In a colorful world it’s easy to forget that color is not an inherent quality of anything—it only pops into existence when light interacts with a material’s surface. Our perception of color depends on the unique properties of that interaction, that is which parts of the color spectrum are absorbed by the material, and which are reflected onto our retinas. To see Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari shrine in all its glory, you must neither be too early nor too late. It is with the first rays of light that the tunnel of columns assumes its orange glow, and that is also the last moment before the crowds pour in as a flesh-colored flood.