Sambit Dattachaudhuri, our photo-blogger at large, had spent a year studying in Japan (well, obviously not only studying) and he has done the first in our ‘in 10’ series.
KYOTO IN 10:
With the exception of climbing Mount Fuji, visiting the city of Kyoto was one of the loveliest things I did while I was in Japan. So much so that I went back again, and again. And again!

City
The city of Kyoto, people say, is in contrast to Tokyo. Kyoto is the cultural capital of Japan. It is a retreat, nestled among hills. Extremely hot in summer, and extremely cold in winter. I saw snowfall for the first time in my life in Kyoto in early December, 2012.

At the Puppet Museum

Portrait of a Lady Or
Fall Colours
The city wears a warm hue around itself, even on cloudy or cold days. It is surrounded by wide open spaces, big parks and hills and temples. Kyoto isn’t a big city, hence is easily covered in a couple of days. I went there on four day trips since it is quite easily accessible by train from Osaka city; roughly an hour and a half away.

Calcutta/Kyoto
Kyoto/Calcutta
Hanami is observed in cherry blossom season. It is one of the most calming experiences, sitting under those trees and eating ones lunch with close ones.

Spring: The Philosopher’s Path
The streets uphill to the famous Kiyomizu-dera is lined with hundreds of interesting and colorful shops. It’s a treat to the senses walking to the temple. The temple itself is quite grand; constructed completely out of wood, without a single nail. The same goes for the Philosopher’s Path and Ginkaku ji.

Kiyomizu-dera in Fall

Kiyomizu-dera in Spring

Kiyomizu-dera by night

Geishas making their way to Kiyomizu-dera
The city is wonderful in all seasons. The Gion Matsuri, one of Japan’s grandest festivals, takes place here in July.

Geishas in the streets of Gion
(Sambit Dattachaudhuri is a young photographer and film student who has studied in Jadavpur University, Calcutta, and Momoyama Gakuin University, Osaka. In addition to photography, film-making, photoblogging and a fair amount of film-obsessing, he has also taught English in Japan to unsuspecting people between the ages of 17 and 65.)