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Some shots from Japan

Glad to see you're enjoying the trip and getting some nice photos.
 
6) Daitoku-ji

These were taken in Daitoku-ji, a beautiful area with zen and bonsai gardens, multiple buddhist temples, and a small bamboo wood. We cycled there from our tea ceremony and were greeted by a lovely man who made space for us to park our bikes and gave us a little map and directions to get our Eki stamp! Given that it's out of season, a number of the temples were closed, but as a result the place was almost empty which greatly improved the experience. The weather was gorgeous with cold air and warm winter sun, creating a beautiful lighting and mood. We wandered around for a couple of hours just soaking up the experience. Afterwards we cycled to a lovely little cafe called Sarasa Nishijin and had hot baked apples with cream and honey, washed down with hojicha latte. A good day!!


Daitoku-ji by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Daitoku-ji Butsuden by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Kyoto Autumn Colours II by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Kyoto Autumn Colours by Paul Kaye, on Flickr

The apples!
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The roasted tea latte
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7) Imperial Palace, Kyoto

We spent the morning at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Some very interesting buildings there and a really superb Japanese garden.

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  • Panasonic - DC-S5
  • LUMIX S 24-105/F4
  • 50.0 mm
  • ƒ/8
  • 1/10 sec
  • Pattern
  • Auto exposure
  • -0.3
  • ISO 100

Pillars of Japanese Society by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Imperial Colours by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Imperial Palace Gardens, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Imperial Palace Gardens, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


Imperial Palace Gardens, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr
 
8) Philosophers' Path, Kyoto

Worth a visit for sure, but if I'm honest there are much nicer canal scenes to be had in England ! Maybe it's nicer in Cherry Blossom time, but going by the number of gift shops and over-priced cafes and restaurants dotting the route, I'm guessing it's much busier in the spring than it was for us yesterday !


The Start of the Philosophers' Path, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


The Philisophers' Path, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


The Philisophers' Path, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr


The Philisophers' Path, Kyoto by Paul Kaye, on Flickr
 
9) A Landscape shot

I'm a bit out of my comfort zone in tourist places and cities, but today we went to see a Buddhist temple and garden up on the outskirts of Kyoto and I managed to grab a nice shot of some rain on the hills.

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  • Panasonic - DC-S5
  • LUMIX S 24-105/F4
  • 105.0 mm
  • ƒ/8
  • 1/30 sec
  • Pattern
  • Auto exposure
  • 0.7
  • ISO 100

Splashes of Orange in the Rain by Paul Kaye, on Flickr
 
11) The Seiryo-ji Temple

We went for a bike ride out to the Arishiyama Bamboo Forest/Walk but it was absolutely rammed with tourists and the streets around it were cluttered with tourist honey-trap shops so we beat a hasty retreat. On the way back we stumbled across this temple, almost totally devoid of people, and discovered this gorgeous little garden behind it.


Seiryo-ji Temple by Paul Kaye, on Flickr
 
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My experience is that Japan is the best place I've ever visited for discovering places a little off the regular tourist routes that have few people and can be enjoyed in peace.
 
Jonathan-Mac said:
My experience is that Japan is the best place I've ever visited for discovering places a little off the regular tourist routes that have few people and can be enjoyed in peace.
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Yes, I agree with that. Plus, with social media it’s now common for places to suffer huge influxes of visitors - all it takes is for some “influencer” to post up some pics or a video on Tik Tok and the hoards will follow.
 
I really enjoyed touring the Kinkaku-Ji when I was in Kyoto years ago. The grounds were very restful, albeit popular at the time (we were in Japan in August and September), and the "Golden Pagoda" was pretty cool. If you have time, it's worth a visit.
 
pdk42 said:
Plus, with social media it’s now common for places to suffer huge influxes of visitors
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Not just Japan. In the past I really enjoyed touring in Europe. Any more it seems like there are large crowds anywhere I want to go. It has gone from a real pleasure to more of a hassle.
 
CharlesH said:
Not just Japan. In the past I really enjoyed touring in Europe. Any more it seems like there are large crowds anywhere I want to go. It has gone from a real pleasure to more of a hassle.
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I know this will sound like hypocrisy in the extreme given my current activities, but tourism is getting a bit out of hand in some places. So much so that locals are pushing back and some local governments/administrations are introducing tourist taxes. Venice has recently introduced a day charge to enter the city unless you are a resident or hotel guest.
 
12) Stamp Book

Our AirBnB host (who is wonderful) also runs bookbinding workshops at her father's studio. So, we did a session with her. Here is a shot of my wife doing the label embossing:

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  • Panasonic - DC-S5
  • 35mm F2 DG DN | Contemporary 020
  • 35.0 mm
  • ƒ/4
  • 1/60 sec
  • Pattern
  • Auto exposure
  • ISO 1250



And here is my finished result:

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We then went to the local buddhist shrine and a monk added the temple stamp:

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And here is a shot of the monk at work.


Caligrapher at Work by Paul Kaye, on Flickr
 
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If you're considering going to Japan, it's worth adding that whilst it's expensive to get here (from Europe), the cost of living once here is much lower than the UK and other places.

For example, here is last night's dinner - end of day reduction at the local supermarket on a very good plate of Sushi (better than most Japanese restaurants in the UK) - £3.50

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Or this meal at a little Syokudo and Teishoku restaurant in Kyoto. Lunch of friend chicken, salad, rice bowl, tofu, miso soup, and endless kukicha tea - all for about £6 !

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Bonus shot of yours truly !!
 
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