Damp and dark in Kyoto

Near Ohara Temple about an hour from downtown.

Waiting for the train at Kyoto station

This spring has been the rainiest in 120 years. Things are becoming even more moss covered than usual. Rainy season has started 20 days early in Kanto.

This photo is from Kyoto, in Kansai. Still plenty rainy there too.

After the rain

Another trip to Kyoto in what must be the coolest, rainiest year in the last 5 or 6. In the woods near Ohara temple about an hour by bus from the center of Kyoto.

More October Kyoto

Oops, Flare

Kyoto again

From Kinkakuji and Nanzenji shirnes

A few more of Kyoto

One warning: If you do go to Kyoto and visit some of the popular sightseeing spots, guard your camera well. Although it is very unlikely to be stolen, people have little problem with running into you, hitting your camera or tripod (tripods are prohibited from some temples or shrines) and possibly breaking it. You may (or may not) get an apology, but your camera could be broken and it will be very, very tough to be compensated for it. Use a strap and be very careful. I was taking a quick snapshot-like photo of Kinkakuji (the golden temple below) when a group of Tokyo tourists arrived and actually tried physically pushing me away so they could get their group photo taken. This is not unusual in crowded areas in Japan. Expect to be pushed and shoved without concern, or excuse mes. And take precautions. Most of all, try to hold you temper, even if someone does knock your camera out of your hand and destroys it.

(Photos in RGB, not converted to sRGB)

More October Kyoto

I suppose this is what many expect to see when they visit Japan. It isn't a common sight--you gotta hunt for them. Even in Kyoto...

Kyoto 2006

We visited Kyoto last weekend. Naturally, the leaves have not changed much yet---it is still summer like in most of Japan. Fall comes late here, and if you blink, you may miss it.
We didn't have a lot of time to do much, especially time for me to take decent photos. I have a lot of advice for anyone planning a visit to Kyoto, but perhaps the best I could give is that if your wife/husband etc is not interested in photography, make sure you schedule time apart so that you can do more than take hurried snapshots.
More pics to come as I process them. These may not look right as I have not changed the color space back to sRGB from RGB.

Kyoto Autumn