Posts from — March 2004

Warm spring weather has arrived, and the new Ferry Family™ took a short jaunt over to the Kamo River, Gregory’s first outing except for last Thursday’s mandated one-month checkup (all clear).

The Gene Simmons look. He sticks out his tongue a lot. Is that common?

Bath time. It’s important to look your best.

Be a little patient. With all the sakura searches here in the past couple weeks, you would think it was already here. In good time, my friends. The pictures will be here. In the meantime, Heian Shrine garden sakura in 2001 (my first lo-res digicam, no complaints please) and Osaka Castle Park (1995 or so).

Actually, Greg is getting more active day by day, and increasingly shows that he is focused and paying attention to us when we hold him and play with him. Tomorrow he will leave the house for the first time since coming home, ironically to go back to the hospital for his one month checkup. Photo taken by Yoshiko-mama with the Sony Cybershot.

Look how far we haven’t come. This hillock near Gojo-Kawabata entombs the severed ears and noses of Koreans that were brought back as proof of conquest and presented to Hideyoshi by his soldiers in the late 16th century in exchange for rewards.

I’m one month old, and I weigh 1 kg more than when I was born. I was born at 11:30 p.m. during Tante Knight Scoop on Billy Zoom‘s birthday, February 20. Pretty cool.

Tomorrow is the last night fort this even in Higashiyama-ku. This is what Yasaka Pagoda (see previous post) looked like this evening. On the right is 1280 X960 Desktop Background image. The first two pictures were taken with a tripod, about 5-second exposures. the third one was handheld, about 1/3 second. I’m loving my Lumix FZ10.

Refurbished in 1436, so it’s a little dusty.

“Prime Minister Koizumi invites the world to Japan!”
The English front page of the Japan National Tourist Organization website invites you with this greeting from the PM and a link to his English Yokoso Japan! video, but right underneath it is the notice that the Kyoto Tourist Information Center (across the street from Kyoto Station) has closed. Nice timing, folks. It wasn’t so great anyway, as it was never open on Sunday, even though many tourists pour in on that day. “Duh!” says I.

Coincidentally, I often walk past the TIC on Sundays, and end up fielding a few questions from less-than-bemused travelers standing in front of the locked office. Maybe JNTO should just pay me as a field agent? A Starbucks is under construction in the office space next door (even though there is already a Starbucks outlet about 50 meters away), so maybe the TIC will become a cozy nook with those checkerboard tables. I hope the counter girls know where all the hotels are, because I think they are going to get a lot of questions unrealted to double Frappachoco. A few weeks ago I went into a Starbucks in Shiga and ordered a double espresso. The clerk (can’t call her a barista) looked at me as if to ask, “Do we sell that?” Then her supervisor stepped in and handled my off-the-wall request.

Anyway, if you do come into town at The Death Star (Kyoto Station), there is an information counter with English speakers (I hope) on the second floor pavilion inside the station. If you are going out of the main entrance facing Kyoto Tower, go up the big escalator on your left, get off at the second floor and walk straight past Cafe Du Monde and Mister Donuts. The information office is on your right. There’s also a cash machine that takes credit cards there.

The new steel bridge (with flying buttresses!) over the Kamo River in Meiji 7 (1874) and the same view in Heisei 16 (2004).