祇園Kyoto is rolling many of its proverbial dice on the tourist trade.
This is neither surprising nor news.
Japan's industry has been struggling since the 1990s, and neighbors - in particular China - are storming ahead.
As a result, certain parts of Kyoto are tentatively being returned to their former state.
One such area is Gion - home of course to Maiko and Geisha - which managed to avoid much of the destruction the rest of the city suffered from the 1960s onward.
With the drop in tourism as a result of the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation, Gion is now fairly empty.
With the exception of the telephone wires overhead, the cityscape here is as good as it gets in Kyoto. In places, the wires have been buried.
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