The red gates of Fushimi Inari

It is possible to get a photo of the famous avenues of red gates without a crowd of people, but it's not a true reflection of the experience. Huge crowds, relentless steps, mosquitos, and all the maps along the route disagree with each other. I'm glad I went, but if I make a return visit it will be for the excellent dried fruit stall. Or to see the local cats playing at being jungle panthers in the surrounding woodland.

Other points of note in the area are the excellent vegan cafe and some odd plates in the roads. The former - Vegans Cafe - does fantastic crispy barbecue tofu, huge pizza, and delicious soya milkshakes.

The road plates are tiny metal labels embedded in the road surface. A few point to visible features like this stone or a small wooden post, but most have an arrow apparently pointing to nothing. Some I think translate as 'The city' but others had different wording that I couldn't work out.Read more