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While the world debates the merits and drawbacks of the Kyoto environmental protocol, its birthplace and namesake continues unperturbed, one foot in the past, the other facing forward. The former Japanese capital offers an enchanting taste of all-too-rare old Japan, and is home to a surprising, funky array of bars, restaurants and even "love hotels."

Central Kyoto's unabashedly modern railway station, with its soaring escalators under a giant glass canopy, is a fitting gateway to this ancient community of contrasts. Visitors who expect a velvet-roped museum of a city may be disappointed by the mix of sometimes-ugly new development amid the magnificently preserved old city.

Walking down the nearby Shijo-dori shopping street is a good way to start a tour. Middle-aged, kimono-clad ladies glide along covered sidewalks, their upswept hair lacquered within an inch of its life, pretending not to notice the teenaged girls aglow in the latest riotous fashions. Join the human river flowing east and you are inevitably swept to the shallow, concrete-banked Kamo-gawa River. For a few weeks every spring, it is famously trimmed with heavy pink clouds of cherry blossoms. Year-round, it serves as a gateway to the Gion district, famed for its pricey teahouses and Japan's highest concentration of the increasingly rare geisha.

On the first of several weekend stays in Kyoto with my wife, Dawna, it became a bit of an obsession for me to try to spot one of these otherworldly creatures who, unlike their fake sisters planted by the tourist board in busy spots, are leery of both cameras and foreigners. They flit from taxi to doorway like exotic ghosts. On one level, I knew normal Japanese women lurked beneath the white makeup, sculpted hair and beautiful kimono. On another, they seemed as real as unicorns and were equally elusive during a pleasant afternoon we spent wandering the narrow streets of a centuries-old entertainment district poetically dubbed "the floating world."

As dusk started to close in, however, we became hopelessly lost. We turned a corner and stopped dead when a maiko -- an apprentice geisha even more colourful than a full-fledged one -- stepped out of a hair salon so the owner could take a quick snapshot.

After the camera's click, I asked, in halting Japanese, "Another photo, please?" The maiko looked ready to bolt, but the owner grabbed my camera, shoved us beside our prey and took the shot. Kyoto seems purpose-made for such memories.

On a later trip, we saw dozens of maiko and geisha during one of the four seasonally themed shows at a Gion theatre that offers the best eyeful of these skilled dancers and musicians in action. We saw Miyako Odori, the cherry blossom dance introduced to lift the spirits of Kyotoites who felt crushed in 1872 when, after a 1,000-year stay, the imperial court moved to Tokyo.

The city is also home to more than 2,000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, ranging from the Kiyomizu-dera -- its huge, famous veranda permanently jammed with tourists eager to snap up good luck charms and souvenirs -- to the quiet, Zen charms of Nanzen-ji's garden of raked gravel and rock. All are in some ways alike, but all have their unique stories. Chion-in, the busy headquarters of the Pure Land school of Buddhism, has a "nightingale" wooden floor that charmingly sing-squeaks under even the softest footsteps. It warned the monks and visiting dignitaries of any temple intruders.

None, however, are as famous as Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple so named because it is sheathed in gold foil and shimmers in the surrounding pond, even, as we found out, in the rain.

Visitors who can't take their eyes off the marvel might feel some sympathy for the young monk who became so obsessed with the building in 1950 that he burned the 550-year-old landmark to the ground. Even as a reconstruction, it's worth a look.

Visitors who need a break from antiquity can cruise down Kawaramachi-dori, a pleasant street bisected by a small stream. It boasts a raucous nightlife, with bars to suit every taste. And if you're tired of Japanese fare, there is great international cuisine.

Our favourite stop was a cozy, fabric-draped Indian place where visitors sit on pillows on the floor and can't help but get sociable with hip, young Kyotoites lolling nearby.

Not coincidentally, only steps away from the bars are several so-called love hotels. In Japan, young people usually don't move out of the family home -- which is often small and thinly walled -- before marriage. Also, the country is so crowded that automobile trysts afford little privacy.

The answer is ultra-discreet, room-by-the-hour hotels with names like Hotel Creampie, where entrances are hidden from prying eyes on the street, the garage is equipped with pull-down screens to hide your licence plate, payment is pushed anonymously through a slot and rooms are often decorated in campy themes.

A friend tipped us that if you arrive after 11 p.m., when most lovers have retired to their respective homes, love hotels will give you a room overnight much more cheaply than Kyoto tourist hotels, which charge several hundred dollars.

After being waved away from a no-foreigner establishment, we found one willing to take our $100 and spent the night (checkout was 7 a.m.) on a pseudo-tropical isle. It was pretty cheesy, what with the palm tree murals everywhere, but the room had a big tub for two, free condoms and aftershave potent enough to kill both germs and illicit scents.

Even more memorable was our overnight in a ryokan. These pricey inns are the closest you can get to old Kyoto domesticity -- a traditional wooden house, often silent except for the muffled padding of socks on tatami mats and the gentle sound of wood sliding on wood as rice-paper screens are opened and closed.

After we were shown to our room, we changed into simple cotton kimonos and relaxed, sitting on the floor at a small table, sipping green tea and eating bean-curd pastries provided for the weary travellers. When we retired (no TV to watch, just a traditional Japanese tree-and-crane scene on the wall), we unrolled two futons from a storage shelf and slept like logs.

Kyoto is full of surprises, and none was better than the gift in a beautifully wrapped box our excellent host offered with a farewell bow. We imagined traditional pottery, maybe a sake cup or something equally fitting to end this most Japanese experience. I doubled over laughing when the box yielded a set of giant, fire-engine red nail clippers with the name of the inn embossed in gold letters.

If you go

GETTING THERE
The nearest air hub is Kansai International Airport in Osaka. Japan Rail Airport Express trains depart to Kyoto every 30 minutes.

WHERE TO STAY
Kyoto has a huge variety, from pricey hotels to inexpensive gaijin (foreigner) houses.
Kyoto Grand Hotel (luxury): phone: 81 (75) 3412311.
Karasuma Kyoto Hotel (mid-level): phone: 81 (75) 3710111.
Uno House (gaijin house): phone: 81 (75) 2317763.

WHERE TO EAT
The best place to try Kyoto's specialty cuisine, kaiseki,is Uzuki, a riverside eatery on Pontocho-dori street. A charming place for tempura or sashimi is Taksebune, which is in an old house behind the Hankyu department store.

WHERE TO DRINK
Teahouses and izakayas, which serve both food and drink, abound in Gion. But they're pricey, especially if geisha entertain. Kyoto even has a venerable reggae bar: Rub a Dub (Tujita Bld BF, Sanjo-kiyamachi saguru at Nakagyo-ku).

INFORMATION
The Tourist Information Centre is on Karasuma Street a few minutes' walk north of the main Japan Rail station's central exit. It's closed Sundays and holidays. For more information, visit http://www.city.kyoto.jp.