All posts tagged: Arashiyama

The Best of Kyoto

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For more than a thousand years, Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan.　Tokyo may now be the center of business and government, but Kyoto remains as Japan’s spiritual and historic heart. Kyoto is a busy vibrant city with a population of over 1.4 million people. Like any other Japanese metropolis it has an eclectic mix of old and new, with ancient shrines dwarfed by skyscrapers and department stores. Kyoto, however, has managed to retain far more of its past than other, more modernized, Japanese cities. It was spared the ravages of aerial bombardment during World War II, and has survived-relatively unscathed-the tsunami of concrete and architectural monstrosities that followed the war. Hidden amongst the contemporary buildings are secret gardens, shrines and temples. Along the narrow alleyways of Gion, visitors can sip jasmine tea and wait for a fleeting look at Asia’s most iconic figure, the geisha. It would be impossible to see all that Kyoto has to offer in a single year, let alone a few days. There is not just one temple, but hundreds …

Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama , Arashiyama , Kyoto

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If you can’t make it all the way to the snow monkeys at Jigokudani in Nagano prefecture, you can have a similar experience at the monkey park in Arashiyama, Kyoto. As with Jigokuani, the monkeys here are wild and come to the park for the food supplied by the wardens. Monkeys that don’t want to be sociable can live out in the forest, but those who don’t mind a bit of human interaction will get a regular supply of grains. The most remarkable thing was that when you see the monkeys pressed up again the wire of a cage it is the humans on the inside. If you go into the rest area hut, you can buy nuts or seeds to feed the macaques. The monkeys then put their hands through gaps in the wire, and you give them the treats. Adults and kids, both monkey and human, were having great fun. I got a few good shots although it’s tough to beat the images of monkeys in the hot springs. Some of the monkeys …