'Buddhist monk' hits back at Western tourists for leaving bad reviews about 1000-year-old temple in Japan

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Ella Wills24 July 2018

A man claiming to be a Buddhist monk has hit out at Western tourists' scathing reviews of a historic temple in Japan.

Founded 1100 years ago, Sekishoin Shukubo in Mount Koyasan offers guests the chance to stay with monks at the traditional Buddhist temple.

Visitors can participate in monastic activities while staying in Japanese-style rooms.

The temple serves vegetarian dishes for breakfast and dinner, and rooms feature tatami mat floors and Japanese futon bedding.

Some unimpressed visitors left scathing reviews on online forums Booking.com and TripAdvisor.

It drove one man, known as Daniel, who works at the temple and claims to be a monk, to create an account on TripAdvisor to respond to negative comments about the guesthouse with some particularly sassy comebacks.

And replies also appeared below Booking.com reviews slamming guests for having "unrealistic" expectations about staying at the temple.

'We cannot take responsibility for your unrealistic expectations'
Booking.com

Petra, from the Netherlands, criticised the temple on the site for being "a bit touristic".

The person believed to be a monk at the temple, writing under the username Sekishoin hit back and said: "You are a part of that."

One guest complained it was 'a bit touristic'
Booking.com

Another guest, known as officegypsy, said she was not made to feel very welcome at the temple and felt like she was "intruding" on the community.

The sassy user replied: "It's your imagination."

'I felt that I was intruding'
Booking.com

While a guest from Israel, known as Nachum, said the morning monastic ceremony was "disappointing".

But they were told "you have no understanding of what is going on".

'You have no understanding of what is going on'
Booking.com

And when Eric, from the US, said staff were "impersonal" and the food was "indifferently prepared", the self-proclaimed monk slammed his "warped view" of the temple.

He replied: "Why do we have to be friendly???? What do you ppl (sic) come here for???? Why do you have such a warped view of what a Shukubo Temple is???"

'Why do we have to be friendly?'
Booking.com

On TripAdvisor, one guest from the US gave the temple a one-star review and complained that no futons were provided.

The review said: "This is bare bones lodging. As expected, we slept on the floor. What we did not expect is that we sleep on the floor... no futon, no heat, paper walls, and it snowed that day."

The "monk" quipped back: "Ugh... do you have the right temple?

"It absolutely goes without saying that of course we prepare futons! Also, all the rooms have heating!

"Maybe you don’t know what or how to operate a simple heater...? 'Paper walls'...? What even is that...?

"I assure you we offer normal walls made out of wood and insulation...

"And it’s going to snow, we are on a mountain."

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