I love wandering and exploring streets of cities beyond the tourist attractions. I think you can learn and understand more about the city from the streets where local people live, eat or work. Kyoto’s cityscape is especially interesting because it has numerous ancient temples and shrines, yet it is also a commercial city with 1.5 million people. And like other metropolises, the city centre is full of large department stores, chained fashion stores, coffee shops and bars.

Parts of Kyoto make you feel like you have stepped back in time

I am not particularly fond of Kyoto’s city centre, I much prefer the historical district, Arashiyama or the surrounding neighbourhoods where I could stroll or cycle without crowds of tourists. Kyoto is a bike-friendly city, and there are many backstreets or alleyways that make cycling quite fun and interesting, and with the grid system, it is hard to get completely lost. I saw quite a few bicycle rental shops while I was in town, but the Kyoto cycle tour project offers tours and bicycle rentals at affordable prices.

While wandering around, a particular aspect of Kyoto’s architecture caught my attention, which is the traditional straw-thatched roofs that are commonly seen in the English countryside. Thatched roof is a natural insulator that is weather-resistant, and thatching is a traditional craft/ technique that has been used for centuries. The fact that England and Japan ( as well as other countries) share the same building techniques centuries back is very intriguing. Unlike England where thatched roofs are becoming popular again, Japanese thatched farmhouses are disappearing quickly in rural Japan. It would be a shame to see these beautiful roofs/ farmhouses disappear from the rural landscape, I just hope that the Japanese would fall back in love with thatching like the English have.