A Bowl of Matcha at Hosen-in, Kyoto

February 20, 2023

Walking around Kyoto in December 2018, it felt like the tourist infrastructure was bursting at the seams. The tourism boom came crashing down in early 2020, and after a lengthy, COVID-induced hiatus, Japan reopened its borders to independent foreign travelers in October 2022. In January 2023, the number of foreign visitors for both business and leisure had risen to 1,497,300 from 1,370,000 in December, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Arrivals are still down 44% fr

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Damien Kinney

Damien Kinney is an Australian writer, translator, and owner of the erstwhile Cloud Nine Teas, a specialty tea store and journal. He was a PhD candidate in Chinese Studies for several years before deciding that academic life wasn't quite right. He started sourcing tea in 2012, and ran stalls at the Sydney and Melbourne Tea Festivals from 2016 to 2019, and BrewIn Melbourne in 2019.