- A monk's belligerent responses to tourist reviews have gone viral after they were posted on Twitter.
- Shingon priest Daniel Kimura commented on a number of reviews that were critical of Sekishoin Shukubo guesthouse, which is also an ancient Buddhist temple.
- The guesthouse is located in Mount Kōya, near Osaka, Japan.
- In an interview with The Guardian, Kimura apologized for his responses and said he needed to work on his patience.
"Yeah, it's Japanese monastic cuisine you uneducated f***."
So read a monk's response to one unfortunate tourist who had the gall to call the fare at his temple guesthouse "quite unlike any food I've ever tasted."
The Sekishoin Shukubo guesthouse, located in an ancient Buddhist temple in Mount Kōya, near Osaka, has drawn in a number of critical reviews on Booking.com — and one of the inhabiting monks, Daniel Kimura, didn't mince his words in his responses.
"The futon & the pillows weren't the best," one review began; "The meals were basic and vegetarian."
Kimura replied: "Just because you are a Westerner doesn't mean you are going to treated specially [sic].
"If you are that interested in a monks life then you should shave your head and be one."
The collection of contemptuous responses went viral when they were tweeted by Canadian journalist Melissa Martin on Sunday. "Monk at Buddhist temple lodgings on Japan's Mt. Koya is 100% done with your tourist crap," Martin wrote along with four screenshots of Kimura's comments.
Monk at Buddhist temple lodgings on Japan’s Mt. Koya is 100% done with your tourist crap pic.twitter.com/W6SZ1Sktwk
— Melissa Martin (@DoubleEmMartin) July 23, 2018
30-year-old Kimura is actually an American, but has lived in Japan for around 15 years, becoming an official Shingon priest.
Speaking to The Guardian, Kimura said he was annoyed by tourists who continually post "arrogant responses like they're some travel pioneer," but would tone down his comments in the future.
"Of course, they don't speak one word of Japanese and they come here expecting everything to be handed to them on a platter, and I'm like, you've got to know konnichiwa (hello) and ohayō gozaimasu (good morning) – just a little bit," Kimura said.
"You get impatient, even for a monk or a priest. I have to work on that."
Apparently, some tourist's expectations go above and beyond what the Buddhist temple can offer.
"[Tourists] come here expecting some six-star hotel and that's totally wrong," Kimura said.
"I try to explain that you can't expect luxury when you come to a monastic setting and of course it's going to be kind of barebones, but it's deliberately like that."
Kimura's comments have since been removed from the travel booking website, which reportedly asked the temple not to insult customers, according to The Guardian.
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