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| Host Family They welcomed me with open arms and fed me extremely well (as seen here, plus the fact that I gained at least 5 pounds while in Japan)! |
Sanjusangendo
1001 Kannon (Buddhist goddess of mercy) statues can be found inside this 120-meter hall. |
Sanjusangendo
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Ryoanji
There's no better place to ponder the meaning of Mu than the zen garden. |
Ryoanji
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Kiyomizudera
There's a short hike to reach the temple, but the view's definitely worth it. |
Kiyomizudera
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Modern Geisha It's no easy feat to walk in kimono, hair piece and very tiny shoes. Still, young girls pay up to $150 to be dressed up geisha style and walk around in nearby temples. |
Heianjingu
The enclosed garden is a great place to relax. Sit on the Chinese-style bridge that overlooks the huge pond and imagine life in 1227. |
Heianjingu
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Kitanotenmangu
During the plum blossom festival on 2/25, visitors pay homage to Shinto gods and enjoy a cup of tea under plum trees. |
Chishakuin
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@ Fugetsu Inside Osaka's America Village, Yumiko and I found a restaurant for my favoriate Japanese food, okonomiyaki!! |
@ "Penis Bar" No one was sober enough to remember the actual name of that bar. We were all too distracted. Their famous dish, at least to us foreigners, is this big sausage above. It's called, what else, "Gaijin" (the foreigner). |
Todaiji
The 16-meter-high Great Buddha sits at the center and looks on to all of his worshippers. |
Todaiji
The hill in the back... this photo looks eeriely similar to a scene in "Blair Witch Project"... |
Golden
Pavilion
Covered with gold leaf. The original temple from the 14th century was burnt down by one crazy monk in the 1950's. |
Nara
A one-day field trip through narrow streets of this traditional city. My bike kept on steering toward the right and I almost fell into the gutter on the side of the street because of that! |
Nara
Bamboo forest
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Nara
Power stone: prove your strength by lifting the rock inside the cage with one hand. |
Nara
Indigenous shrines |
Osaka Castle
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Kyoto |
Kyoto
Train Station
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Aoi Festival
On 5/15, participants dressed in costumes of the Heian Period (794-1185) and walked on the streets of Kyoto. |