Since the cherry blossoms are pretty much failing us so far this year in Kyoto, I thought I'd pull out a nice picture from last autumn that I've not featured yet:

I took this picture on the same trip that yielded many wonderful pictures from my friend Shimada-san, featured in this post from last fall. Some other nice pictures I took from the same time are on one of my pretty pictures pages.

Okay, I'm not all that sure what that title really means, but the gist of it is that while there was gloriously sunny and short-sleeve-warm weather the other day, and the cherry trees were thick with buds and juuuust starting to blossom, a raging spring storm blew through on Tuesday with wind and rain and even hail(!), and then the temperatures plummeted resulting in even a bit of snow, and since then it's been cold, with even more snow just outside my window right now, leaving the dreary impression that this year's cherry-blossom season will be as short and [...]
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As I've said before, Spring and Fall are Kyoto's glorious seasons, and this spring seems to be no exception.

These times bring out photographers like flys to honey, and in that regard I am obviously no exception. Yesterday on the way to the gym, Katsunori Shimada and I stopped by the outside grounds of a small temple in the Yamashina ward of Kyoto (the Zuishin-in Temple) to see their plum blossoms.

Plum blossoms bloom a bit earlier than the cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms are brilliantly fluffy and white, while plum blossoms are more pink (sometimes a [...]

There are a lot of wires strung across the sky in Japan. A lot of wires.

Here's a picture of the utility pole closest to our place:

As you might imagine, it's quite pleasant to see every day. (NOT!)

Looking straight up from where I took the first shot, you can see in the photo below the utility pole closest to the other side of the entrance. All the wires strung between the two go right across the face of the building.

Double yuck.

Frankly, since these poles and masses of wires are [...]