Welcome to Kyoto the cultural heart of Japan

This city is filled with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and we've come for two of the most visited to debate

Which one is the better experience?

it's a battle of the temples the

Debate will give you some insight into what it's like to be a tourist in Kyoto and what to look for

Kansai resident Kevin Reilly is here with me to debate the highlights

the two zen Buddhist temples were comparing our ginkakuji the silver pavilion and

Kinkakuji, the golden pavilion both have similar styles but offer different experiences

chotto has roughly 2,000 temples and shrines

Kinkakuji to the west and ginkakuji to the east really are on opposite sides of the city

Giotto we're back again. Yes, we are. This is Kevin Riley, hi and

Where are we?

We're sitting on the Como River in Gion

Downtown Kyoto. This is a really nice location

It's very different because my image of Kyoto is temples and shrines. I think that's most people's image yeah

but there's a lot more to Kyoto than that

What makes it stand out to you, nature a lot of nature lots of beauty

I mean where sitting here on a river with trees

and were surrounded by nature all around Kyoto

So to me Kyoto is a place where the natural world is connected with culture the spiritual world

it's a place where man has made a

Beautiful place surrounded by its nature and we see that in the temples and shrines that we visit

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, and they're all, a lot of them are around the outside skirts into the nature itself

Kinkakuji, and ginkaku-ji, and although it's not a very Buddhist thing to do

But we've pitted them against one another the battle to see which one is worth going to

First we went to kinkaku-ji

Always start the day at kinkaku-ji when no one is there because once the gates open at 9:00, it's a totally different situation

Many sources rank this as Kyoto's most visited attraction and you can tell by the crowds of Japanese and international tourists

Entry is ¥400

It doesn't take long to arrive at the most photographed spot in Japan

The top two floors of the three-story golden pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf

Most people start snapping photos right away. It's a stunning sight to behold

Definitely make your way further in for the best spot before the other tourists get there first

After a couple of minutes the area becomes very congested that zen like silence broken by crowds of students and guided tours

It was originally built here in 1397 and over time the goldleaf exterior wasn't cared for

It was hardly visible in the mid 19th century

The building you see today was actually reconstructed in 1955 after burning down in 1950 by arson

The roof ornament is a bronze, Phoenix

The gold pavilion houses Buddhist relics. There is no entry to the building

For the great majority of tourists. There's not much else to this temple

it's crowded from open to closed

And finding that important connection to nature is limited to the first few minutes after those doors open to the public.

I spent 25 minutes here before I felt like I'd seen enough

Kevin and I visited on a rainy day arriving 30 minutes early even in the rain the place was crowded at opening

This is pretty crazy, we're here right when it opens and yet there's already a huge line of people

I thought there where going to be less tourists

School kids here, which ahh... no Sunday

on a sunday

Kids never get a day off

For me I think in Kikuchi is one of those places that you take a picture at right? Yeah, or just go buy a postcard

But it's it's the picture that everybody wants to take that area where we first enter that is the picture and

To me. That's why I give this

Three and a half out of five stars. All right, I'm gonna give it three because it was the

Way it looked on that day. I don't wanna go there on a sunny day

Sunny day. How many stars would you give it on a sunny day?

I probably knock it down to two then two out of five

yeah, I mean still got some beautiful architecture and all that and I like the little trees but

Yeah, too many people, Japan has four seasons winter spring summer fall

Each season makes the city different, makes the attractions seem different, There's also whether

Yesterday's weather when we went to kinkaku-ji it was awful, It was

Well i love the rain, but when you're in the rain walking around in it, it's not as much fun. Our boots are still wet today

Our boots are still wet today, this is just 24 hours ago

the bright side of that ironically was that the rain made the colors pop and

what you're saying what the colors is dead-on

I thought because it was cloudy the lighting was more diffused than if you're taking a picture with you

You might want the blue Sun just like it is on the postcard

But what we saw was I think even better a voice preferred cloudy days for pictures

after that we went to ginkaku-ji which is called the silver pavilion silver tea house the silver temple or just ginkaku-ji as we would say in japanese

A different experience. Oh, yeah, definitely. now that to me satisfies my need for walking sobbing. Okay

It's not gold. It's not silver. Okay, it's all wood

It's old aged wood and it's got those beautiful windows. And yeah, I really like ginkaku-ji

the ginkaku-ji experience

It's located on the east side of the city a 45-minute bus ride from kinkakuji

the surroundings are different a sand garden called sea of silver sand is one of the main elements to the temple grounds

A mound of sand representing Mount Fuji really stands out within the natural setting

This is called the silver pavilion because the original plans were to cover the building with silver foil

The design was inspired by kinkakuji and completed in 1490 by Japan's 8th shogun

But not completed before his death. It was then that the VO turned into a Zen Buddhist temple

The pond is smaller, but the grounds have much more vegetation allowing the visitor to feel closer to nature

The area around ginkakuji has some amazing mosses

It's easy to feel at ease here

On the day that Kevin and I arrived it was not an ideal time to visit, the price of entry is 500 yen

the price of entry is ¥500

All right, so we're here this is the silver shrine your initial thoughts

Very well, but very very wet

But the rain made ginkaku-ji feel more alive running water off the roof movement all around

The greens were even greener

The weather didn't affect the sand garden much

There's a pleasant view of the entire ground from a hill in the forest

Rainy days might not be the best time to visit but it sure makes the colors more vibrant

And the sound of the falling rain is very soothing

Location, location, location. Oh, yeah

Kikuchi is just it's on the east side right? Yep

So on the east side that's where cuemusidere is, that's your hand Gingu, is that's where well actually be on this this area

Is not that far away if you walk along the Philosopher's path. Yeah, which is also

What the end of philosophers path is ginkakuji

it's just so much more convenient than

Kikuchi, isn't it? Are we given a lot of stars over here to ginkaku-ji and

Not to just because if you're on a day trip

And you don't have a lot of time you can hit so many temples and shrines on the east side

You're gonna include ginkaku-ji to it

If you if you don't have a lot of time it takes so much time to get to kinkaku-ji

Especially in the middle of the day when there's a lot of traffic. Yeah, there's no subway to get there

So and there's nothing else to do that. You see a street we went up to go up to ginkaku

Yeah, and you got all these little stores and they're the cool little things

Definitely that I just adds so much more. I hate to somebody's trip when they're coming here. Yes

If we have to compare and you know battling is not a Buddhist thing. However, let's put them head-to-head now. All right

Kinkakuji versus ginkakuji. We've kind of broken it down for you

And I think if you've been listening to us, you also know where we're gonna go with this. Which one do you pick?

ginkaku-ji

Kinkaku-ji, thumbs up Rickie Kiger cheek. We put together our list of the top 5 suggested temples and shrines to visit and kilt

Oh, here's mine. And here's Kevin's

We both agreed on kiyomizu-dera Fushimi naughty and ginkaku-ji. If you'd like a closer. Look at Buscemi and addy

I made a video on it a few years ago and I highly recommend visiting at night because it's open 24 hours a day

There's no end to the debate between Kevin and I on Kyoto

but what did you think, which attractions in Kyoto were your favorites on your list to visit share your stories in the comments below and

Enjoy your time in gildo, Japan

Next time the art of candy-making called amezaiku which has been a part of Japanese festivals for generations, but the craft is fading away

I visit a shop in yanaka in Tokyo that is preserving the traditions

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