Japan 4 - Kyoto

Hello and welcome to our last post on our trip to Japan in 2004. As in the previous post, we are staying in Nara, but took a 20 minute train ride into Kyoto for a daytrip. Not on the train below, which was the latest bullet train (Shinkansen) that Japan had at that time. We had a little commuter train which looked alot like an older subway train.

First off, a little history and language lesson. Kyoto became the capital of Japan in 794, when the capital was moved from Nara to get away from an increasingly powerful Buddhist clergy. Kyo-to means "Capital City". Kyoto remained the capital city of Japan until 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo (Eastern Capital). Even during the Edo period, Kyoto remained the home of the Imperial Family even though the political power center was Edo (the former name of Tokyo).

The railway station in Kyoto is simply stunning as you can see in the picture above. We walked around for an hour just looking at the architecture.

I can't decide which of these pictures of the bamboo forest I like better, so I put them both in. There are not many places left in Japan where these large bamboo forests are still thriving. Kyoto has several small forests around the city. Some of these bamboo are 8 to 10 inches in diameter!

I'm not really sure how many people today remember James Clavell's "Shogun", but it really is a very good book about Japanese history and culture. In the book, the chief Japanese protagonist was Lord Toranaga, who conquered all the other clans and became Shogun of Japan. In real life, the Japanese chief was named Tokugawa. He maintained a castle known as Nijo-jo in Kyoto (you can see the entry gate into his castle below).

We toured around the castle and it was fantastic. It had "nightingale" floors, which are designed to squeak loudly if any is trying to sneak around. Almost everyone in the tour group - Japanese and Western - tried their best to walk across the floors without making a sound and it was impossible. No way a ninja could make it across that floor without being heard! Here's a link with a little more information on Nijo-jo.

Behind the castle was the water gardens, which were as beautiful as any Japanese gardens. The design of the gardens makes you think you are out in an unspoiled countryside, not in the middle of a huge metropolitan city.

So after our day trip to Kyoto, we headed back to Nara, then took a train back to Tokyo to fly home. Annie took the picture below as we flashed by all of these beautiful little farms. According to different things I have read, these farmers occupy some extraordinarily valuable land that there are always political arguments over. Some say that it would be better to use the land for housing and cities, but the farmers are very powerful politically. I would hate to see these farms destroyed, as they really add to the beauty of Japan.

Thanks for reading through all of these posts on Japan. I'll have to think a bit to see what pictures to post next. Maybe we will have to post something from Europe next.

Take care!

John & Annie

Japan 3 - Nara

Welcome to the third post about our trip to Japan. In this post, we have taken the bullet train (Shinkansen) down to Nara. Nara was the capital city of Japan from around 710 AD to 794 AD when the capital was shifted to Kyoto, about 20 minutes away by train.


Nara-koen (Nara Park) has a herd of about 1200 deer that roam throughout the park. There are little dispensers (like candy machines) all over the park where you can put in three 50-yen coins and get some food for the deer. The little guy below was pretty worried about hand-feeding this fawn.

It's a good thing this park is not in the US. I could easily imagine a hunter "bagging" a 12-point buck.

Todai-ji is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan, and the central building (Daibatsu-den) is the largest wooden structures in the world. The picture below is just the entry gate, known as Nandai-mon. It has some fierce statues in each side, called Nio Guardians that were carved in the 13th century by the sculptor Unkei.

As you can tell from the size of the people in the picture, Todai-ji is huge. The amazing thing is that this building was rebuilt in 1709 after a fire destroyed the first one. The rebuilt temple is only two-thirds the size of the first one!

Inside the Todai-ji is the Daibatsu (the Great Buddha). It's a little over 16 meters high. So pay attention to the Buddha's head and especially the nose. See how small the nostrils on the nose seem from this picture angle?

Towards the back of the Great Buddha is a column with a hole cut out (see below). This hole is the size of one of the Great Buddha's nostrils. If you can squeeze through this hole in the wooden column, you are ensure of enlightenment. It was a riot watching all of the people who wriggled through this hole! These two guys were pretty spry for their age, and I must say that enlightenment is on the way for both of them.

In Nara, there is a great Japanese garden known as Isui-en, which dates from the Meiji era. Every view is fantastic. Small hidden areas where you can peacefully sit and contemplate your navel.

A view of the tea-house in Isui-en.

Well, that's it for Nara. It was a great few days there. Next we show some pictures from a day trip we took to Kyoto while we stayed in Nara.

Thanks for reading!

Sunriver & Mt Bachelor - February 2010

Hi and welcome to our photoblog. We are taking a break from the Japan trip pictures, and want to show you some pictures from our recent trip to the Sunriver and Mt Bachelor area of Oregon. We try to go there at least once per year to do some cross-country skiing. I think the first blog we did was of our trip to Sunriver last year.

Due to the poor economy, there were really some great deals this year. We rented the little house below for 2 nights and got two free nights! We always go through a company called Bennington Properties. They have many dog-friendly properties, and they have a "dog basket" waiting for Angus every time we rent one of their properties.

As you can see below, the house was very nice! We had a fireplace, and a great little area to sit and watch the Olympics each night after skiing. We could go do our pitiful skiing, then come home to watch the Olympic athletes show us how it should be done.

The first day of skiing was pretty bad. We tried a new sno-park that we had not tried before, because they allowed dogs to go on the trails. This sno-park was at a lower elevation, and had not had any snow for a while. The old snow was packed down and was like trying to ski across a bowl of ice cubes. No grip at all for the skis. So after I fell a couple of times, we ditched the skis and just walked on the snowshoe trails. We met some other people with their dogs, and walked with them while they snowshoed. Next year, we will go back with snowshoes!

We probably walked about 3 miles in the snow, so that was a pretty good first day. We stopped a few times for various photo opportunities. If we could teach Angus to take pictures, we could have a picture of Annie and me together!

On the second day, we had arranged for a dog-sitter to come and sit with Angus so we could try some other trails. We went to Dutchman's Flat and had some great views of the mountains. The skiing was still tough, but a little easier than the day before. Below is a great view of Mt Bachelor, which was our view for our picnic lunch while skiing.

In the picture above, look very closely at the top of Mt Bachelor to see the little "bowl" valley. This is where the picture below is taken. You can see the para-sailor just to the top left of the mountain peak. There were three of them sailing around while we were skiing. They landed just as we finished. If you look closely in the valley in the picture below, you can see a puff of snow where one of those maniac skiers who start at the very top of mountains is skiing down.

Way bigger cojones than I have!

Here's a panorama of the Dutchman Flats area, with Broken Top in the middle of the picture. I don't know the name of the mountain to the left.

On Saturday, we decided to wander around the area. We found another dog-friendly sno-park that was great. We will definitely go back to it next year. We also drove over to see Smith Rock State Park. All of the years we lived in Oregon before, we never went to Smith Rock. It is a world famous rock-climbing location.

In the picture below, you can see the Crooked River winding around part of the rock formations. It is a really beautiful spot. Lots of hiking trails and places for people to ride their horses.

It was a very cold, blustery day while we were visiting Smith Rock, but you can see that it doesn't stop serious climbers.

Another photo of the Crooked River and the rock formations.

So we had a great time at Sunriver, even though the skiing was terrible. Next time, we just need to be prepared with snowshoes. We've already gone to REI to check them out. We talked about coming back to Sunriver in October, to do some normal hiking and walking around Smith Rock. So maybe we will go more than once a year!

On the way back, we had a great view of the Sisters mountains below. I try to put these pictures in so that you can click on them and can get a larger picture. So try that, and the mountains you see going from the left to the right are Three-Fingered Jack, the South Sister, the Middle Sister, the North Sisters (these are the three mountains in the middle of the picture), Black Butte and Mount Washington on the far right.

Thanks for reading. See you next time!