First Impressions of Japan

I was welcomed to Japan about six months ago, when the weather was warm and the festivals were just beginning for the autumn season. The new study abroad students were given the chance to visit a nearby Kyoto with a few Japanese schoolmates through a Kansai Gaidai University Japanese partnership program.

But let me say: I don't believe that Kyoto doesn't really represent the presentation of Japanese culture the way I expected. Sure, there are geisha and maiko walking through Kiyomizu Temple wearing traditional clothes, but they're also holding cell phones with matching colors, stopping for the occasional picture request from one of the tourists as hundreds of camera-wielding bodies flow through the temple gates.

And the temples are overrated.

Except, in my opinion, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Kinkakuji.

I think my attachment to

it came from reading Yukio Mishima's book of the same name, and also the possibility that

going to see it alone probably enhances the experience.

Overall, my first impressions are a giant thumbs up, besides the fact that everything that's a national treasure or popular Japanese piece of imagery is plagued by tourists. You would think that all of the Japanese tourists have seen these sights before, but perhaps its the sheer proximity and convenience of traveling Kyoto that has allowed it to remain such an attractive tourist spot.

Personally, I wish that all of Kyoto was still an Edo-era scene, like the movies. That Memoir movie lied to me.