Hunting for bamboo at Arashiyama

One of the trademarks of Japan is no doubt the bamboo that’s growing pretty much everywhere. Last year while visiting Kyoto at the peak of the summer heat, we took a short 30-minute train ride west to the nearby Arashiyama that’s quite popular with tourists as we really wanted to see the famous Sagano bamboo forest. It was not far from the Saga-Arashiyama train station, but after asking the locals for exact directions, we had to walk through a maze of small old streets to get there. The weather was melting hot and it got much more refreshing once we reached the forest. An interesting place… The forest is relatively small, but dense and spectacular with huge tall bamboo trees as far as the eye can see. It makes you feel rather miniature. Occasionally, as you walk on the road leading through the forest, you’ll get surprised by the tourists on rickshaws literally rushing by.

How about a ride on a rickshaw?

The old bamboo.

Spotted these statues at a shrine in the forest. These guys are “Kitsune” — a fox, Japanese symbol for shrine.

The mean streets of Arashiyama.

In Japan, the salad of cables and wires like a trap hanging above street is a rather common view. Hard for Spiderman to perform any kind of acrobatics here.

A couple of *tourists* riding a rickshaw. Note this is not a real maiko. In Kyoto, there are a lot of photo studios that can transform you into a maiko (apprentice geisha) for portraits or taking a tour. It is quite rare to see an actual maiko or geisha in Japan.