Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE PEOPLE OF KYOTO
Ask other Japanese about Kyotoites and they will probably say that they are cold, arrogant,
conservative, haughty, indirect and two-faced. They'll tell you that Kyotoites act as though
the city is still the capital and the imperial seat; that your family has to live there for three
generations before it will be accepted; and that they never understand what a Kyotoite
really means because they never say what they're feeling.
The good news is that most of this is exaggeration and really only applies a small minor-
ity of older folks in traditional neighbourhoods. And, as a visitor, you'll probably never
pick up on any of this. In defence of the people of Kyoto, there is a good reason for their
famed indirectness: as the seat of Japan's political life for so many centuries, the residents
of the city naturally learned to guard their opinions in the presence of shifting political
powers. Furthermore, as the seat of Japanese cultural, artistic and spiritual life, it is hardly
surprising that Kyotoites feel a certain pride that can easily be mistaken for arrogance. The
fact is that they have a lot of culture to guard, so a little conservatism is only natural.
Listen carefully and you'll hear the distinctive Kyoto dialect
(Kyoto-ben)
all around you.
Okini
means 'thank you' and
oideyasu
means 'welcome'.
It's difficult to talk of a Kyoto identity, of course, because it is true that there are two dif-
ferent cultures existing in modern-day Kyoto: that of the old and that of the young. While
most older Kyotoites cling to the traditional ways of the city, the young identify with the
national Japanese culture that has its epicentre somewhere in the shopping malls of Tokyo's
Shibuya district. The comparison can be jarring when you see a kimono-clad older Kyoto
woman sharing the pavement with a group of gaudily clad
kogals
(fashionable young
things). You might conclude that you're looking at two totally different species.
GEISHA MANNERS
There's no doubt that catching a glimpse of a geisha is an once-in-a-lifetime Japanese experience. Unfortunately,
the sport of 'geisha spotting' has really gotten out of hand in Kyoto's Gion district (the city's main geisha dis-
trict). It's probably best to keep the following in mind if you join the ranks of geisha spotters in Gion:
ยป
The geisha you see in Gion are usually on their way to or from an appointment and cannot stop for photos or
conversation.
