Kyoto is home to more than 1,600 temples and some 500 Shinto shrines. Many of the city’s best and notable gardens can be found within the temple grounds.
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Looking for quiet in Arashiyama
Arashiyama 嵐山 is on the western outskirts of Kyoto. While it is famous for its bamboo grove, this picturesque area has much more to offer visitors. Here are some places where you can escape the crowds when in Arashiyama.
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Traditional Japanese nuts from Kyoto
Opened in the 19th century, Mamemasa 豆政 in Kyoto specialises in tasty roasted nuts coated in sweet and savoury flavours.
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In search of fallen chestnuts
Three elderly women in a tiny mountain village continue their tradition of collecting and transforming chestnuts into sweets with the help of volunteers.
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Making washi in the mountains
Kurotani in rural Kyoto is one of the oldest paper-making villages in Japan. For more than eight centuries, the villagers have transformed the mulberry plant into elegant washi (Japanese paper) products.
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Riding the slow train around Yangon
The Yangon Circle Line is a slow ride, taking three hours to complete the loop as it passes through the city’s outlying areas. It is, however, a good way to see the rest of Myanmar’s former capital.
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Pulling strings to keep alive Myanmar’s puppetry tradition
In Yangon, one artist and his family are helping to save the country’s marionette heritage through education and staging puppet shows in their living room.
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Vignettes of Japan #15: At one with nature
During our brief sojourn in Higashi-Yoshino, we took leisurely walks by the river, passed a waterfall and ancient shrines, climbed over many moss-covered stones, weaved amongst skinny tall trees, and listened to riotous symphonies by unknown insects.
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Vignettes of Japan #14: Countryside living
Once in a blue moon, I would select my next travel destination because of an unusual or exceptional lodging in the area. This has brought me to places that I had not heard of before; the mountainous village of Higashi-Yoshino 東吉野村 in Japan’s Nara Prefecture is one example. I was looking for a place to stay…
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