Photographs from Japan
Shoren-in Temple is in eastern Kyoto and a nice garden and temple to boot. The temple allows you to view it from inside but also to take a path that travels the garden. Moss, azaleas and pond. It is a great gardens and place to visit and if you make it in the morning when the open it’s quite and enjoyable. So tranquil.
Taken with Fuji X-pro
Walking around the streets in Japan in the city or just in the suburbs you will notice lanterns at shrines or in the front of restaurants. They are almost all different and look great at night as the light up the night provoking you to come eat or drink there.
Taken on my X-pro1 with 23mm at 1.4 lens
So the weather that we had on our trip was really great. It rained once and that was when we were in Tokyo. Kamo River that cuts through Kyoto is a great sight on a nice night. Along Pontocho which has a lot of restaurants that are really nice and be quite expensive have there backs up to the Kamo river. they build these decks out of the river a little ways and adds a great atmosphere. We cooked our food in a large oil boil (veggies and meat) on one of these decks. It was splendid.
Taken with a fuji XPro1 35mm 1.4 Lens
Walking one evening while we were in Kyoto we manage to see a wonderful sunset which I didn’t get but the pink across the sky was visible for a good while. Walking in the Higashiyama hill area is a delight at this time in the early summer. There were no more crowds but the small stores were closing up. The old streets take you back and the setting sun cast shadows and lanterns turn on. Truly a great time for a walk.
Taken with Fuji XPro1 on 18-55mm lens
My girl friend and I stayed at a temple lodging on Mount Koya that is just south of Osaka. The experience there was quite amazing and peaceful compared to the cities that we have been too. We stayed at Fukuchin Temple where we were served breakfast and dinner which was vegetarian of course. Not all my cup of tea but Ms. Chef traveling with me sure did enjoy it. We took a stroll through the town which after 5-6pm was pretty deserted. All the stores were closed up and there was only one convenience store opened. We walked back and saw that the other temples started to close there gates just like this one.
Taken with Fuji XPro-1 with 35mm 1.4 lens 
S Clinton Lewis 