Another old post lurking in my drafts. This was in Tokyo in spring when the cherry blossoms were unbelievable. I thought I’d had enough of them until I happened upon Ueno Park where they’d made a path across the middle of a lake and lined it … Continue reading The Last Blossom
This is one of those famous Tokyo sights- the Shibuya crossing where thousands of people cross at a time. I was in a rush (as were most of the people here) and so just ended up with a bad set of quick grab photos. Still, … Continue reading Shibuya Crossing
You see these pieces of paper at a lot of shrines in Japan. Apparently they contain a fortune, and you make an offering to get one from a box. If the fortune is bad you can tie it to a wall in the shrine so the bad … Continue reading Omikuji
Kyoto is so photogenic it probably has its own selfie stick and Instagram account and, if it could, would wear reflective sunglasses and use #nofilter all the time. This is the Yasaka shrine in Gion. It’s a big place and you can spend a lot of time … Continue reading Yasaka
The flip side of Night Gion, taken from the top of the hill during the day. It is incredibly busy (although it’s not apparent from this photo).
Gion is an old part of Kyoto and during the day it’s busy with people. At night it’s very quiet and is a nice place to explore.
Just to prove that it’s not all cherries in Japan here are some yellow green plant things. Summer is on the way!
You’ll see these a lot in Japanese shrines – wishing plaques. They’re little bits of wood you can buy with a picture and some words, and you can write a message on the back and hang it up. It’s interesting to see all the different … Continue reading Ema
The Fushimi Inari-taisha is another of those amazing Japanese sights. It’s a shrine on the side of a mountain in Kyoto with over 5,000 bright orange torii gates leading all the way to the top. It can get very crowded, but the torii gates do … Continue reading Orange Torii
Tokyo is remarkably clean for its size, but it’s not without a few rough edges. Here is an invader (see also here, here, and here), found on a street leading from Shibuya to Harajuka.
A Life In London 