Photographs of 19th Century Japan

Having visited last year, the scenery around Toshogu Shrine in Nikko isn't all that different, if you manage to visit like we did first thing in the morning as soon as they open and before the tour buses rock up. (The shrine is surrounded by acres of sacred forest where construction is prohibited.)

The cities like Kobe and Nagasaki, on the other hand, are completely unrecognizable.

> The cities like Kobe and Nagasaki, on the other hand, are completely unrecognizable.

getting utterly destroyed by fire bombing (or atomic bombs in the case of Nagasaki) does that to cities.

Kyoto was never bombed, but outside a very few carefully curated touristy bits, it's still an ugly AF concrete jungle that looks nothing like these pictures.

Not the central part of Kyoto. You can walk in areas like Gion that have mostly remained the same for centuries. Of course as cities get bigger you get concrete. just like other cities Kyoto has grown in the 20th century and at some point you need concrete instead of wood

Gion and Sannenzaka are the very definition of touristy Kyoto.