Oideyasu! Please take off your shoes.
Don't be alarmed by strange layout errors while I monkey with the stylesheets.
In the meantime, please listen to the Green Acres theme song in French again and again and again (scroll down for MP3).
That is, I *believe* this is a classic Honda S800. Am I correct? Usually there are 2 of them in this garage. One must be getting a workout.
Inari on Yoshida-yama. I had to take two pictures and combine them to get the mountain and fox correctly exposed. It's cheating.
We ate there again yesterday (see previous entry here) after the baby care class. Mixed vegetable and avocado sandwiches on the left, tofu burger on the right. Plenty big enough for a gaijin appetite.
We have asked not to be told in advance whether our baby is a boy or girl, so we have to come up with male and female names. We have already decided on the name if it's a girl, but we are stumped for boys names. Japanese and/or Western in any combination of first and middle names is OK.
Family name: Ferry (フェリー)
I'm Danish on my mother's side, Irish-American on my father's side.
I wrote two more silly intros for this entry, but the truth is we are really excited: We're having a baby, and it's due at the beginning of March. Today we went to a class where the fathers were invited to join, and I learned how to -- and how not to -- bathe and change a baby. I also tried on the pregnancy simulator sandbag smock. The little handbook I'm carrying is the "boshi techo", a guide and appointment book for pregnancy and early childhood development issued by the health services department of the city.
Email me for the other silly intros.
True story: My father dropped me on my head on the floor the day after I was born.
A giant Kanji, "大" ("Dai"), is writ with fire here every August 16 in the Gozan Okuribi Festival. There is a man standing in the center for size reference.
I found something interesting today. Can anyone who knows the real thing tell me if these are actual coffee cherries growing in Kyoto?
The shopping mall kind, not the fancy wa-fu salon kind.
Trying to fit it all in...
Another one here.
Dr. Atkins is spinning in his grave, but Yoshiko made me a REAL southern pecan pie (She also made the vanilla ice cream on top) for my birthday on Friday, with ingredients and a recipe sent by her host mother in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was every bit as sweet as your Southern accent, Margaret. Yoshiko spent a year at Louisiana State University, and stayed with Leo and Margaret for part of that time. As leading examples of Southern hospitality, they have shared their house with many, many foreign students over the years, so I was a bit surprised but very honored when they flew out to California to attend our wedding. Thanks Yoshiko and Margaret, for my first real pecan pie.
No, she missed it. If you look across Kawaramachi Street from the Kyoto Royal Hotel, there between the Vodaphone shop and the Angers shop (we bought our espresso machine from their online store), there is a narrow passageway leading to a modest temple, Honnoji.
In that little temple is where Oda Nobunaga committed ritual suicide in the 16th century as the temple was in flames, surrounded and set alight by his right hand man in a reverse-double-cross. Actually, it used to be a few blocks south of here, but was rebuilt in this location after the fire. Here are pictures from the other side.
The sun goes down behind Kyoto Prefectural Medical University Hospital. It has been just below freezing in the daytime this week, colder than usual, and there were even little patches of ice on the Kamo River in spots where the water is still. I've never seen that before.
This is the Kyoto Prefectural Medical University Hospital, on Kawaramachi Street between Marutamachi and Imadegawa, and a 10-minute walk behind me from where this picture was taken is Kyoto University Hospital.
Nearly full zoom, ISO 50, f 5.6, 1/1000
Whoever it is that keeps hitting this site's search engine looking for the population of Kyoto, here it is: According to the city itself, about 1.5 million people live in Kyoto, of which about 10% are college and university students, because this is most definitely a college town in addition to its other attractions. About 40 million tourists visit per year, so if you go up to a random Japanese person on the street to ask the way, first check to see if they are holding a tourist map. He or she may be as lost as you.
From another source, here are Japan's 13 largest cities ranked in order of population:
Tokyo 8.0 million
Yokohama 3.4 million
Osaka 2.5 million
Nagoya 2.1 million
Sapporo 1.8 million
Kobe 1.5 million
Kyoto 1.4 million
Fukuoka 1.3 million
Kawasaki 1.2 million
Hiroshima 1.1 million
Saitama 1.0 million
Kitakyushu 1.0 million
Sendai 1.0 million
Warning: large 1500px (444kb) photo
Looking east northeast from Kyoto Tower.
Warning: large 1500px photo (395kb)
Looking NNW from Kyoto Tower with Kyoto Station at my back. Kyoto is a hodgepodge of buildings like any other city. Most of the famous scenery is on the fringes of the city, in every direction.
From the just-concluded Ebisu Festival, an annual New Year's event at which people all over Japan buy lucky charms and pray for business success in the New Year. These are the lanterns at Kyoto's Ebisu Shrine, just a couple block from my mother-in-law's house downtown. If you can't be here, download and use this desktop background for business success in 2004. It couldn't hurt.
Japanese New Year's decorations with plenty of omens for good luck. On the left, kadomatsu; in the middle, shimekazari; on the right, artificial plum blossoms made out of pink and white mochi.
I recommend MK Taxi with the heart-shaped sign on the roof, as they are the cheapest (usually ¥570 basic fare) in Kyoto, and also offer hotel to KIX service for $3,500 per person. Up north, look for Aoi Taxi (based in my neighborhood) with the big yellow moon sign on the roof, as it also typically has a ¥570 basic fare, compared to ¥630 for other companies.
Seijin no hi (Coming of Age Day) is a day when people who have turned 20 since the previous April 1 or will turn 20 by April 1 of the current year have the precious opportunity to get dressed up and then get drunk before noon and curse the mayor openly, or so the gossip shows (known as "wide shows") like to play the story. I was busy yesterday and just caught these photos between appointments.
Ceremonies and speeches are held at community centers, often during the new Year's holiday rather than on the official holiday on the second Monday in January (yesterday). It used to be on January 15, until it became one of the "Happy Monday" holidays. Seijin no hi began just after WWII, replacing an already discontinued shinto "rite of manhood" practice from centuries past, involving a samurai helmet for males and a life of servitude for females.
View from about 5km away, reduced by 1/3, cropped and de-hazed as much as possible.
Yasaka Pagoda is officially Hokan-ji Temple, but the pagoda, built in the year 589, is almost all that's left of it, and so it is simply known as Yasaka-no-to, Yasaka tower/pagoda. It had a rough first millenium, being burned down a few times in the power struggles that define Kyoto's history. The structure you see here was built in 1440, with some touch-ups in the 1600s. Toji Tempe's pagoda near Kyoto Station is Japan's tallest. I believe that all 5-story pagodas like this in Japan are meant to metaphorically enshrine the ashes of Buddha. The Kannon in the background is of more modern ferroconcrete sctructure, Kannon being a female bosatsu (bodhisattva), one who is enlightened and leads others to enlightenment.
Shrine Maidens go about their business at Kyoto Ebisu Jinja.
Also, RealVideo clip 1 (3.2 MB) and RealVideo clip 2 (1.7 MB)
I would be indescribably happy if some VERY generous person were to give me this lovely camera, the Leica Digilux 2.
Please be aware of the subtle warning signs indicating the onset of "Mall Syndrome" in your husbands and boyfriends. Symptoms include:
• catatonic stupor
• limbs askew, mouth agape
• downregulated expression of "will to live" genes
• will quickly agree to buy anything, ANYTHING, to get out of department store as soon as possible
You may already know about it, but in case you haven't, Rikai.com is an excellent tool for improving your kanji reading ability, which I am once again trying to do. Load a URL for a japanese page into the site, then mouse over kanji on the processed page for readings and definitions.
Also, there is Hiragana no megane, which puts hiragana in parentheses after the kanji.
Three locations to serve you. Haven't tried his matcha (green tea) cheesecake yet. Papa Jon's website
Holiday leftover photos, reheated in the microwave for your enjoyment.
College students goofing off. These ones are from Kyoto Zokei Geijutsu Daigaku, the Kyoto University of Art and Design. A Christmas tree lighted by pedal power, with some message about consumerism and dwindling natural resources. This is on the promontory at the convergence of the Kamo and Takano Rivers
A heartwarming tale about baseball, $1.7 billion, and a lot of swell friends
A floozy reaches the summit of crony capitalism.
The Life and Times of Neil Bush
Crawling through the underbelly of crony capitalism.
It's a New Year's Eve custom in Japan to eat toshikoshisoba, buckwheat noodles. Nishin soba, soba with sweet smoked herring, is a signature dish of Kyoto. Man, do I love nishin soba, and my mother-in-law is great at making it. Kyoto-style New Year's cuisine.
A reader of this weblog is looking for information on a Japanese soldier flag.
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and successful 2004 from Nils, Yoshiko and the future baby currently known as Gunyo-chan (Twitchy), all set for his or her debut in March.
Our New year's Card (nengajou) is on the right. 2004 is the year of the monkey, so most nengajou are monkey-themed.
