I fail to see what this red light district has to do with geisha. Geisha's (or Maiko) are much different than the kimono-clad prostitutes you saw.

"gyaru" is not "girl", its "gal"!

Thanks for this very interesting article.

Indeed, jalan.net is a great tool when you want to reserve an accommodation in Japan. Unfortunately, it is only available in Japanese. However, if you can use hiragana/katakana on your computer, is it not that difficult to use. There are basic explanations here on how to register, search and reserve hotels/ryokan/minshuku or pensions...
http://www.secret-japan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=439

sanji

You can find more of my articles like this at http://www.tylerbell.net/

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who came to Iraq in the past year to facilitate attacks.

How do you do.
I live　in Matsuyama,and　I found your articles about Matsuyama.I ｗａｎｎａ say thank you!
please write about Matsuyama more!!

Well, it did turn out to be very, very crowded. Hardly like a mountain walk at all. But well worth the experience.

It was pretty hard going. I'd think most anybody of average fitness could do it without preparation, but you might suffer for it.

Make sure you prepare well for cold temperatures on top. We were well prepared, but some of our companions were not and suffered a bit.

We went to an onsen after coming down. I'd thoroughly recommend that.

Most of the stuff you've described is actually Minato Mirai 21 district. Sakuragicho is defined as east from the station to Nihonodori (134), south to the Bashamichi/Kannai districts, north to Takashimacho/Shin Takashima and west until Nogeyama. I can add a picture if necessary.

I lived near Noge which is just on the other side of 16 and the JR Sakuragicho station. The shiny lights of Minato Mirai 21 provide a good backdrop for Noge which is a far more fulfilling Japanese style drinking district. I can give detailed directions to some of my more favorite destinations. All easily recognizable even to the most inebriated. ;)

These rambling daily personal accounts aren't very helpful as articles. Get a blog.

wow! What a great author!

I learn many things in Japan from reading your article. Thank you for sharing it.

I have very mixed feelings about this Kyoto propaganda. Yes, the temples and shrines are ancient and lovely, the natural beauty (where you can find it) is wonderful, and the history is starkly apparent in many places.

However, there's no getting around the fact that it is an ugly, ugly city, bathed in concrete and neon. The "geisha" are more often than not Japanese tourists who paid about 10,000 yen to play dress- up, the weather is nearly unbearable in summer and winter and the crowds are unbearable in spring and fall. The locals have shocking superiority complexes about being from the "old capitol", and frankly the gion matsuri bored me to tears, as did the jidai matsuri. (I never made it to the other "big three" festival where they burn the characters on the mountain- that one is probably more fun)

That being said, Kyoto has many beautiful, subtle, and hidden places, but they're all far out of reach of the average tourist. I guess the old standard system of clamping your eyes shut until the bus drops you off at kinkakuji has been working for years to keep the myth of Kyoto going strong, but theres something about it that just doesn't sit right with me.