Kyoto is where introspection and anonymity can be perfectly lived out.
Ryo’s father summed it up nicely, “we thought the streets were paved with gold elsewhere but forgot that Kyoto has been home to the Golden Pavilion for six hundred years.” People tell stories of how they have lived in Tokyo, or abroad, and decided that Kyoto was a better city for them. Everyone I have met who comes from the city or those, who like Ryo’s parents, have chosen to come here to live, does so for a calmer and quieter existence. After over 30 years in Seattle, Ryo’s parents returned to Kyoto for a much more tranquil, rule-abiding existence as retirees. Despite reaching the land of the free, they still instilled some strong Kyoto values in their children and Ryo remembers his childhood as far more ordered than that of his American friends. His parents had escaped Kyoto for Seattle because they just couldn’t conform. Ryo, the person who shared these humourous culture-clash anecdotes is second-generation American.