I just came back from a week in Kyoto and I'm still torn on whether the tourist crowds actually ruin the experience or if we're just romanticizing the past. We visited Kinkaku-ji at 8 AM and it was already packed, but then we wandered into a tiny side street near Gion and had the best ramen of our lives with zero tourists in sight. The souvenir shops near the main shrines felt like a factory line, yet the money they bring clearly funds preservation of all those ancient temples. Has anyone else felt this push-pull between wanting authentic travel and accepting that places change because we visit them?