Ruriko-in Temple left me speechless. I thought we already missed the red leaves high season so we decided to check it out just because it was very close to Nyannyan-ji. It turned out we had to book our visiting time online because of some new corona-induced regulations, but I made a sad naive foreigner face and in a few minutes they found a vacant spot on the list and we could finally enter. The views from the main building were amazing: the interiors on every floor framed different portions of the garden in a perfectly calculated way, so that you could see a completely new scenery from every room in the house. The intensity of this visual experience puts Ruriko-in on my top 5 list of places to visit in Japan.

It had the most expensive entrance fee I've seen so far in Kyoto [2000 yen for adults], but you can stay in the temple as much as you want and try hand copying a Buddhist sutra in one of the rooms with these wonderful views. Sutra copying is believed to cultivate one's merit (like instant good karma). The practice originates in ancient China and became popular in Japan during the Nara period (8th century).

Momiji season has almost ended but famous sightseeing spots are still swarming with people wearing traditional costumes and using Go To Travel campaign coupons in souvenir shops. It's been one month since I came back to Japan but I still haven't found a permanent place to stay and keep moving from one hotel to another exploiting the domestic travel subsidy program that covers 35 percent of the original accommodation cost and gives another 30 percent of what you actually paid in coupons which can be exchanged for goods in most shops and restaurants. Considering the high initial fees of renting a long-term apartment (they can go up to 2-3 times of the monthly rent) the hotel option works better for me now since I haven't decided on my research plan and its geography yet. Coronavirus taught me how to be an obedient nomad — cumulatively it's already my third month living in Japanese hotels in 2020.