Osakajo
Osaka Castle
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Shojoshinin on Koyasan
清浄心院
Some people make a day trip to Koyasan. Big mistake. Sure the temple lodgings aren’t cheap, but the temple lodging experience (shukubo or 宿坊) is fabulous and Koyasan transforms into a different kind of magical place when the sun goes down.
Saiya (祭家) in Kyoto
Udon with beef
I had two nights in Kyoto last summer. I asked my innkeeper for a recommendation of a fun izakaya in the (Nijo Station) neighborhood and she recommended Daruma (908 Koyamacho, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto). She was correct. Daruma was tons of fun. Both of the Mama Sans and the customers were entertaining. Pictures coming soon.
So the next day I asked her for a similar place and she recommended Saiya. With kanji like 祭家, how could it not be a party? Well, it wasn’t as fun as Daruma, but the family running the place were baseball diehards so we did have fun chatting about baseball while watching games on the TV.
What a difference shooting in RAW can make!
jpg version
I was going through and deleting some photos from last summer when I came upon the photo above. I almost hit delete, but I was curious what the photo was even of so I decided to take a peek at the RAW file before deleting.
This was the same photo in RAW format:
RAW version of same photo
At first I thought I had opened the wrong photo, but then I checked the file name and sure enough they were the same.
I took this while walking through the Okunoin Cemetery just after sunset. I didn’t have a tripod so I just set my camera on rocks or headstones to take long exposures. Obviously, this one @ 30 seconds wasn’t long enough for a jpg photo, but in RAW it almost looks properly exposed.
Panning for gold… fish
金魚屋 @ 日本ライン夏まつり納涼花火大会
Asano in Yanaka
Asano (tempura, sashimi, etc.) in Yanaka (Tokyo, Japan)
Back in 2007 I returned to Japan for the first time after a nearly 20 year absence. On our second night we ate at a Izakaya near our hotel called Asano (浅野 or あさの). When we lived in Japan in 2009 and 2010 we ate there again. But today’s photos come from last summer when I enjoyed my third meal there.
Asano owner, cook, and conversationalist
The owner is very friendly. He remembered me from each of my prior visits like any good Izakaya proprietor would.
Japanese tempura
Hopefully I’ll get the chance to partake again in the not-too-distant future.