Go’o Shrine The Go’o Shrine 『護王神社』is an Art Project designed by photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, erected circa 1998 on the island of Naoshima.  It is a re-interpretation of a style of Shinto Shrine architecture. The name Go’o means something...

A long day return trip by Shinkansen and local train from Tokyo brings you to Nikko, approximately 85 miles (140 kms) to the north.This is home to a World Heritage temple complex nestled into a mountainside packed with centuries old cedars.You...

At the Zen Buddhist temple of Rokuonji, more famously known as Kinkakuji (the temple of the golden pavilion), nestled in the foothills of north-west Kyoto, you will find this famous gold-plated building. The history dates back...

In December 1968 Japan’s first Nobel Laureate, novelist Yasunari Kawabata, began his Nobel lecture entitled “Japan the Beautiful and Myself” with these words: “In the spring, cherry blossoms, in the summer the cuckoo.In autumn the moon, and in...

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...