Here is the latest installment from Edward J. Taylor's ongoing exploration of Kyoto’s streets. The Okuribi fires have cooled, the ancestors have departed, the aubergine and the cucumbers have been eaten. August is the month of ghosts, and Kyoto in particular feels thick with them, due both to the city’s long and oft-violent history and its heavy, muggy summer air. It … [Read more...]

Here is the latest installment from Edward J. Taylor's ongoing exploration of Kyoto’s streets. The air rings with the chimey clang of the ubiquitous ‘theme song’ for the Gion festival, supplanting the rains that had taken center stage for the previous six weeks. At least, that’s how it usually works. Rainy season this year continues to linger, and a peek at the weather … [Read more...]

Here is the latest installment from Edward J. Taylor's ongoing exploration of Kyoto’s streets. The weather over the weekend had proven a surprise, with the blemish-free bluebird skies of May bringing with it temperatures of 29°C. (It’s going to be a hot summer.) So I decided to set off early, which isn't terribly ideal as things in Kyoto don't begin to open until 10 am. … [Read more...]

Here is the latest installment from Edward J. Taylor's ongoing exploration of Kyoto’s streets. History is written by the victors. A well-known expression of course, but I’d go one step further and say that history is also rewritten by the victors. (Quotes too are attributed to victors, but nowhere is there evidence that Winston Churchill actually said this.) Likewise, … [Read more...]

Here is the latest installment from Edward J. Taylor's ongoing exploration of Kyoto's streets. Prior to setting off on these walks, I sit awhile with a Kyoto map before me, reading the street names and choosing those that are most familiar, or ones that resonate somehow. For today I chose a street that will take me from the heart of the city nearly to my doorstep. It … [Read more...]

Here's this month's walk with Edward J. Taylor on the historic street of Rokkaku-dō Dōri. Though I’d already decided on Rokkaku-dō Dōri for this month’s walk, my actual starting point was unexpectedly predetermined. A few days before, I’d gone to see a special performance by local dancer Heidi S. Durning. The nearby bicycle parking lot was full, and an alternative too … [Read more...]

In his first Kyoto walk of the new year, Edward J. Taylor takes us from Kyoto Station to the Imperial Palace on the old route of Higashi-no-toin. Outside circumstances dictated the day’s walk, in the form of a lunch meeting at Kyoto Station. Having thus decided on a walk that starts nearby, I pass to the north side of the lumbering building, one much unloved when it was … [Read more...]

In our final post of 2018, Edward J. Taylor completes his walk on Sanjo in the company of friend Max Dodds. Together they contemplate the shared memories of our collective history and wonder how the present will be remembered in times to come. The first part of this walk can be read here. As we carry on up Sanjō, I recognize Max’s point that most of the road west of … [Read more...]

This month Edward J. Taylor walks Sanjo; one of Kyoto's best known streets, and finds so much to talk about that we have to post it in two installments! The second installment will follow in a few days time. Until now I’ve shied away from walking Kyoto’s major boulevards, mainly because they’ve been built and rebuilt so many times that, like with someone who wears too … [Read more...]

This month our friend, Edward J. Taylor, continues his exploration of Kyoto's modern and historical streets with a walk along Ainomachi. “Do you Kyoto?” is a slogan seen frequently throughout the city, one puzzling both to its residents, who may not grasp the English, and its foreign guests, who are not quite sure of the vague sentiment. It becomes a point of derision to … [Read more...]