I thought I was all done with tourism for a while, but I had another friend in town this past month, and I showed her and her brother around Kyoto, so you’ll have to excuse my thoughts on Kyoto this month:

• Sanjusangen-dō is criminally underrated and much, much less crowded than nearly any other sight in Kyoto. It is—by far, I think—the most impressive temple in the city. I’m not sure if “temple” is the right word here. I mean, it is, technically, a temple: Rengeō-in is its official name, and it was a small part of Emperor Go-Shirakawa’s imperial complex. But the highlight is the long main hall filled with 1,001 statues of Kannon. The entrance to the temple threads you into a hallway behind the statues, and when you turn the corner, the 100+ meter temple brings the vast array of statues into view. 10 rows of 50 statues stretching into the dimly lit distance with a larger Kannon in the center. In front of them are 28 guardians, including the famous Fūjin and Raijin. No photographs are allowed (and it’s been this way since I first visited in 2003, well before the Instagram era), so it’s also a forced exercise in mindfulness. I went by accident, without knowing or expecting anything, because I was heading to the National Museum just across the street and thought I’d check out a quick temple before I did. I’ve been back at least a half dozen times since then, maybe more.
• For some reason—perhaps precisely because they prohibit photography—Sanjusangen-dō is very rarely crowded. While my family was in town, I went two days in a row, once with family and once with friends, and on the second day it happened to be Girl’s Day and entrance was free. It was the most crowded I’ve ever seen it but still was manageable. They were serving udon and other food in the courtyard, and within the temple, a stepped scaffold had been erected at the far end, just before you turn the corner to leave, so after you’d walked past all 1,000+ statues, you were able to get a view along the full length of the hall that is only available once a year. Very impressive. Do not miss.
• On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Kiyomizu-dera is completely overrun with tourists but is still worth visiting. The temple has such an excellent view of the city, and the structure is so impressively situated up on that hill, that even if you hate crowds, you have to be a real grump to walk away unimpressed. The best time to visit is in late November when they stay open later at night and illuminate the fall foliage. I went my first two years in Osaka but skipped this past year and kind of regret it. I recommend going on a weekday because the place is packed and it can take 15-20 minutes to wait and get the best view of the leaves. To be avoided on weekends, especially during the busy tourist season.
• Taxis are more useful in Kyoto than elsewhere: The bus situation is pretty dire right now. On one of my visits, I hopped on a packed bus at Sanjusangen-dō and briefly considered alighting at Kiyomizu-dera with friends but thought better of it when the entire bus emptied out. We decided to see Yasaka Shrine instead, which was much less crowded.
• Nishiki Market is, in the parlance of our times, cooked. Unfortunately, central markets like this are always one of the first things to be destroyed by tourism. 20 years ago, Nishiki was still very much a green grocer at heart. Now there’s more plastic food than real food along the main stretch. It’s so central, that it’s probably worth a walk if you’re in Kawaramachi, but the other shopping arcades in the area are nicer and the side streets have better cafes and shops. Kuromon Market in Osaka is closer to a true Japanese 商店街 experience, but even it is a bit touristy.
• This reminds me of the French Market in New Orleans. The French Market was a truly American 商店街. It was a long, covered shopping arcade that mostly sold produce. By the time I was a kid in the 1980s, only a handful of produce vendors remained, and the rest were occupied by artisans and flea market sales. I loved browsing the used books on offer, and every fall we went to take pictures in front of the massive stack of pumpkins that appeared and pick out our own to carve. But now, all the produce is gone and it’s been replaced by trinkets and a few generic artists. I’ve even seen writers hawking their self-published novels, which you have to admire.
• Two museum thoughts: The Kanji Museum is only OK. It’s located near Gion, so if you’re in the area and happen to be a Japanese maniac looking for something different, it might be worth checking out, but the exhibits are (as you’d expect) all in Japanese and a bit plain/oriented to school kids. You can have your 漢検 practice problems officially graded on the second floor, which is kind of cool. The Manga Museum is slightly better but not superlative. It’s in an old school building, which makes the exhibits feel a bit disjointed. They do seem to have some cool rotating exhibits, and I came away with some interesting authors I want to check out. The gift shop was only OK. I’d recommend going to a massive BookOFF instead, if you’re looking to buy stuff.
• Hiei-zan is a nice little hike! You can walk to the trail from Shugakuin Station on the Eizan Line, which is a few stops from Demachiyanagi Station on the Keihan Line. It’s a 2-3 hour hike that’s a workout but not overly strenuous, and at the top you get a great view of Lake Biwa at the Garden Museum Hiei. From there, you’ve got lots of options. You can hike back down, or take the cable car down the Kyoto side. You could also hike down the Shiga side (which I haven’t done yet). There’s also a direct bus from the Garden Museum Hiei to Kawaramachi, which is miraculously convenient. I’d recommend standing in line early to guarantee a seat on the bus because the bus stops by Enryakuji (which I also haven’t seen yet) and really fills up.
• I haven’t seen much beyond that recently, so I don’t feel qualified to comment specifically on anything else. The Kinkakuji-Ryoanji-Ninnaji trail was always worth the trek, but I imagine it’s crowded these days. I’ll have to check out some other areas of town so I can provide more specific guidance.

Let me know if you enjoy these tourist recommendations and I’ll see if I can dig something up for future posts, maybe not quite so regularly.

The podcast is also online. In addition to the thoughts above, I go over 例文 (reibun, example sentences) there and at the newsletter with some guidance on how to identify and authenticate Japanese phrases that you’ve never used before.