The ancient city of Kyoto, the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, is home to many of the most famous Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan. A collection of some of the most famous of these can be found along the Path of Philosophy (in Japanese, Tetsugaku no Michi or 哲学の道), a narrow trail following a canal that winds through the Higashiyama (東山) district of Kyoto, roughly from Ginkaku-ji (銀閣寺) to Nanzen-ji (南禅寺).

While the walk and certainly the temples and shrines along it are beautiful at any time of the year, walking the path in the spring when the cherry trees that line almost its entire length are in full bloom is especially nice.

It was with this in mind that I set out for the Path of Philosophy this morning during the peak of Kyoto’s sakura season. As could be expected of one of the most popular locations in Kyoto for enjoying the sakura, the path was filled with people. This did nothing to take away from the beauty of the surroundings, however. Walking the tree-lined path, listening to the water run along the canal, ducking inside the traditional shops, and experiencing the quiet calm of the temples and shrines made me feel as if I had been transported back in time to the Kyoto of long ago - at least until I was reminded that I was still in the middle of a modern city of almost 1.5 million residents by a taxi cab that sped up the road to one of the temples I was visiting, parked right next to a mound of raked sand, and almost ran over a number of people in the process.

Ginkaku-ji, the shogunate villa turned Buddhist temple, is the northern terminus of the Path of Philosophy. Its elaborate sand sculptings and perfectly manicured hillside moss gardens make it the path’s most famous and popular temple. The villa and its grounds are considered to be a prime example of refined Japanese design and architecture. However, since I’d already been to Ginkaku-ji previously, I bypassed it this time in favor of some comparatively neglected locations.

Honen-in is one such temple. Though mentioned in some guidebooks and clearly signposted in both English and Japanese, only a small trickle of tourists makes the five minute uphill trek from the Path of Philosophy to Honen-in’s entrance. Inside, a lone sakura tree added a flair of color to the temple’s Buddhist cemetery and a pair of turtles sat sunning themselves on a row of submerged logs in the temple pond. Trees cast shadows on the moss-covered ground and a carefully-placed leaf directed the flow of a stream of water. Here, there was no admission fee, no gift shop. Instead of ticket checkers and docents, I saw monks. Relatives stopped by the cemetery to visit the graves of their ancestors. Compared with Ginkaku-ji, Honen-in is a far better example of a normal, working temple complex.

Just a few minutes away from the crowds along the Path of Philosophy, homes lined a deserted narrow mountain street. When the wind blew, sakura petals slowly fell and covered the ground as though they were snowflakes. And then, out of nowhere, came a string of giant yellow schoolbuses for the Eikando Kintergarten with big plastic babies stuck on their fronts. If there is one thing I learned from walking the Path of Philosophy, it is to never underestimate Japan’s ability to throw something totally unexpected at you.

Yasujuni Jinja, a Shinto shrine located in Tokyo, attracts a lot of controversy. This controversy has recently placed the shrine at the center of a number of international political issues, and as a result, many people outside of Japan have read about the shrine in newspapers or heard about it on television.

Originally called Tokyo Shokonsha, the shrine was created in 1869 to honor those killed in the wars surrounding Emperor Meiji’s return to power. In 1879, it was renamed as Yasukuni Jinja and became one of the most important shrines connected with state-sponsored Shinto. Over 2.5 million souls are enshrined at Yasukuni, representing all Japanese (as well as some Koreans and Chinese) who died in the service of Imperial Japan through the end of World War II.

It is from this fact that the controversy surrounding the shrine stems: among these millions are 1,068 who were convicted of war crimes at the end of World War II, including 12 Class A war criminals. Visits to Yasukuni by Japanese government ministers (including the annual visits that former prime minster Koizumi Junichiro made) have been protested by China, Korea, and Taiwan and are frequently the subject of political contention.

Even within Japan, views differ on the issue of the enshrined war criminals. However, for most Japanese, Yasukuni Jinja is simply a place to honor those who died in war and remember history. While the shrine itself is interesting, Yasukuni Jinja also has a nicely-presented museum detailing the history of wars in Japan through World War II that is in my opinion the star attraction. The museum contains a wide variety of artifacts and exhibits, including among other things some beautiful examples of Japanese armor and weaponry from a number of different periods in Japanese history. Also featured are human torpedoes, World War II-era airplanes and tanks, and items recovered from planes and boats destroyed in World War II. There are many English signs explaining the various exhibits, though much more information is available only in Japanese.

The musuem’s account of the war is definitely slanted in such a way as to make Japan’s military actions appear to have been the right and justifiable course of action in each and every situation. However, the museum explores some interesting events that most Western accounts leave out, and makes you consider the ways in which the accounts of history you are more familiar with are also slanted in a different way. What if Japan had won World War II instead? Why isn’t Truman considered a war criminal? After all, what could be considered a worse “crime against humanity” than the use of the two most distructive weapons the world has ever seen? The museum raises a number of questions such as these that are worth considering.

The museum at Yasukuni is often criticized as glorifying war. While many of the exhibits are undeniably militaristic, the final rooms of the museum make it difficult to leave with that impression. An entire wall is filled with books of letters, one of which is translated into English, sent by soldiers to family and friends. Many of the letters are heartwrenching; in many, soldiers write to their children and loved ones with advice or memories, clearly realizing that they will never return home. The final room’s central exhibit is a case filled with bride dolls. These were sent to the shrine by grieving mothers whose young sons had been killed in World War II before they had a chance to marry. The dolls were intended to provide comfort in the afterlife for these victims of war. By the time I reached the end of the museum, I was left with the distinct impression that war was anything but glorious.

In addition to the shrine itself and the museum, Yasukuni Jinja has a nice, small garden that is worth a visit.

Its controversial nature and excellent museum make Yasukuni Jinja well worth visiting at any time of year, but the sakura trees throughout the shrine make late March through early April an especially nice time.