Fushimi Inari-Taisha

For my last three hours in Kyoto, I hightailed it over to Fushimi Inari Taisha, the most famous fox shrine in all of Japan. The whole place is covered in fox sculptures and statues, and as I have a love of anything animal themed, I had to go check it out.

Many people know the shrine because of its 10,000 tori (pictured below) leading you up and around Inari mountain. It's a pretty famous tourist photo for folks visiting Kyoto, for good reason! The bright orange gates are just as breath-taking in real life as they are in the photos.

My traveling companion, Lindsay, and I also had a chance to speak some Kansai dialect Japanese with some old ladies walking around the shrine. What a treat that was! I am often finding that learning a new language comes with interesting rewards around every corner, and hearing the ladies laugh out loud at us trying to talk like a local was a real trip.