japan update
It痴 Monday the 2nd now, I知 sitting on a Shinkansen (high speed train) waiting to depart from Shinkurashiki station to Shinosaka station. I知 hoping that when I get there I can catch a local train to Kyoto, where I致e decided to spend my next few days. I致e been busy ? I haven稚 written much as I have not had my laptop with me, but I decided that since I値l be away from Tamashima for a few days, and I致e been bad about writing about my adventures, I壇 carry the extra weight with me ? I left off with January the 24th in Kurashiki・
On Sunday the 25th I went to Hiroshima. What an experience that was. I値l be posting picture links as I go, but I知 not sure that the pictures will be online when I post this, it may take me a few days to get them uploaded, as I知 not sure when the next time I値l have access to cheap internet will be, and they usually take some time to upload. This is one of my first views getting into Hiroshima was walking from the train station, to the location of the Peace Museum, which is what they致e done with what痴 left of the evidence of the atomic bomb the US dropped on them near the end of WWII. http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20026.jpg. I was amazed at the size of the city, for some reason I expected something much smaller. It was by now that I had come to the conclusion that underneath every major city in Japan, is a shopping mall. In Okayama, in Kurashiki, and in Hiroshima, everytime I went underground to cross under a street, or to catch a subway or train, I壇 often run into The GAP, or other various clothing stores, 祖ute things to bring home to your loved ones・stores, hardware stores・everything! And they were always packed. I知 completely convinced that the pastime for everybody in Japan under the age of 30, is to shop. More walking brought me to the ruines of the only building left standing after the dropping of the bomb on August 6th, 1945.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20027.jpg
I was happy to see how well they致e rebuild the area around it http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20028.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20029.jpg.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20030.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20031.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20032.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20033.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20034.jpg
The rest of the day was spent inside the peace museum, which was very well put together. It reflected how terrible of an effect the bomb had on the people both before and after it was dropped. By the end of 1945, over 200,000 people had been killed, if not by the explosion itself, then the exposure to radiation. Larger Hydrogen bombs, tested later by the US, produced an explosion over 10 times as large, and could easily be the cause of 10痴 of millions of people痴 death.
We ended our evening by eating at an Indian restaurant we found by accident, where I was introduced to just how spicy Indian food can get, the resturaunt was ran by an Indian family that spoke perfect Japanese, and broken english・ It was *very* good food, and for a reasonable price $16 for a meal, desert, and drink. I can稚 remember the name of the place, but if you池e ever in Hiroshima and see this:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20035.jpg
Then you know you池e within 2 blocks of the restaurant ?
Monday had me back to work, I didn稚 leave the house at all until Friday night, except for a few mid-day walks to the grocery store. One particular afternoon I walked an extra mile to a larger store so that I could buy bread. That was a very exciting event for me, as they don稚 seem to carry it at most small grocery stores. Wheat products are not a favorite for many Japanese people. Friday evening we went into Okayama to eat, came back pretty early so that we could get an early start Saturday morning, when we would head out for a backpackers hostel in Kyoto, and explore some temples, and view the imperial palace.
I we woke up early on Saturday, and after packing for a nights stay, headed to the train station. We would be taking local trains, so that it was significantly cheaper for mari. Before I left I purchased a train pass that allows me to take the Shinkansen trains, as well as the local trains, for unlimited travel during a 7 day period. I activated this for Saturday, knowing that this would be my week off. It took about 4 hours to get to Kyoto. When we got to the station I became absolutely fascinated by the architecture of the station itself. I took this picture: http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20036.jpg, notice the walkway way above head. They called this the skyview. When we left the station we headed to sanjusangen-do temple. Originally constructed in 1164, but burnt down to the ground and reconstructed in 1266. Although I was not able to take pictures inside the temple, I do have a pamphlet with pictures of the 1000 kannon statues, 28 guardian deities of kannon, and the gigantic Kannon statue in the center of the 1000 smaller ones. I did take pictures outside of the temple:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20037.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20038.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20039.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20040.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20041.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20042.jpg
After this, we headed back to the train station to meet up with a Chinese friend of mari痴, whom she attended high school with in Virginia. Her English name was 鉄haron・ I知 told I probably can稚 pronounce what they call her in Taiwan. I decided I wanted to head back before trying to see another temple, so that I might explore the train station a bit. I知 glad I did! Check out these pictures, never before have I been this high by riding escalators up the whole way!
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20043.jpg
whoops, not that picture. I took that on the way back to that station・ It made me laugh. I couldn稚 resist.
These are the pictures of the station. Notice the escalators, they almost look like waterfalls in the background, the go on for so long・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20044.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20045.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20046.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20047.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20048.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20049.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20050.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20051.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20052.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20053.jpg
-----------------------
I知 in Kyoto now, sitting at K痴 House Hostel, which is a 10 minute walk from the Kyoto train station. I must say that this is one of the nicest hostel痴 I致e stayed at. It痴 costing me $25 a night, and has private showers, Air Conditioning (which includes heat here, and is very uncommon), and internet terminals. Although I知 continuing to type on my laptop, as the internet terminals cost 100 Yen every 15 minutes. My hope is to get this onto a disk and send it when I知 finished for the evening.
This is the hostel I stayed at on Saturday night, I致e decided to spend more time in this area rather than try to tackle Tokyo and Mt. Fuji, which was my original plan. My train pass doesn稚 cover the 哲ozumi・train from Osaka to Tokyo, using the express trains, I壇 probably still take me 13 hours of travel just to get that far north・ plus the area would be more expensive・
After wandering around the train station for a good three hours, and then meeting up with mari痴 friend, we dropped off her stuff at the hostel, and headed into the Gosho district, where I took these photos:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20054.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20055.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20056.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20057.jpg
I also took a city photo
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20058.jpg
We also decided to spend a bit of yen on a very nice meal we had at a restaurant down by the river, the food was amazing, I had 擢ried beef with three sauces・ 吐ried duck and soy sauce・ and 屠ellyfish with mushrooms・ a local beer, and a cup of tea・ Sharon discovered that 擢resh seafood・indicates the seafood is raw, and mari confirmed her statement of how impossible it is to be a vegetarian in Japan.
A photo of a vending machine I thought to be rather unusual. Not only could I buy drinks and cigarettes on the street, but if I felt like a beer, or even a 1/5 of Jack Danials, here was a rather convenient place to purchase it, right out on the sidewalk:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20059.jpg
-------------------------
Sunday we woke up, checked out, and caught the train to Nara.
Sharon left our party on the train to meet up with a friend she met on the plane on the way from china to here. He痴 a native of japan, but has spent 5 years studying in the states, and 2 in china. I forget his name right now (I知 sure as soon as I post this, I値l remember), but until I remember I値l call him J-Bob.
In Nara, deer are believed to be the unknowing messenger of the gods. Because of that, it is forbidden to kill them, or to re-locate them・you must let them be. For that reason, the entire city is storming with deer! We visited a number of temples, shrines, and just walked through city streets and parks・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20061.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20062.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20063.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20064.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20065.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20066.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20067.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20068.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20069.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20070.jpg
None of these things came close in comparison with the Todai-Ji temple. Here are pictures of the two Nio Gaurdians that guard the entranceway to the temple. These are both wooden sculptures.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20071.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20072.jpg
Most Buddhist temples have these two characters guarding them, one always has its mouth open, while the other always has it痴 mouth closed・ Although they池e usually not quite this big, the sanjusangen-do temple in Kyoto had them both the size of a human, perhaps a bit larger.
At this point I was excited to see the temple, but mari insisted on getting an ice cream cone instead. She accompanied this desire with a very touching speech on how you need to take extra time each day to enjoy life, otherwise it just passes you by・ and so this is a picture of mari enjoying life:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20073.jpg
Random picture: There is a statue of a beast of some type in this one, however I知 not sure what it was, and you can稚 really tell by the photo・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20074.jpg
A bit more walking and I could begin to see the temple through the second set of gates:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20075.jpg
it wasn稚 until we bought our tickets and got inside the area before I got a chance to see this temple in full color. It was absolutely huge. With later research I found out that this is thought to be the largest wooden building in the world. The present structure was built in 1709, and is only one third the size of the original! Look at the people in this photo to get an idea of scale.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20076.jpg
Inside the temple is the third largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. Named 泥aibutsu・(great Buddha), It was originally cast in 746! Just think! Europe hadn稚 even been settled by civilization yet, only small tribal communities existed. The present statue was recast in the Edo period, and consists of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold. To get a scale of this, look at the roof just about his head and think of the previous picture, as Buddha fills the entire temple.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20077.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20080.jpg
Here are other statues that are to the sides of Buddha in the temple, as well as a post with a hole in it. That hole is said to be the size of Buddha痴 nostril, and being able to pass through it, was said to 兎nsure enlightenment・ it was quite a riot watching kids squirm through, and adults get stuck.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20078.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20079.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20081.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20082.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20083.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20084.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20085.jpg
It was about this time that J-Bob and Sharon joined us again. J-Bob痴 trilingual abilities came in very handy, he shared a number of stories about these areas with us, and talked about different celebrations the temples have throughout the years. It is on the 3rd (tomorrow) that all of the lanterns you値l see in the following pictures (there must have been 10痴 of thousands of these things, no joke.) will be lit, and all of these walkways will be packed with people here to worship・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20086.jpg
This is a random sign I saw. My Japanese isn稚 that good, but I translated it to the best of my ability to come to this 的f you see two deer, one with red lightening bolts shooting out of it痴 head, and you feed the friendly looking one, you値l find that red lightening bolts will shoot out of the other one痴 head too賠 Mari came up with some more realistic translations to this, but I like mine better.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20087.jpg
more misc. photos:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20088.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20089.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20090,jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20091.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20092.jpg
After this, I went back to stay in Tamashima for the night, woke up, caught a train back to Kyoto, and began writing this ? Today痴 been a peaceful day of travel, and wandering about Kyoto・
-Matt
On Sunday the 25th I went to Hiroshima. What an experience that was. I値l be posting picture links as I go, but I知 not sure that the pictures will be online when I post this, it may take me a few days to get them uploaded, as I知 not sure when the next time I値l have access to cheap internet will be, and they usually take some time to upload. This is one of my first views getting into Hiroshima was walking from the train station, to the location of the Peace Museum, which is what they致e done with what痴 left of the evidence of the atomic bomb the US dropped on them near the end of WWII. http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20026.jpg. I was amazed at the size of the city, for some reason I expected something much smaller. It was by now that I had come to the conclusion that underneath every major city in Japan, is a shopping mall. In Okayama, in Kurashiki, and in Hiroshima, everytime I went underground to cross under a street, or to catch a subway or train, I壇 often run into The GAP, or other various clothing stores, 祖ute things to bring home to your loved ones・stores, hardware stores・everything! And they were always packed. I知 completely convinced that the pastime for everybody in Japan under the age of 30, is to shop. More walking brought me to the ruines of the only building left standing after the dropping of the bomb on August 6th, 1945.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20027.jpg
I was happy to see how well they致e rebuild the area around it http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20028.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20029.jpg.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20030.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20031.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20032.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20033.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20034.jpg
The rest of the day was spent inside the peace museum, which was very well put together. It reflected how terrible of an effect the bomb had on the people both before and after it was dropped. By the end of 1945, over 200,000 people had been killed, if not by the explosion itself, then the exposure to radiation. Larger Hydrogen bombs, tested later by the US, produced an explosion over 10 times as large, and could easily be the cause of 10痴 of millions of people痴 death.
We ended our evening by eating at an Indian restaurant we found by accident, where I was introduced to just how spicy Indian food can get, the resturaunt was ran by an Indian family that spoke perfect Japanese, and broken english・ It was *very* good food, and for a reasonable price $16 for a meal, desert, and drink. I can稚 remember the name of the place, but if you池e ever in Hiroshima and see this:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20035.jpg
Then you know you池e within 2 blocks of the restaurant ?
Monday had me back to work, I didn稚 leave the house at all until Friday night, except for a few mid-day walks to the grocery store. One particular afternoon I walked an extra mile to a larger store so that I could buy bread. That was a very exciting event for me, as they don稚 seem to carry it at most small grocery stores. Wheat products are not a favorite for many Japanese people. Friday evening we went into Okayama to eat, came back pretty early so that we could get an early start Saturday morning, when we would head out for a backpackers hostel in Kyoto, and explore some temples, and view the imperial palace.
I we woke up early on Saturday, and after packing for a nights stay, headed to the train station. We would be taking local trains, so that it was significantly cheaper for mari. Before I left I purchased a train pass that allows me to take the Shinkansen trains, as well as the local trains, for unlimited travel during a 7 day period. I activated this for Saturday, knowing that this would be my week off. It took about 4 hours to get to Kyoto. When we got to the station I became absolutely fascinated by the architecture of the station itself. I took this picture: http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20036.jpg, notice the walkway way above head. They called this the skyview. When we left the station we headed to sanjusangen-do temple. Originally constructed in 1164, but burnt down to the ground and reconstructed in 1266. Although I was not able to take pictures inside the temple, I do have a pamphlet with pictures of the 1000 kannon statues, 28 guardian deities of kannon, and the gigantic Kannon statue in the center of the 1000 smaller ones. I did take pictures outside of the temple:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20037.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20038.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20039.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20040.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20041.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20042.jpg
After this, we headed back to the train station to meet up with a Chinese friend of mari痴, whom she attended high school with in Virginia. Her English name was 鉄haron・ I知 told I probably can稚 pronounce what they call her in Taiwan. I decided I wanted to head back before trying to see another temple, so that I might explore the train station a bit. I知 glad I did! Check out these pictures, never before have I been this high by riding escalators up the whole way!
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20043.jpg
whoops, not that picture. I took that on the way back to that station・ It made me laugh. I couldn稚 resist.
These are the pictures of the station. Notice the escalators, they almost look like waterfalls in the background, the go on for so long・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20044.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20045.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20046.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20047.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20048.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20049.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20050.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20051.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20052.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20053.jpg
-----------------------
I知 in Kyoto now, sitting at K痴 House Hostel, which is a 10 minute walk from the Kyoto train station. I must say that this is one of the nicest hostel痴 I致e stayed at. It痴 costing me $25 a night, and has private showers, Air Conditioning (which includes heat here, and is very uncommon), and internet terminals. Although I知 continuing to type on my laptop, as the internet terminals cost 100 Yen every 15 minutes. My hope is to get this onto a disk and send it when I知 finished for the evening.
This is the hostel I stayed at on Saturday night, I致e decided to spend more time in this area rather than try to tackle Tokyo and Mt. Fuji, which was my original plan. My train pass doesn稚 cover the 哲ozumi・train from Osaka to Tokyo, using the express trains, I壇 probably still take me 13 hours of travel just to get that far north・ plus the area would be more expensive・
After wandering around the train station for a good three hours, and then meeting up with mari痴 friend, we dropped off her stuff at the hostel, and headed into the Gosho district, where I took these photos:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20054.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20055.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20056.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20057.jpg
I also took a city photo
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20058.jpg
We also decided to spend a bit of yen on a very nice meal we had at a restaurant down by the river, the food was amazing, I had 擢ried beef with three sauces・ 吐ried duck and soy sauce・ and 屠ellyfish with mushrooms・ a local beer, and a cup of tea・ Sharon discovered that 擢resh seafood・indicates the seafood is raw, and mari confirmed her statement of how impossible it is to be a vegetarian in Japan.
A photo of a vending machine I thought to be rather unusual. Not only could I buy drinks and cigarettes on the street, but if I felt like a beer, or even a 1/5 of Jack Danials, here was a rather convenient place to purchase it, right out on the sidewalk:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20059.jpg
-------------------------
Sunday we woke up, checked out, and caught the train to Nara.
Sharon left our party on the train to meet up with a friend she met on the plane on the way from china to here. He痴 a native of japan, but has spent 5 years studying in the states, and 2 in china. I forget his name right now (I知 sure as soon as I post this, I値l remember), but until I remember I値l call him J-Bob.
In Nara, deer are believed to be the unknowing messenger of the gods. Because of that, it is forbidden to kill them, or to re-locate them・you must let them be. For that reason, the entire city is storming with deer! We visited a number of temples, shrines, and just walked through city streets and parks・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20061.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20062.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20063.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20064.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20065.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20066.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20067.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20068.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20069.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20070.jpg
None of these things came close in comparison with the Todai-Ji temple. Here are pictures of the two Nio Gaurdians that guard the entranceway to the temple. These are both wooden sculptures.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20071.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20072.jpg
Most Buddhist temples have these two characters guarding them, one always has its mouth open, while the other always has it痴 mouth closed・ Although they池e usually not quite this big, the sanjusangen-do temple in Kyoto had them both the size of a human, perhaps a bit larger.
At this point I was excited to see the temple, but mari insisted on getting an ice cream cone instead. She accompanied this desire with a very touching speech on how you need to take extra time each day to enjoy life, otherwise it just passes you by・ and so this is a picture of mari enjoying life:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20073.jpg
Random picture: There is a statue of a beast of some type in this one, however I知 not sure what it was, and you can稚 really tell by the photo・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20074.jpg
A bit more walking and I could begin to see the temple through the second set of gates:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20075.jpg
it wasn稚 until we bought our tickets and got inside the area before I got a chance to see this temple in full color. It was absolutely huge. With later research I found out that this is thought to be the largest wooden building in the world. The present structure was built in 1709, and is only one third the size of the original! Look at the people in this photo to get an idea of scale.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20076.jpg
Inside the temple is the third largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. Named 泥aibutsu・(great Buddha), It was originally cast in 746! Just think! Europe hadn稚 even been settled by civilization yet, only small tribal communities existed. The present statue was recast in the Edo period, and consists of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold. To get a scale of this, look at the roof just about his head and think of the previous picture, as Buddha fills the entire temple.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20077.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20080.jpg
Here are other statues that are to the sides of Buddha in the temple, as well as a post with a hole in it. That hole is said to be the size of Buddha痴 nostril, and being able to pass through it, was said to 兎nsure enlightenment・ it was quite a riot watching kids squirm through, and adults get stuck.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20078.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20079.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20081.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20082.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20083.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20084.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20085.jpg
It was about this time that J-Bob and Sharon joined us again. J-Bob痴 trilingual abilities came in very handy, he shared a number of stories about these areas with us, and talked about different celebrations the temples have throughout the years. It is on the 3rd (tomorrow) that all of the lanterns you値l see in the following pictures (there must have been 10痴 of thousands of these things, no joke.) will be lit, and all of these walkways will be packed with people here to worship・
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20086.jpg
This is a random sign I saw. My Japanese isn稚 that good, but I translated it to the best of my ability to come to this 的f you see two deer, one with red lightening bolts shooting out of it痴 head, and you feed the friendly looking one, you値l find that red lightening bolts will shoot out of the other one痴 head too賠 Mari came up with some more realistic translations to this, but I like mine better.
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20087.jpg
more misc. photos:
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20088.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20089.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20090,jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20091.jpg
http://www.plantware.net/~matt/Japan/Japan%20092.jpg
After this, I went back to stay in Tamashima for the night, woke up, caught a train back to Kyoto, and began writing this ? Today痴 been a peaceful day of travel, and wandering about Kyoto・
-Matt