I went to the ‘seventh ring of hell’ and loved every minute

Source: Metro

Author: Mel Evans

Published: Jan, 27 2025 06:00

According to #traveltok, Kyoto is chaos. Perhaps you have seen the videos of tourists thrusting their smartphones at geisha as the women attempt, unsuccessfully, to shield their ivory faces. Maybe you’ve witnessed the pandemonium through your screen, as selfie-stick-wielding holidaymakers sweep through the streets without a shred of spatial awareness or cultural respect.

Image Credit: Metro [A group of tourists surround two maiko (apprentice geisha in]

I visited the Japanese city amid government crackdowns on ‘paparazzi tourists’ who harass working geishas. Parts of the iconic Gion district have become no-go areas, and you can’t walk 10 steps without seeing a sign that bans the taking of photos.

Image Credit: Metro [Mel Evans press trip Kyoto]

So it came as no surprise to me when a video went viral on X, with the caption: ‘Unpopular opinion, Kyoto is the seventh ring of hell right now.’. I get it. Japan welcomed the most visitors in history in 2024, as the country’s weak currency fuelled a tourism boom that drew 36.8 million people to the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’.

Image Credit: Metro [Tourism in Japan During Golden Week Holiday]

Those who visited Kyoto would have battled hoards of people, tightly packed on cobbled streets to catch an Insta-worthy shot of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Kiyomizu-dera Temple. They would have witnessed the thousands at Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine jostle for photos of the iconic red and black Tori gates, and found a small city buckling under the weight of a record number of tourists.

Image Credit: Metro [The writer smiling in front of the tori gates of Fushimi Inari shrine.]

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I went to the ‘seventh ring of hell’ and loved every minute

I went to the ‘seventh ring of hell’ and loved every minute

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