Kyoto November 2009 - Day 1

Fall is a great time in Japan cuz it's not balls hot and in late fall the leaves change color and its all beautiful and stuff. So i went to Kyoto for this. The leaves stay until early December in a lot of places. There are a few websites dedicated to the tracking and estimating of the peak times to see these beautiful leaves (koyo). My friend Jung Eun from Korea was supposed to come and visit but her mom got swine flu 2 days before she was supposed to come so i had to go solo.

cool stylized deer

First I went to the Arashiyama area. Its a little outside of Kyoto. they say its the second best sight seeing district in Kyoto. This is around Tenryu Ji

Japanese maples are so delicate looking and have such crazy shapes. Jeanne Raish MUST get one for her Japanese garden. I don't think you could ask for a finer tree. I don't know if the novelty of the super small maple leaves would ever wear off.

Me creeping through the underbrush like the bottom feeder that i am. some random shrine along the road. There are tons and tons of random shrines and all are beautiful but you just don't have time for all of them.




end of a chopped off bamboo stalk

beautiful fall colors.

it looks like japan stays pretty fertile and ready to grow stuff all year long

this guy has like 2 leaves hanging on.

the chicken man. this chicken just sits on his handle bars obediently. i saw him the next day in another part of Kyoto, miles and miles away from Arashiyama.

a lot of shrines have kitsune statues or 2 of them. kitusune means fox. they are mischevious creatures but are also looked at as protectors too. seems like a lot of mythological creatures in japan can be both good and bad

don't know why these stones have been placed above this doorway

just a normal train, not even a bullet train

this house on the corner really slapped me in the face.

This is at Gio Ji temple.

people always sheit their pants with delight when they see a cat. don't they know he could care less and would p!ss on you if he felt like it?

lots of fruit trees ripe for the pluckin' persimmons a'plenty. Citrus fruits by the busshell, on and on

look its Mayuko formerly of FIT. she lives in Kobe now which is and hr and a half from Kyoto. We went to Kiyomizu Dera at night cuz they light it up in the fall

i dont know what the point of this super strong beam of light was

the shot everyone was trying to get

Chanko nabe. the hotpot/stew that sumo wrestlers eat. I have to admit that i would have to eat a lot of this to get full cuz its like watery soupy hotpot. so i'm gonna guess sumo wrestlers have to eat A LOTTTTTT of it to gain any weight. because look at it, its pretty healthy.

a mikoshi (portable shrine used in parades) on display on the way to my ryokan (traditional japanese hotel)

these poor kid not only have to wear short shorts but they have to wear them when its freezing outside

guy selling takoyaki octopus balls. they were small and not good. i didn't like his balls. sounds gross right.

look how small this ryokan room is. its like 3 tatamis. but its ok thats all i needed.

go to bed jason

0 comments: