WHERE I WAS: KYOTO

I don’t visit Kyoto as a tourist; I visit this highly livable city as a kind of Sliding Doors movie/alternate reality of where and how I would always live if only it just was a few time zones closer.

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Despite its profusion of temples (appx. 1,600!) palaces, traditional gardens and cultural districts, don’t let all the what you “should see” overwhelm you and take away from just being there. For exploring its abundance of winding streets by bike, dining splendidly in its varied restaurants or entering its hundreds of specialty shops while engaging with their proprietors, is as enriching as any shrine.

For me, Japan doesn’t feel exotic. I feel deeply at home here. If you like quiet beauty, innate organization, a deep respect for nature, a commitment to presentation even amongst the tiniest things in life, a mood-altering bath (hot or cold) and impeccable service even if you’re just buying coffee, then Japan is for you.

If it’s a weekend, we often fly into Tokyo and take the 2 hour and 15 minute Nozomi train right out to Kyoto the next morning and on Monday, go back to Tokyo for the week and sometimes spend the next weekend again in Kyoto or explore another city like Nikko or Kamakura. But really we’d be content to just keep going back to Kyoto!

At the Japan Airlines counter at JFK, if you get there to check in before they officially open for the morning, a gong will sound and the employees with file out first and bow to those waiting in line. I repeat: AT JFK! So the tears flow for me before I have even shown my passport.

I will also admit to sudden tears when I asked a barber for directions, and he stopped cutting to walk me down the street to show me the way. His client waited with complete understanding.

Or when I looked back after we bought some carefully wrapped pistachio biscuits at the train station and all three employees were still bowing to us.

The bottom line is I find myself crying lot in Japan. But like so many things in this extraordinary country, there is always a quiet reason.

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WHERE I WAS: KYOTO
WHERE I WAS: KYOTO

I don’t visit Kyoto as a tourist; I visit this highly livable city as a kind of Sliding Doors movie/alternate reality of where and how I would always live if only it just was a few time zones closer.

WHAT I SAW: KYOTO
WHAT I SAW: KYOTO
Cherry Blossom Season Before I ever saw it, I always wondered: Why do people plan their entire visits around cherry blossom season? It seemed so precarious an idea and almost corny. But then... my beloved and I happened to be...
WHERE I STAYED: KYOTO
WHERE I STAYED: KYOTO
Everyone has their favorite place. But again and again, we return to Hotel Mitsui in the Kakagyo ward. From the lobby that opens onto its vast water garden, to the way they bring you your laundry folded like origami or...
WHAT I ATE: KYOTO
WHAT I ATE: KYOTO
Know that the Japanese excel at appropriation: when they take a foreign food, they don’t just copy it, they refine it. So a cappuccino or pizza here rivals one in Rome, and pastries smell like walking into the best of...
WHAT I BOUGHT: KYOTO
WHAT I BOUGHT: KYOTO

A global brand gone deeply local: housed in a beautifully restored 145‑year‑old machiya near the Kamo River, the staff here create your custom-blended scent on the spot and personalize the bottle with your name, now available in Japanese characters.

ALONG THE WAY: KYOTO
ALONG THE WAY: KYOTO
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