Kyoto Tower

Kyoto Tower is the tallest structure in Kyoto.  It is across the street from Kyoto's very impressive train station and shopping arcade.  It can't be missed.

 

Kyoto Tower is even more striking at night, when it is lit.

And on our last night in Japan the tower was blazing red!

Well, I am now back in the USA, so it is time to end my Japan posts.  A few final observations:

        • Japan is mountainous.  Flat areas available for cities are few, so they are densely settled and people and houses are packed tightly together.

        • Many Japanese people wear all black or black and white.   It is a very conformist culture. It appears that they do not want to stand out.

        • Everything is strikingly neat.  I didn’t see a pothole in our 12 days in Japan.  We could eat off the sparkling floors.  One day I was looking out the window of a bus and saw a single piece of plastic blowing on a sidewalk.  It stood out because it was the only (very small) piece of trash I had seen in Japan.

Golden Pavilion

 Kinkakuji -- or the "Golden Pavilion" --  is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. 

The temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.  Under his will it became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408.

The Golden Pavilion has burned down and been rebuilt several times, most recently in 1950 when it was set on fire by a fanatic monk. The present structure was rebuilt in 1955.

Bamboo Forest, Thousand Torii and Thousand Buddhas

The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is a delightful walking experience near Kyoto.  It is a pleasant uphill walk surrounded by very tall bamboo.  Like all Kyoto destinations, it can be very crowded.

Talk about crowded!  The Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine is better known as the "Thousand Torii."  Torii are those tall red-orange gates that define Japan.  At this location outside Kyoto more than a thousand torii are lined up for walks up a gentle hill.  The torii near the start are very tall and thick, like those shown above.  Further on, the torii are thinner.  The crowds were so dense I cut out about halfway through.

The temple of Emperor Go-Shirakawa was built in 1164 east of Kyoto.  The temple, Sanjūsangen-dō, holds 1,001 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of compassion.   It is a very impressive sight.  Photographs are not permitted inside, so I bought a postcard and photographed it.  

Making Ceramics in Kanazawa

 

He is the 6th generation making ceramics in Kanazawa over a 150 year period at the Kutani Kosen Kiln.

Golden Leaf Painting in Kanazawa

 We visited the Hakukokan Gold Leaf Center, a museum celebrating the art and craft of gold leaf technology.  It holds a collection going back to the late 16th century.

We spent some time applying gold leaf to lacquerware plates under the guidance of this woman.

There was also a gift shop.  A couple of items might have gone home with me.

The Thatched Roofs of Shirakawa-Go

 Shirakawa-Go is a UNESCO World Heritage mountain village famous for its thatched roof buildings.    

The steep thatched roofs are built without nails.  

It is a very small village with fewer than 2,000 residents.

This steeply pitched profile is chosen to handle the region's heavy winter snowfall.

Each field produces about enough rice to feed one family for a year.

These three houses are famous in Japan.

The buildings resemble hands pressed together in prayer.

A Country Mural

While traveling in our bus outside Kanazawa, Japan, we had a rest stop beside a simple local mural.

Linked to Monday Murals.