I've been surrounded by people of #Japanese and Asian heritage since my 20s in #Hawaii, so it's an odd feeling to see mostly foreign tourists in #Kyoto on a weekday. They seem to be fanning out to places I go for walks but are less spectacular than the famous temples you pay to enter. In the future I think much of #Japan could be like Hawaii, with tourism and immigrants like myself attracted to the relatively well-preserved culture and nature.
On a typical spur-of-the-moment walk, I spent no money except on a short train ride and walked through the tourist street past Gion, through Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park to the temple Chion-In. It's a headquarters of a major Pure Land sect with numerous parishioners, some tending to their ancestors, unlike either the open air museum type of temples or Zen centers.
I slipped into Kyōto and back home just before an explosive thunderstorm. Limited to four photos and captions, here is a bit of the flavor of Chion-In.
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