Anything about Kyoto

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Originally Posted by Nick

There's a Yodobashi and BIC Camera both near JR Kyoto (the main station). Allocate some time and enjoy browsing.

If you have time, visit Inarii and Nara. Inarii for the classic image of 10,000 red Torii gates that is an iconic image of Japan. Nara for the deer and Todaiji - one of the oldest buddhist (?) temples in Japan, and incredibly photogenic.

Considering that it is removed from most other sites, Fushimi inari pairs well with tofukuji. If the colors (at Tofukuji) are peaking at the time of your visit, it might make for a good half-day.

You can do a week on fall colors in Kyoto alone. Not all sites have this seasonal attraction. This is a good thing if you just want a sampler of the city. Fushimi inari is slim on colors, so the number of visitors may be diminished. Then again, more folks coming into the city overall.... Hard to tell.

You can check for what sites are having peak colors at the visitor center. There will be a lot of people, all taking pictures; a wide aperture may come in handy to exclude the clutter.

[skibeerr]

I am looking forward to all the prandial confusion. Personally I don't mind meat, I am a butcher and am currently employed at a Sicilian Butchers in Altona North, my wife eats fish so we will survive

Did anyone of you hike around the area? I will be looking into this, maps, trails etc of course language...

I always found visiting a country on foot (or bycicle) to be very agreable and less stressful.

We have prolonged our stay after the congress to two weeks so we have more options now.

Cheers,

Wim

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Check into Koyasan.

Japan has little of what Westerners consider true hiking in that it's mostly relatively light trail hiking. That's not to take away from its beauty. You just have to travel a ways to find hikes that aren't geared for grandparents on the weekend. Given the locale, you might research Biwako / Shiga a bit.