Love your reflections on life in Kyoto, both verbal and pictorial. From the beauty to the fashion mistakes.

I recommended the one that I bought; I’ve never tried the other one. I chose the one without the Velcro opening because I don’t imagine I’d do much tripod work in the rain, and I’d imagine that the bulk and complexity imparted by the Velcro would thrust the thing past my threshold for “ease of use”. (It is perhaps telling that something so slight — a Velcro closure — could be considered bulky and complex, but the thing without it is simplicity incarnate, a feature I prize highly —Jeffrey