I mentioned in my post about the Kousuke Atari concert in Miyajima that the shrine (Itsukushima Shrine) had a big, famous gate (as many shrines tend to have, including the one near me).

After the concert, we walked around a bit taking pictures (actually running into the singer at one point, but that's for a different post), and I liked this guy sitting at the edge of the water.

I didn't have much time before the concert, but snapped this next picture from in front of our hotel just before we walked over.

The little lines of white dots to [...]

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As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Miyajima on Sunday to see Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert at the Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社), a large complex almost completely over the water when the tide is in. In the picture above, which I took the morning after the concert when the tide was out, you can see the piers and such.

The concert was in the open air away from the building, on a little dais you can sort of see in the center of the picture.

Photography was not permitted during the concert, so I didn't bring my camera, but before [...]

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Fumie and I just got back from an overnight trip to Miyajima (宮島, an island near Hiroshima), having seen pop singer Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert last night on the grounds of the famous Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社).

I say "on the grounds" figuratively, since the entire shine -- first built about 1,400 years ago, but having taken its present shape only 840 years ago -- is on piers over the water. Well, at least while the tide is in. The concert was held in the open, just on the other side of the center buildings in the picture above.

After [...]

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Continuing with the Fall Color Preview from last week, here are a few more from Kyoto last year.

The next few pics are from Enkouji Temple, where I took many of the pictures that appeared in last year's Fall Foliage Desktops post.

The next shot is of one of the fusuma (sliding doors) inside the temple.

The next shot is representative of a common scene around town, with many colors mixed together.

The problem is getting a nice shot without wires, poles, signs, and other visual litter. Here's a wider shot of the same scene, showing that the [...]

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Looking at my server logs lately, it's clear that people are looking forward to fall, as I can see the popularity of posts like the following bubble higher:

The Color of Kyoto — Desktop Background Kyoto Fall Foliage Desktops Photoshop's "Darken" Blend Mode (and more fall-foliage desktops)

Those three are particularly popular at the moment, mostly via people coming from the search engines' text and image search. As fall gets closer, more and more posts from my Japan, Fall Colors category will become more popular.

Fall hits Kyoto a month or more later than it seems to hit elsewhere in [...]

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