I've been busy with a project lately (which explains the lack of posts lately), but took the opportunity of having lunch in town with Zak to enjoy the walk from home. Crossing the Kamo River on the Nijo-Street bridge on the way home, I noticed that the mountains were still blustery from a snowfall we had last night, though it was mostly clear and sunny in town.

I noticed a lone heron was standing in the water near the bridge, while a big frenzy of birds jostled for bread near some people on a sand bar further up river. Not [...]

We took a short trip in the closing days of the year to Shoudoshima Island a few hours southwest of Kyoto (2.5 hours by car to Himeji, followed by two hours on a ferry). It's a small island (about 12 miles × 6 miles) in the Seto Inland Sea, west of the Awaji Island that we visit from time to time. Shoudoshima is known mostly for being the only place in Japan where olives are grown. It's extremely mountainous with the vast majority of its meager population sprinkled around the edges.

Considering its "near nowhere" location, our hotel was the [...]

The flood of photo opportunities I enjoyed last November at the start of Kyoto's fall-foliage season began with a visit to the Kongourinji Temple in Shiga. I posted about it in "First Taste of Fall Colors" and "Deep Sorrow at the Kongourinji Temple's Path of Jizou", but the aforementioned flood has kept me from following up with the main attractions from the visit.

The main stuff still awaits, but today's post moves us one step closer.

The path to the temple's main garden leads through an area that seems as pretty as a small garden in its own right...

I [...]

On January 1st, we made a visit to the Heian Shrine for hatsumode, a ritualistic "first visit to a shrine in the new year" that's a religious experience for some, but a cultural event for all. The shrine was open all night, but even at noon it was still crowded...

(The shot above was taken from under the big orange shrine gate that straddles the road... view the "nearby photos" link under the pic to see area views.)

Inside the shrine courtyard there was a long line waiting to get in...

The line looks long, but it moved briskly and [...]

Japanese culture has people sending New Year's cards en masse just before the end of the year, with Japan Post holding them until the morning of January First, at which point they then deliver them in accumulated bundles to households across Japan.

The card above is what we sent this year, with pictures we took in the middle of an (almost) deserted road near the ancient but far-removed Sokushouji Temple in rural Shiga Prefecture, on the same outing when we made a family visit to the temple in November.

Here's the English version we used for our Christmas cards [...]