John Saboe's Far East Travels

Excerpts from Kyoto-City Of 10,000 ShrinesKyoto is located in the central part of Honshu Island, Japan and was the imperial capital of the country for over a thousand years. It is also known as the City of Ten Thousand Shrines. It is an absolute must see on a visit to Japan. Because there are so many sites  I met my expat friend Niall Gibson, who is a guide and travel specialist living in Kyoto to get an expert opinion on what to see in a short time.I first set off on foot near the Yasaka Shrine To get a feel for the city. Wait a minute what the hell is this? Hari Kirshnas? In Kyoto? Well it’s an international city so anything is possible but not my idea of traditional Japanese culture. So I moved on to the Heian Shrine. It is a top ranked shrine by the Association of Shinto Shrines. I made my way to Tenru ji-the head temple of the Tenru branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. Construction was completed in 1345 but the temple has subsequently suffered through many fires and the buildings that currently stand here were