Getting to Know Gion

Japan's traditional and modern worlds intersect where Shijo-dori crosses Hanamikoji-dori in the district of Gion. To the south, cobblestone streets lead past wood-fronted tea houses displaying red paper lanterns, while a block northward are high-rises chock full of bars. Eastward is Yasaka Jinja's commanding orange-and-white arched gate; westward are city's best department stores.

Gion remains Kyoto's center for high culture, including venues offering kabuki, noh, and bunraku puppetry theater. Perhaps more famous to foreign visitors is the floating world of geisha entertainment, brought into the spotlight recently by the film adaptation of Arthur Golen's Memoirs of a Geisha. Wandering arroundi Hanamikoji-dori at night you're sure to see maiko-san and gekko-san, the modern equivalents of apprentice and senior geisha, on their way to appointments at exclusive tea houses behind curtained doorways.