(01)The place
Tea with a fifth-generation potter, then lantern-lit alleys long after the tour buses leave.
Kyoto is two cities: the one at noon and the one at six in the morning. We live in the second. Our machiya sits on a lane in Higashiyama where the loudest sound at dawn is a broom on stone.
Most of this trip happens indoors, at low tables. A potter’s studio, a kaiseki kitchen that seats ten, a sake brewer in Fushimi who still writes his ledgers by hand. Then we walk it off on the old pilgrim trails above the city.
(02)Three moments
What you’ll still be talking about.
The potter’s wheel
An afternoon with a family that has fired Kiyomizu-yaki since the 1800s. You’ll leave with a cup you made, eventually.
Kurama to Kibune
A cedar-forest crossing between two mountain villages, finishing with lunch served over a river.
Lanterns, late
Gion and Pontochō after ten, when the day-trippers have gone and the lanterns do all the talking.
Next stop — USA
Monument Valley