This is a small street on the outskirts of the Geisha District, Gion, in Kyoto. As you walk along this street, you are basically transitioning from one world to another. You step from the tradition laden world of Geisha and tea houses to that of modern buildings, congestion, roads and cables of all kinds.

Actually, that is what makes Kyoto a fantastic realm. It is like a desert of the modern world, with everything we know it means. In fact, it’s a modern world breaking the edge of the future. And here and there, in this desert you can find …the oases. They consist of gardens, parks and temples, where modernism stops at their borders and in which time has stopped. Here is the traditional world of Samurai and the Edo period in which Japan flourished and Kyoto was the capital. A world so unique and so special, embeded with such a strong spirituality that it managed to deflect the target of the atomic bombs and in this way, today we can enjoy the almost untouched mirage of the archaic Japanese world.

The sensation you have when you enter the gate of a temple is almost cosmic. The contrast of these two worlds is unimaginable …at least for us coming from other lands.

Alert: Japan is not just a mirage …. especially when you exceed the tourist status.