Nothing was in bloom for this scene at Hasedera in Kamakura, but blooms aren’t always necessary to make the scene in the land of the gods.

Posted on December 9th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hasedera, kamakura, lanterns, moss. Comments: 1

My random, desktop image of the day is this photo from Toshogu in Nikko. I took this picture this past February. Although this building looks rather splendid, especially in the snow, it’s actually a mere storeroom.

Posted on November 29th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: lanterns, snow, toshogu. Comments: 2

The Tenso Jinja Shinto Shrine near our apartment frequently has festivals. Lanterns are strung up for the occasion. Not that I ever saw another foreigner there, but a foreigner who couldn’t read Japanese would probably look at the lanterns as rather exotic and quite cool with the Japanese characters and all. As I mentioned before, though, such lanterns are just advertisements.

The ad for the lantern on the far right, for instance, is for ヘアーイマジン (Hair Imagine), probably a local hair salon. Next to it is 一風堂 (Ippudo), a ramen restaurant. They actually have Ippudo Ramen in New York now. Hopefully it spreads across the country and one opens in my town. See, the advertising worked! 😉

Posted on November 27th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: lanterns, shinto. Comments Off on Hair Imagine Shinto Shrine

Today’s pic is a bit out of season. I took this back in February when the ume were in full bloom at 亮朝院.

Posted on October 2nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, lanterns, nishi-waseda, temples. Comments Off on Plum blossoms at Ryochoin

The Zen apprentices at Heirin-Ji live a simple life. We saw them doing their laundry. The above, thatch-roof building appeared to be their woodshed.

Today’s second pic is the promised one from yesterday.

Posted on June 5th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: heirinji, lanterns, thatch roof. Comments: 1