Arashiyama– category –

The Bamboo Grove had been loud. Not loud like a city—loud like a crowd that has all decided, at once, to raise their phones above their heads. Selfie sticks. Shutter clicks. The shuffle of a few hundred people trying to photograph emptin...

The moment you step through the outer gate at Jizō-in, something shifts. Not metaphorically — though that too. The street noise actually stops. Replaced by the rustle of bamboo and, if you're lucky, nothing else at all. I visited on a dr...

I regretted it almost immediately. Two Western travelers were standing at the bottom of the stairs, squinting at the sign. As I walked past them, they turned around and left. I should have said something. Go up. Trust me. Instead, I did ...