With temples and shrines at every corner and big shopping malls and office buildings taking up the main streets, Kyoto is a city where the past the present coexist. One can see a family dressed up in yukata/kimono and praying for luck and wisdom at the Kiyomizudera or buying the latest fashionable clothes at Teramachi. One could say Kyoto accurately describes Japan: one of most modern economy’s in the world but also a country with customs enshrined in social fabric.
The next morning after we arrived out first stop was at the Ryoanji Zen Temple, one of most famous zen temples in Japan. “Zen” literally means a way to reach the soul and you reach the soul by acquiring “mushin” a state of mental nothingness. Therefore, zen temples are designed with calm aesthetics to prevent distractions during meditation. I truly felt at peace simply by sitting on the porch and observing the stone garden. Next stop was another zen temple followed by some Kyoto specialty monk food. Since Kyoto used to be the old capital mostly the higher class could live here hence, the Kyoto food is special for its subtle favors which was clearly evident in the monk food we had that day.
What also struck me about Kyoto was how looking around one could not tell japan was a seismic country. There was an absence of the direction towards evacuation buildings that we had seen everywhere in Nagoya. The fact that Kyoto had never experienced major earthquakes was evidently clear and the city was not prepared for it.
