Japan photo diary

Shall we start with this image of cherry blossoms *almost* in bloom? We were a couple of weeks early for the grand floral explosions, but had enough of an inkling of what was to come.  Of course that did not deter us nor the tons of other tourists from flocking to Kyoto, known for temples, palaces, shrines, kaiseki and lesser known Kyoto style sushi. We rented some bikes for a couple of days and discovered the city with frozen toes (we are flashing back to early March here).

Tom on above-mentioned rental bicycle.  At the rental shop, the owner set us up with a "manual GPS" by clipping a map onto the basket.  Awesome.  We managed to get lost anyways.

1. At the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine

2. Shrine signage with a construction worker apologizing that there is work taking place

3. These two visitors with their masks, with a hint of the amount of tourists at the frame edges

A visitor making a prayer or offering with tons of Ema behind her. The ema are wooden plaques sold to those wanting to communicate to the gods their hand-written wishes, generally for health, wealth, happiness and good marks on an exam.

Or sometimes visitors wish for Saint Laurent, Air France Premiere seats or jewels from Van Cleef & Arpels.

Some of the thousands of Torii gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

The bamboo groves at Arashiyama

Spooky deer and friendly deer in Nara

So we got ourselves onto a bullet train or a Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo with a glimpse of Mount Fuji while drinking bottled water from Mount Fuji.  It was all very meta.  Speaking of meta I am typing this post while on a regular 5hr train ride from Montreal to Toronto.  The distance from Kyoto to Tokyo is almost equivalent and via those bad assed trains took about 2.5hr.  #bringhighspeedrailtoCanada #please #thankyou

1. Bright light and shadow in Ginza, Tokyo

2. Shoes almost in a line at Dover Street Market Ginza

3. A giant fallen rose by Andy Hillman for Visvim