Yesterday I made my first visit to the famous Miho Museum (ミホミュージアム) in the mountains of southern Shiga Prefecture, an hour or so out of Kyoto.

There are two things that must be said when talking about this museum:

The first is that a visit is a spectacular experience. I can't begin to tell you the high level of sense and style the designers have in displaying works of art. In particular, the current "special collection" on display until the middle of this month, of what I can best describe as "a bunch of old red plates", is jaw-dropping eye-popping [...]

My previous post told the sad tale of forgetting the camera memory card on a family outing. I did that mistake one better yesterday by forgetting the entire camera this time, dutifully arriving at my destination with a nice array of lenses but nothing to put them on.

After a massage and returning home to fetch the camera, I returned to the Nishi Hongwanji Temple (西本願寺) where several huge ginkgo trees are currently in full splendor.

First the memory card, then the camera. I worry about what I'll forget on today's outing (upon which I embark momentarily)!

I once complained that I had ruined every photo before I even took it by accidentally leaving the camera in low-quality JPEG mode (instead of raw mode, which gives much latitude in recovering from exposure mistakes).

Today I did myself one better.

After driving 2½ hours last night to a hotel near a particular spot where I wanted to make a sunrise photo with the family, we got up at 5:15 and by 6am we had parked and were ready for the 30-minute hike to the location, when I took my first shot of the day, of a picturesque ridgeline [...]
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The Seifuso Villa (清風荘) near Kyoto University was a private residence for centuries before being donated to Kyoto University in the 1950s, which now preserves it as a cultural treasure. Thanks to the kindness of a friend who teaches at the university, I was able to take a tour of the villa last week.

This simple gate is on a path that leads to a small tea house where the resident might meet afternoon callers of sufficient distinction to merit such a setting.

Careful inspection of the ground under the edges of the roof that would otherwise be moss shows [...]

This is a followup to yesterday's post with photos from the Hokyo-in Temple in Kyoto, a temple with some of the most harsh, restrictive anti-photography policies I've ever encountered.

On one end of the spectrum are places that allow even tripods, such as the Yoshiminedera temple. Moving along toward more restrictions, the Heian Shrine allows tripods, but only if you pay a ¥2,000 (about US$20) fee. Most places don't allow the use of tripods at all, but the Hokyo-in Temple featured yesterday doesn't even allow you to have a tripod in your possession. Even if securely sequestered in your backpack, [...]