Category: Japan

(I’m not sure what the right counter word for digital photos would be, but physical photographs would be flat things, so we’ll go with “mai”…) The post title pretty much says it: I have taken 1,000 pictures thus far on this trip. We’re now in Yokohama, staying in an absurd room on the 62nd floor… Continue reading Shashin o Sen-mai Torimashita

Saturday, we did a swing through northwest Kyoto, where there are a whole bunch of famous temples with gardens, spanning pretty much the full possible range. They range from the dry rock gardens (karesansui, according to Google) at Ryoanji to the faintly preposterous Golden Pavilion at Kinkakuji, which is, as the name suggests, covered in… Continue reading Karesansui, Kinkakuji

No update yesterday, because we went to Nara, about an hour away by train, and hurried out to get an early start. Thursday was a light day, anyway– the highlights were a visit to Nijo Jinya, which is a preserved Edo-period inn for feudal lords visiting Kyoto, and includes a number of slightly over-the-top security… Continue reading Nijo-jinya, Kaiseki, Nara

(These regular updates are brought to you by the loaner laptops in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency, and the fact that jet lag has me waking up at 5 every morning, well before the restaurant opens for breakfast. They may or may not continue from Yokohama when we get there, but for now, it… Continue reading Tetsugaku no Michi

(I think that’s right– we’re drifting into phrasebook stuff, here…) Another day of tourism, another golf shirt with visible salt crystals from dried sweat. Did I mention that it’s really frickin’ hot? Today was a split day– we spent the morning looking at temples near the Kyoto station, and after lunch took a train down… Continue reading Saiko no Densha

My rudimentary Japanese will run out much too fast for me to keep up the conceit of titling all travel updates in Japanese, but we’ll run with it while we can… I don’t know if there’s a Japanese equivalent of “It’s　not the heat, it’s the humidity,” so we’ll just go with this. When I told… Continue reading Sugoi Atsui Desu

I’m sure I’m neither the first nor the last person to note that it probably says something about Japan that the ordinary meet-new-people ritual includes asking them “Please be kind to me.” But, you know, sometimes you have to be obvious. Anyway, I’m in Kyoto, typing on a loaner laptop in the hotel lobby. Don’t… Continue reading Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu