The Eizan Train Line (eizan dentetsu, or eiden for short) is a little train line that runs from north-east Kyoto up into the mountains to the village of Kurama, just past Kibune. I've posted about Kibune many times, most recently a week ago when I visited with Thomas, although the area is known more for its summertime dining over the river and, er, noodle fishing. Anyway, despite having gone up that way many times, I'd never taken the train, until today.

Fumie's been under the weather for the last week or two, but felt good enough today that we all [...]

It's that time of year again in Kyoto where the trees turn beautiful colors, and the City of Kyoto races to erase them from the face of the earth.

Several miles of street in this area are lined with Ginkgo trees, and each year the city strips them naked like this, working down one side of each street, then up the other. I've heard that this is done because stripping the trees like this is easier than cleaning up the leaves. I dunno. Seems strange.

All but the first shot above are from yesterday. The sun was out a bit [...]

Well, after the once-in-a-lifetime Sunset last week, I've been hoping to cheat death and see a second one, and to do so from a better vantage point. I've taken to sprinting up to the Shogunzuka overlook if a nice sunset looks to be brewing. I've done it three times now, the first having been the day after, and the most recent today.

I arrived just in time to watch a fiery orange/red – seen above – disappear from over the mountains to the west.

Of course, as I've been complaining a lot about of late, the image doesn't really capture [...]

A few more shots from yesterday evening's visit to the Eikando Temple's lightup event....

In the shot above, you can see a lady in a kimono slightly left of center, holding up her cell phone to photograph the red leaves. She's the one in this shot from yesterday. I tried to include her in my pictures while she was taking pictures, because generally speaking, I like the kimono. I realize now, though, that you can't really see the kimono in the closer shots (some taken at 1/20th of a sec handheld as ISO 6400!)...

Anthony had a short day at school today, so while he was there, I spent half an hour at the Heian Shrine again for all the 7-, 5-, and 3-year-old kids dressed up in fancy clothes for the "7-5-3 festival", as I mentioned earlier in the week (and followed up on yesterday).

Of course, there is the occasional pretty leaf...

After school, Anthony and I visited Zak so Anthony and his son Gen could play, and Zak and I could make boring small talk about cameras for a few hours.

Zak lives on the 15th floor of a building with [...]