Gion backstreet Okonomiyaki
Wander the back streets of Gion at night, beside shallow rippling canals in neat stone borders, to find an un-assuming restaurant just near a small shrine at the intersection of Shirakawa Minami Dori and Shinbashi Dori. Shrine at intersection of...
Nara – home of deer and Buddha
Nara, a former capital city of Japan is home to free-ranging deer, and one of Japan’s largest statues of the Buddha. The Buddha’s statue is housed in the world’s largest wooden building. Yet this building, the temple Todaiji, is a reconstruction...
Be careful of Tsunamis
This helpful sign was seen at Enoshima, a popular seaside resort not too far from Tokyo. There is even a “Billabong” surf shop there, presumably not catering to the Tsunami surfer market. But seriously, this sign indicates that a Tsunami would...
See how to present a soybean, and enjoy a Zen vegetarian lunch.
In the grounds of the Zen Buddhist Temple of the heavenly dragon (Tenryuji) in Arashiyama I had a very special dining experience. Their vegetarian restaurant Shigetsu had the most artistically presented and tasty collection of dishes for their set...
Lotus & Cicadas
The sound of cicadas singing in the trees, the beauty of the lotus flowers in a temple compound – these are such vibrant memories still alive in memory from a recent visit to Kyoto and Kamakura in the late Japanese summer. The heat and humidity is...