The part of Kyōto I visited first was a small town, neighbor to some stunning gardens, shrines and pieces of architecture. What really caught me about Kyōto is that by just walking around the gardens and temples, you got a real sense of history. There was just this feeling that every building you saw had a story behind it which spanned hundreds of years. Walking around the grounds was incredibly tranquil and calming. Despite the number of people around and the bustle, there was barely any noise other than the birds tweeting in the trees and the sound of leaves in the wind. Sounds poetic doesn’t it? That’s Kyōto for you.

I thought I’d find it boring. Same old temples, same old tree’s. Stuff that looks like a stereotypical Japanese stage out of a beat ‘em up game. But it was all a real eye opener. I was truly in awe, and no pictures do the place justice. F**king stunning.

I loved Kyōto, but one of my mates hated the place; because he said it was racist. I didn’t witness ‘the incident’ myself, but he says he walked into a restaurant and a woman hado-ken’d him the most racist expression ever. So he is in no rush to go back there, unless it’s to deface a shrine in faeces. We did all encounter one ‘moment’ with some high school kids however. The second we stepped out of the train station we saw a bunch of school kids in the middle of the road. They looked bang in our direction and started talking as they cut us various looks which consisted of smiles, smirks and dog like scowls. None of us were fluent in Japanese, but it’s easy to tell in any language when people are talking about you. I mean…the kids were hardly subtle. I was too pissed off and tired from the train journeys there to care that much. I just stood with my arms folded looking thoroughly pissed as they talked shit and eventually dispersed. But I can’t say this was a racist encounter and it wasn’t enough to have me dislike Kyōto, as they represented only a small cross section of the people in the city. I’m not going to dislike the place and proceed to tar every other Kyōto born person with the same brush.

There are many words to describe Kyōto, but two that come instantly to mind are beautiful and calming. I’d love to see this place in spring when the cherry blossom’s are in bloom. Most of the pictures I took were in Kyōto and I wish I’d taken more. It’s a shame I didn’t get to spend more time there and really look around. It would’ve been cool to have seen Nintendo HQ and the heart of the city – but it gives me something to do the next time I visit.