Kyoto, Once the Bells Stop

Before the temple gates open at six, the neighbourhood is quiet enough to hear a broom on stone, nothing more. The program doesn't skip this hour by accident.

There's no fixed way to wait in a Zen garden. No one tells you how long to sit; the gravel's pattern is the same every morning, but the light never falls the same way twice.

By the time the crowds arrive in the afternoon, we're already a street over from the main path, on the quiet side of the bamboo grove. Same view, a different Kyoto.