This post is a continuation from Part 1 of "Kyoto’s Amazing Haradanien Garden", with a bunch more photos that I hope gives a sense what it's like to visit at the height of cherry-blossom season.

I'll explain below why Haradanien (原谷苑) is wonderful despite the crowds, but make no mistake, it's very crowded.

It's crowded, but the layout of the garden, with wandering paths on a hillside, is masterful. There are people behind the lady posing above, but you can't see them, and that works well with the first rule of photography: "If It's Not in Frame, It Doesn't Exist".

Anthony (fifth grade) has a school field trip today for which Fumie had to make a bento lunch. It's been a while since he needed one of these, though when in preschool (five years ago!) he needed a bento every day.

The challenges of bento design are many... food that he'll eat without being fussy, food that will stay fresh without refrigeration until lunch, a presentation that is both pleasing and robust against the bumps and bruises of the inside of a backpack, all while being both healthy and sufficiently nutritious for a long day of hiking. It's perhaps easier [...]

I'll follow up my post about Restaurant "Kiev" with another Kyoto restaurant of note, Men-Baka ("Noodle Idiot", めん馬鹿一代), which Damien Douxchamps brought me to.

The proprietor saw my big camera and warned that I'd be too dangerous to take photos of my own ramen, so suggested that I take the opportunity to photograph a pair of high-school boys receiving theirs.

The proprietor was a riot. With the dead-serious voice reserved for topics of grave concern, he had the boy with longish hair pick out a colorful hair scrunchie and proceeded to apply it to his front bangs, citing the impending [...]

We recently had a very nice family dinner at the Kiev Russian Restaurant (レストランキエフ) in Kyoto's Gion district.

I'd never had Russian cuisine and so didn't really know what to expect, but it was fantastic. It was a good place to make a first impression of Russian food because the highest quality was evident in every aspect of the meal... from the obviously superb raw ingredients down to the presentation.

At Kiev I had the spring seasonal course dinner "Besner"... course after course of absolutely delightful foods of, again, the highest quality. I couldn't get enough.

I only had my [...]

Yesterday's post ("Photo Shoot at Kyoto’s Haradanien Garden: John and Ai") has inspired me to at least start to try to show the magnificent Haradanien Garden (原谷苑) in north-west Kyoto, a few kilometers in the mountains behind the Kinkakuji "Golden Pavilion" Temple. I'd made my first visit last week and from that trip had posted so far only one wigglegram, and then visited a few days ago for the photoshoot with John and Ai, and from that visit also posted some subtle pastel blossoms.

Having entrusted my route to get there to Google Maps on my iPhone, I unknowingly ended [...]