2019年6月20日木曜日

2019年6月20日木曜日 -

Matthew -Beautiful Kyoto


 Other than Tokyo, Kyoto is perhaps the most visited, photographed, and dreamed about place in Japan. Like Tokyo, it captures the imagination of foreigners and inspires people to travel halfway across the world to witness firsthand the elements that make it special. Unlike Tokyo, which represents modernity, sheer scale, and a hyperactive 24-hour mega city, Kyoto reminds us of the old Japan. It is beautiful, traditional, polite, and awe-inspiring in ways that are simply the opposite of Tokyo.

When visiting Kyoto, people wish to believe they have stepped back in time to another era, seeing a place that doesn't have to remember or imagine how things used to be, because they still are the way they were. Of course, with the major addition of loads of foreign tourists. Nothing can remain exactly the same forever, right? We can see old houses, eat traditional foods in quiet and peaceful restaurants, and see people in all kinds of expensive traditional dress. But just like Japan, even Kyoto has two sides. Visitors don't only enjoy the culture of old Japan, they explore big shopping malls and taste modern and international cuisine.

If you ask me, however, my favorite side of Kyoto is the older, quieter side, mostly unchanged by the passing centuries. It's a special feeling to walk through skinny, winding streets and arrive at a temple. There are so many in Kyoto, big and small, that you can walk without a purpose or direction and you'll still end up somewhere special. This is true in all of the old, great cities of the world, and Kyoto is Japan's best and most precious example. Places like this cannot be created in a single lifetime.



captures: とらえる
witness: 目撃する
firsthand: 直接自分の目で
elements: 要素
represents: 代表する
modernity: 現代性
sheer scale: 絶大なスケール
hyperactive: 活動過多の
awe-inspiring:荘厳な
era: 時代
major: 主要な
explore : 探検する
modern:　現代の
precious: 貴重な