I don't know why, but local manhole/utility covers always catch my eye. Japan has some of the most interesting and beautiful ones. Here's a sampling:
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| Sado Island |
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| Mitsue Castle |
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| Mitsue City |
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| Mitsue Castle |
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| Miyajima Island |
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| Miyajima Island |
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| Kurashiki |
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| Kurashiki |
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| Nara |
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| Nara |
Some things just didn't fit into other posts.
Japanese hotels can have stunning displays in their public spaces.
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| Capitol Hotel Tokyu (Tokyo) |
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| Ten-yu Ryoken (Hakone) |
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| Westin Miyako (Kyoto) |
Always presented with aesthetics in mind.
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| Dessert |
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| This garnish was common throughout Japan. |
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| Planting rice. |
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| Even our ship (the New Zealand-based Heritage Adventurer) grew fresh herbs. |
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| Dogs can be pampered pets in Japan - as in the U.S. |
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| Street trees in Tokyo were tagged and inventoried. (Gingko) |
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| Columbine along the street on Sado Island. |
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| Flowers (oxalis?) growing in a wall at Matsue Castle. |
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| Hydrangea in Tenryu-ji (Kyoto) |
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| Flowering shrub along the bird-watching path (Kyoto). |
Monday, 25 May 2026
We had the afternoon "at leisure" and our hotel (the Westin Miyako Kyoto) had a "bird-watching trail" on the grounds. It was a short (330 m), but steep (mostly stairs) trail.
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| The first stop along the trail was a small shrine to a "Buddhist Saint". |
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| The first of four torii along the path. |
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| Torii #2 |
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| Third torii. |
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| Lon at the third torii, with a small Shinto shrine in the background. |
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| Fourth torii and the shrine. This is about half-way up the trail. |
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| The shrine had a view overlooking Kyoto. |
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| The top of the trail had a small garden. |
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| An almost-dried-up pond in the garden. |
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| The view from the top was in dire need of "vegetation management" or "viewpoint maintenance"! |
After our short hike, we partook of onsens (hot baths) in the hotel. Both the men's and women's onsens had elegant inside baths and lovely outside garden bathing pools.
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| Properly attired to go to the onsen. |
Monday, 25 May 2026
More from our last day in Kyoto - our last day in Japan. We start our long travels home right after breakfast tomorrow.
A small cemetery wedged into a space between buildings. There's no telling where a torii can be found. Large torii in the middle of Kyoto as seen from our hotel roof. I think this is the torii for the Heian-jingu. Our farewell dinner was in a restaurant beside the gardens at Heian-jingu. The gardens were even more impressive after sunset.
Nishiki Market is a 5-block-long covered pedestrian-only alley filled with over a hundred shops. Food shops (both ready-to-eat and to-be-cooked) make up most of the businesses, but there are also shops selling traditional items such as knives, cookware, pottery, and flowers.
Monday, 25 May 2026
I had hoped that with the weekend over, the weekday crowds would be less. Not so.
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| To get to the temple from the bus park, we had to cross two busy transit lines - and a canal. |
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| Followed by a busy pedestrian-only "shopping street" - mostly filled with food stalls. |
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| More food. |
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| Even more food. It is considered very rude to walk while you're eating or drinking, so if you purchase a snack, you need to move out of the pedestrian traffic and stand or sit at the side while eating and drinking. |
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| The main entrance to the Fushimi Inari Taisha. The temple is one of the most popular (and most photographed) places in Kyoto. |
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| The temple is known for its torii paths. This is the large torii path. Going forward (left photo), all you see is the crimson torii. Looking backwards (right photo), you can see that each torii has a sponsor. The photos also give you a feeling for how crowded the temple was. |
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| This is the outside of the small torii path. |
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| The temple is dedicated to the fox, and pairs of fox guardians can be found in several places. |
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| There are also the more traditional guardian dogs in the temple grounds. |
