Kyoto
Eleven centuries of capital, still keeping its own hours
Kyoto is not a museum city, though it is often sold as one. Behind the sixteen hundred temples is a working town of tea merchants, weavers and cooks who measure the year by what is in season, and who open the door only to people who were introduced properly.
Our routes are built around light and hours: Fushimi Inari before the first train from Osaka, a Nishijin weaver’s workshop at midday, a kaiseki counter with eight seats in the evening. Arashiyama is worth it, but only at seven in the morning.
