I just posted a number of photos here of the bridge I described in a previous entry. It was quite interesting to see such an enormous construction up close, and the perspective formed by the structures was a visual treat.

I just posted a few photos from our walk in Kyoto, in the neighborhood roughly between the Yasaka shrine and the Kyomizudera temple. I didn’t take that many photos that day, having photographed the area pretty extensively on previous visits. It’s a remarkably picturesque area, though, so I had to pull out the camera a few times. The Flickr photo set is here.

I’ve put up the first batch of photos from our recent trip. These were taken during our first full day, when we made a whirlwind trip to Tokyo and back via shinkansen. We saw our friend Rafael, did some shopping, visited our usual haunts in Asakusa, and had lunch at Ippudo, the ramen restaurant with incredible gyoza. The photo set is here and there are brief captions, but a couple of things bear special mention. (All of the following photos link to Flickr, so you can click them to see larger versions.) read more

We’re home now. My intent is to post a number of photos and some anecdotes and reflections during the coming days; we’ll see whether I actually find the time and energy to do that, along with catching up on work, etc. Here’s a snapshot of my synth-geek souvenir:

I first heard YMO about 30 years ago and as long as I’ve been going to Japan I’ve wanted to buy one of their CDs while there. Yeah, I know: physical media is obsolete, I could have just ordered the CD from Amazon, etc. Nonetheless, it was a good deal of fun to flip through the YMO selection in the CD shop in the Porta mall next to Kyoto Station, and buy one from a polite young woman who I think spoke next to no English. read more