Samantha and the Clouds

This was done with pencil and watercolor and then scanned and colored in Photoshop.

Shogun Ball

Nara and Himeji

This is my last set of pictures from my winter trip. After this set I'll be putting up some art that I've been working on. This is Becky feeding the deer in Nara. They're pretty sweet though they do try to eat your jeans or shirt once in a while.

Becky's mom, Martha, feeding the deer. This was New Years day so there were a ton of people visiting the temples here. The deer, too, were out in large numbers.

An Okonomiyaki food stand. You can see what they put in them and how they assemble them. It's mainly a kind of cabbage pankake with different veggies and pork thrown in. We didn't eat Okonomiyaki this day but instead opted for Tako (Octopus) Balls, which aren't disimilar in taste.

A monk taking donations for the temple. Martha was kind enough to donate.

The most well preseved and arguably most beautiful castle in Japan, Himeji-jyo. We walked the grounds for a few hours and even went up to the top of the main tower. Every aspect of this castle complex was built with high security in mind.

Another shot of Himeji-jyo. There are at least four rings of walls such as this that need to be scaled, that is, once you get over the moat.

Back in the station. I took the Bullet train back to Kagoshima and then a ferry to Yakushima. It was a great trip and I think we all burnt outselves out sufficiently enough to be glad to be home.

Kyoto

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. Becky and I are gonna build one of these but with lots of windows, a first floor full of couches (like the Hilton) and instead of ducks we'll have duckbill platypuses.

FushimiInari Shrine. This is a famous shrine with over 40,000 of these torii (gates). If you walk through all of them your wish will come true. Three hours is a long time when its close to 0 degrees C. We didn't make it.

Tofukuji. A famous temple complex in Kyoto.

Rock Garden within the Tofukuji temple complex.

The Kyoto skyline. The city is in a valley with mountains on all sides which gives it extremely hot, and cold, temperatures depending on the season.


My friend Rebecca and me.
One more of FushimiInari shrine. Next time I go I'd like to make a point of walking through all 40,000.

Miyajima and Hiroshima

From Shimane I traveled back to Hiroshima where I met my dear friend Rebecca and her mom Martha. We took a day trip to Miyajima, a small island famous for its large shrine compound, a large torii that was built in the water and friendly deer.


A small back street on Miyajima, just off the main route.


The famous Miyajima water torii. It's not as big as I thought it would be but I like to imagine the monks out there trying to figure out how to build it.


The main temple complex, just behind the statues, trees and branches. Ok, so its not a great shot of the temple complex but if you use your imagination you can see that its amazing.

Walking up the mountain to a gondola Becky spotted a sign that read,
"10 minutes to ropeway, 7 if run a little."


A Miyajima local. There were bunches of deer but this was the cutest one. For some reason they were all hungry for paper.


Hiroshima's Peace Dome. One of the few buildings that was left standing in the city after the atomic bomb was dropped. One of the reasons this building didn't get blasted away is that the bomb detonated almost directly above it, blasting downward. The initial heat wave melted the copper dome immediately and was followed by a blast that traveled straight through the top of the building, blowing out the windows, some walls and everyone that was inside. The building was originally an industrial promotion hall.


A graveyard in the city. The stones in the lower picture appear to have been collected from an earlier site.

Shimane

I had a great trip around Japan. I visited several cites and towns over the last few weeks and saw tons of temples and shrines. I've got a bunch of pictures so I'll put them up over the next couple weeks. I started in Hiroshima and then went with my friend to her house in Shimane.

In Japan, making a Christmas cake on Christmas eve is a tradition, though I'm willing to bet its not a very old one. My friend Miho, her sister and her sister's kids made this one and it was delicious. Don't miss the Koala cookies lining the second tier.

My friend works and lives in Shimane, a cold mountainous area known for farming. I think they're mascot is a giant salamander. The tiered mountain farming is reminded me of China though I didn't take any good pictures to show it.

Miho in front of a shrine in northern Shimane.

The older sections are closed off but I got my camera through the bars.

The grounds around the main shrine are for the many gods who come here each year for a kind of summit. One area has a kind of god apartment complex but the more powerful ones get their own seperate buildings.

I believe this is for a god as well but I don't know which one. Perhaps one that likes water.


we threw coins up into the ends of this giant rope. If you can get it to stick you can make a wish. It was kind of tough to stick one plus it was already jammed with coins.