Having landed in a gorgeous spot on the edge of Kyoto, I’ve been largely focused on creative work, so I’ve not been much of a tourist. This being my…fourth? fifth?…visit to Kyoto, I’ve already seen much of what there is to see.
Which leaves my favorite way to be a visitor anywhere, which is just to live a daily life. And daily life in Kyoto is a lovely thing.
It’s raining again today – Japan is a very green place, so rain – and the sound on the high roof of this place is mesmerizing. But I do get out every day, if only to go to the grocery store. But I don’t mean “only” in a dismissive way; the grocery store is always one of the most interesting places one can visit in any country, and Japan makes it more interesting than most.
The outside world doesn’t impinge much on Japan’s day-to-day, and that’s true even in the grocery stores, which range from tiny, mom-and-pop bakeries and butchers and green grocers to big, bright supermarkets, with conve…
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