we decided to give up our hopeless search he told me that Sapporo and Osaka are much better for clubbing. But it was memorable anyhow.

More soon...