My first stop is generally at the Lawson convenience store on the southwestern corner of this intersection, where Shijo-dori (Fourth Avenue) meets Higashi-oji (Eastern Street).

BBC: The walk that made me love Japan

Shijo Bridge, in front of you, might be the ground zero of Kyoto old and new: a monk is standing, stock-still, collecting coins, and the mountains to the north are blue in the dusk.

BBC: The walk that made me love Japan

Down a dog-leg alleyway off a nondescript stretch of busy Shijo Avenue, and up one of the narrowest flights of stairs I have ever climbed, I meet the fourth and fifth generations of the Takenaka printing family.

BBC: The art of Japan