The Travel Writer's Dilemma: Share, or Gatekeep?
What's a travel writer to do? The very premise of the job is to tell you about attractive possibilities that you might not otherwise know about. But as those little-known jewels become better known, readers grow understandably indignant (that quiet and reasonably priced cafe is suddenly unquiet and unreasonably priced), while locals wonder how much to curse the onslaught of visitors and how much to try to make the most of them.
I feel this conundrum ever more painfully because I have chosen to base myself for 37 years around the Japanese city of Kyoto. My first 30 years here, I grieved because nobody I knew ever wanted to visit. Now I mourn because everyone seems to be on their way here. Each month I receive dozens of messages — from friends, from readers, from complete strangers — asking me to tell them about out-of-the-way Japanese wonders that nobody else knows about. I understand the impulse. More than 75 million people visited Kyoto Prefecture in 2023 and most of them seemed to be walking along the narrow, once-noiseless paths that lead magically up to Kiyomizu temple at the same time.
Of course, a longtime travel writer knows how to come up with diversions. I'll often recommend my second-favorite izakaya, in the same spirit as I tell friends who are thinking of Nepal that they may want to consider the less-developed Himalayan region of Ladakh, or those hurrying toward Kyoto to try quiet and cultured Kanazawa, two hours away, instead. I will share my favorite secret with a friend and offer a stranger something more generic. Besides, I know that a traveler's real joy comes in discovering a hidden treasure for herself; at best my recommendation may send her along some adjacent path, to somewhere I've never heard about.
Traveling in Time
But the abiding hope of travel is that beauty is resilient. Last year I happened to spend three nights in Kyoto right after flying in from California. Every morning I got out of bed at 3:15 and slipped out the door five minutes later (11:20 a.m. in my Californian mind and stomach). The streets were deserted, save for a handful of Japanese kids reeling home after a long night out. I came to know the friendly South Asian men working at the convenience store where I stopped every morning to buy a bottle of hot milk tea and a doughnut. Best of all, I was able to walk up those heart-stopping pilgrims' paths toward Kiyomizu and have them entirely to myself.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
5 hours ago
- CNN
Visualizing the Russia earthquake and tsunami in maps and charts
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia's eastern coast on late Wednesday morning, local time. The quake triggered tsunami waves across the Pacific that hit Russia, Japan, Canada and parts of the US coast. Several nations issued tsunami warnings and evacuation orders. CNN tracked how it all happened, in maps and charts. The earthquake, tied for the sixth-strongest ever recorded, sent massive tsunami waves across the ocean. The highest waves, as of 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, reached up to 5.7 feet and were recorded mainly in Hawaii, as well as parts of California and Alaska. Some tourists and locals in Maui reportedly spent the night in their vehicles after evacuating to higher ground. Although nearly 2 million people were told to evacuate in Japan initially, all tsunami warnings have been lifted. Tsunami warnings were issued in several countries — though by midday Wednesday Pacific Time many had been lifted or downgraded to advisories. A tsunami warning means dangerous, widespread coastal flooding with strong currents is possible or already occurring, and evacuation is recommended, according to the National Weather Service. A tsunami advisory means 'strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or very near the water' are possible in the region, and beach and harbor areas could flood. People under advisories should 'stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways,' the weather service says. Following the quake, various levels of tsunami alerts were issued for the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They were also issued across the US coastline, Hawaii and Canada. A small portion of the Northern California coast, just south of the Oregon border, was under a tsunami warning — the highest level alert — Wednesday morning local time. It has since been downgraded to an advisory. Experts say tsunami warning systems thankfully seemed effective for evacuations and worked in a 'timely manner.' No casualties were reported in Russia. CNN's Mary Gilbert, Ritu Prasad, Gerardo Lemos, Isa Cardona, Christian Edwards, Ivana Kottasova, Ivonne Valdés Garay, Darya Tarasova, Catherine Nicholls, Junko Ogura, Kara Fox Olivia Kemp and Lachlan Mykura contributed to this report
CNN
5 hours ago
- CNN
Visualizing the Russia earthquake and tsunami in maps and charts
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia's eastern coast on late Wednesday morning, local time. The quake triggered tsunami waves across the Pacific that hit Russia, Japan, Canada and parts of the US coast. Several nations issued tsunami warnings and evacuation orders. CNN tracked how it all happened, in maps and charts. The earthquake, tied for the sixth-strongest ever recorded, sent massive tsunami waves across the ocean. The highest waves, as of 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, reached up to 5.7 feet and were recorded mainly in Hawaii, as well as parts of California and Alaska. Some tourists and locals in Maui reportedly spent the night in their vehicles after evacuating to higher ground. Although nearly 2 million people were told to evacuate in Japan initially, all tsunami warnings have been lifted. Tsunami warnings were issued in several countries — though by midday Wednesday Pacific Time many had been lifted or downgraded to advisories. A tsunami warning means dangerous, widespread coastal flooding with strong currents is possible or already occurring, and evacuation is recommended, according to the National Weather Service. A tsunami advisory means 'strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or very near the water' are possible in the region, and beach and harbor areas could flood. People under advisories should 'stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways,' the weather service says. Following the quake, various levels of tsunami alerts were issued for the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They were also issued across the US coastline, Hawaii and Canada. A small portion of the Northern California coast, just south of the Oregon border, was under a tsunami warning — the highest level alert — Wednesday morning local time. It has since been downgraded to an advisory. Experts say tsunami warning systems thankfully seemed effective for evacuations and worked in a 'timely manner.' No casualties were reported in Russia. CNN's Mary Gilbert, Ritu Prasad, Gerardo Lemos, Isa Cardona, Christian Edwards, Ivana Kottasova, Ivonne Valdés Garay, Darya Tarasova, Catherine Nicholls, Junko Ogura, Kara Fox Olivia Kemp and Lachlan Mykura contributed to this report
CNN
5 hours ago
- CNN
Visualizing the Russia earthquake and tsunami in maps and charts
An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia's eastern coast on late Wednesday morning, local time. The quake triggered tsunami waves across the Pacific that hit Russia, Japan, Canada and parts of the US coast. Several nations issued tsunami warnings and evacuation orders. CNN tracked how it all happened, in maps and charts. The earthquake, tied for the sixth-strongest ever recorded, sent massive tsunami waves across the ocean. The highest waves, as of 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, reached up to 5.7 feet and were recorded mainly in Hawaii, as well as parts of California and Alaska. Some tourists and locals in Maui reportedly spent the night in their vehicles after evacuating to higher ground. Although nearly 2 million people were told to evacuate in Japan initially, all tsunami warnings have been lifted. Tsunami warnings were issued in several countries — though by midday Wednesday Pacific Time many had been lifted or downgraded to advisories. A tsunami warning means dangerous, widespread coastal flooding with strong currents is possible or already occurring, and evacuation is recommended, according to the National Weather Service. A tsunami advisory means 'strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or very near the water' are possible in the region, and beach and harbor areas could flood. People under advisories should 'stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways,' the weather service says. Following the quake, various levels of tsunami alerts were issued for the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. They were also issued across the US coastline, Hawaii and Canada. A small portion of the Northern California coast, just south of the Oregon border, was under a tsunami warning — the highest level alert — Wednesday morning local time. It has since been downgraded to an advisory. Experts say tsunami warning systems thankfully seemed effective for evacuations and worked in a 'timely manner.' No casualties were reported in Russia. CNN's Mary Gilbert, Ritu Prasad, Gerardo Lemos, Isa Cardona, Christian Edwards, Ivana Kottasova, Ivonne Valdés Garay, Darya Tarasova, Catherine Nicholls, Junko Ogura, Kara Fox Olivia Kemp and Lachlan Mykura contributed to this report
