"Is there a good place to scatter my mother's ashes?" This question came from a traveller visiting from the UK. He had a pensive gaze. His mother, he said, had always wanted to go to Japan. A place to scatter ashes. No one had ever asked me such a thing before in my life. And now, someone was asking me – as their guide.

I was born and raised in Kyoto and have lived here all my life. Last summer, I began working as a tour guide. I needed the income to support my family while continuing my theatre practice – an art form that brings next to no financial stability. I am raising three children. Choosing between art and parenting was not a sacrifice I was willing to make. To live in a way that felt true to myself, I had to find an extra way to earn somehow.

Kyoto is often described as a place where you can "travel abroad without leaving Japan". Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of visitors to Kyoto has increased year by year, reaching 56 million in 2024, outnumbering the local population twentyfold.

But the places we locals go, and the places travellers go, are entirely different. Travellers visit the shimmering halls of Kinkaku-ji or the serene Arashiyama bamboo grove and enjoy traditional Japanese cuisine. I go to the neighbourhood Aeon supermarket. Sometimes I reward myself with a ¥1,500 (£7/$9) lunch at a modest restaurant run by a friend. We are in the same city, yet we have completely different experiences. But now, as a guide, I stand in between.

Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion (金閣, Kinkaku) is a three-storey building on the grounds of the Rokuon-ji temple complex. The top two storeys of the pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf.