Buddhist priest apologizes for cursing out tourists who posted negative reviews of his temple

A Buddhist priest apologized for lashing out at tourists who complained about his temple on Bookings.com.

Visitors to Mount Kōya's ancient Buddhist temple can stay overnight at Sekishoin Shukubo, a traditional Japanese guesthouse that serves vegetarian meals and features simple, monastic living quarters. Guests sleep on futons over tatami floors, and are invited to participate in morning services with the monks who reside there full time.

According to the Booking.com profile, the guesthouse even offers WiFi.

But the monastic living conditions weren't enough for some tourists, who seemed to mistake the temple for a hotel and left mediocre reviews of the guesthouse.

One reviewer complained that the futon and pillows "weren't the best," and said that their experiences "would have been good" if someone could better communicate (in English) about the history of the building and monastic life. Another complained that the monks were "impersonal" and the food served was "bare-bones."

The priest running the temple -- and its Bookings.com page -- had enough of ignorant tourists whining about the conditions, and lashed out at negative reviewers. Melissa Martin posted screenshots of the clapbacks in a viral tweet.

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"Just because you are a Westerner doesn't mean you are going to treated specially," the irate priest responded to the reviewer who complained about the lack of English used at the temple. "No one gets some special explanation of things because that's how it always has been. Maybe if you understood the language and culture but no."

To the tourist who whined about the monks being "impersonal," the priest said: "Why do we have to be friendly????? What do you ppl come here for??? Why do you [have] such a warped view of what a Shukubo Temple is??"

When a reviewer called the vegetarian meals "quite unlike any food I've ever tasted" and "strange," the priest took no prisoners.

"Yeah, it's Japanese monastic cuisine you uneducated fuck."

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Another said that the morning ceremony was "disappointing" because "it was not a ceremony, but only three monks praying for themselves."

"You have no understand[ing] of what is going on," the priest snapped. "You have the chance to offer incense and give thanks. Anything else does not concern you."

In an interview with the Guardian, priest Daniel Kimura apologized for his online behavior.

“You get impatient, even for a monk or a priest," Kimura told the Guardian. "I have to work on that.”

Kimura, 30, was born in the United States but has lived in Japan for the past 15 years. As a Japanese citizen and Shingon Priest he's been frustrated with ignorant tourists who leave "arrogant responses like they're some travel pioneer."

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In his magnum opus of clapbacks, Kimura said he went out of his way to make the account so he could reply to "frankly outrageous childish-like accusations of this monastic establishment." After dealing with a sour customer who was upset that the temple didn't offer gluten free meals, he said, "I am tired. Tired of people like you who have these outlandish preconceptions of what a Shukubo is. This is not a hotel. This is a monastic setting."

He continued dragging the rude visitor, who, according to Kimura, recorded their confrontation without his consent: "I guess you expected I would let you walk all over me because I'm a 'monk.' You're band from entering this temple. Don't ever even think of coming back here."

Kimura blames the influx of uneducated visitors on the fact that the temple was listed as a World Heritage site in 2004. The site was historically a religious destination for Buddhist pilgrims. Since then, it's gotten increasingly popular with people who don't understand -- and don't try to understand -- Japanese Buddhist culture.

"Of course, they don't speak one word of Japanese and they come here expecting everything to them on a platter," Kimura ranted. "I'm like, you've got to know konnichiwa (which means hello) and ohayō gozaimasu (which means good morning) just a little bit."

Bookings.com has taken down the reviews and responses. Kimura promised to "tone down" his replies in the future.