Lots of photos here. I hope you find the wait worthwhile.

	Junko's Album Iga-Ueno, Kyoto, Nara, Ise, and Chizu
	Iga-Ueno
	Junko Ichimori is a widow who owns the inn that's behind her, and she put me up there for the night. We met on the street and she became my guide and companion. She took me to see Basho's house, the Basho Museum, and then to the temple where his ashes are kept in this building whose thatched roof is patterned on Basho's hat. Also visiting the temple grounds was a class of sarariman (salary-man) wives from Nagoya. Their children grown, they were doing what women all over Japan do, getting out of the house and going to classes, this one studying haiku under the tutelege of their sensei, Asama Sizuka. He had brought them to see the birthplace of Basho, the man who turned the haiku into an art form early in the 17th century. We also visited Ueno Castle, a typical Japanese stucco and wood structure, several stories high, with wing-shaped, sweeping roofs on different levels. It was built on a hill overlooking the valley. A steep drop to a river on three sides made the only access road easy to defend. This is Yasuhiro, Junko's younger son. He and his older brother, Kenji, help run the minshuku. Yasuhiro had been to Canada and could speak English. He didn't want to stay in Iga, it's a small city and he wanted to live in a major one. But he felt he had to help his mother. He had a mountain bike and while he and Junko and kenji were preparing and serving breakfast, then cleaning up, and then preparing lunch, I would ride about the countryside exploring and looking for birds. Some of the scenery was beautiful, like this rice farm outside a village or the hillside below with its beautifully tended tea bushes. On my second trip, Junko took me to see this new I.M. Pei designed Miho Museum in nearby Shibaraki. Nestled in the mountains, one has to walk or take a small bus through a winding tunnel from the visitors building to the museum itself. Pei's artful design suggests the traditional temple roof line in a thoroughly modern rendering. It is a beautiful combination of ancient tradition and modern style. Inside is a small but exquisite collection of artifacts from ancient civilizations, including Egypt, Greece, Iran, India, China, and Japan.
	Kyoto
	As the home to the Imperial Court for over 1000 years, Kyoto is filledwith beautiful shrines and temples. Perhaps the two most famous temples are Kinkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji. Kinkaku-ji, with its Gold Pavillion, was built in the early 15th centur. It was completely destroyed by arson in 1955 and rebuilt. Ryoan-ji is home to perhaps the most famous Zen garden in Japan. Raked sand surrounds 15 stones arranged so that only 14 can be seen from any vantage point. Ryoan-ji dates from the mid-15th century. One of Kyoto's newest shrines is the Heian Shrine, built in 1895 as part of the 1100th anniversary of the the city's being made capital. The Oratory building is a two-thirds size replica of the Great Hall of State that was built during the Heian-period (784-1185) as part of the Imperial Palace. Here are the Torii entrance on the left, the gate to the main court on the right, and below is the court itself with the Oratory in the center. On my second trip, Junko took me to Kyoto to spend the day with a former college classmate, Esa Atsuhiko, a high school physics teacher (who earns about 50% more than many U.S. college professors). I asked them to take me back to my favorite temple, Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, another Zen temple. One of the head Abbots wanted to enclose the main hall in silver leaf, influenced by Kinkaku-ji's Gold Pavilion, but died before it could be done. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful temple. The sand gardens are immaculately kept as are the grounds, perpetually tended by groundskeepers who pick up every fallen leaf. Covered by several different varieties of moss, the grounds are both peaceful and beautiful. This is Nijo Castle, living quarters for the Tokugawa Shogun when he visited the Emperor. Famous features are the exquisite paintings on every wall and ceiling, and the 'butterfly' floors, designed to squeak at random intervals to prevent sneak attacks by ninja assassins. There also are interesting but ordinary sights to be found, such as the street on the left. Midway, another street enters on the left, much as the lower street ends at a 'T' intersection. You may find it hard to believe, but these are real two-way streets for real cars and real trucks. Japanese drivers are quite skillful in addition to being very patient, since not only do they have to take turns with oncoming traffic, but also navigate around bicyclists and pedestrians--note the absence of sidewalks. But some streets do have sidewalks, like this one.
	Nara
	Nara was capital of Japan during the 8th century, and by far the most impressive site/sight is Todai-ji, the largest wooden building in the world. It houses the largest cast-bronze figure in the world, the seventy-foot tall Great Buddha of Nara, or Nara Daibutsu. This is the great Daibutsu, and the one to the right is a smaller version in a side altar. The amount of gold used is truly awesome, and the detail is extraordinary. Photos cannot capture the immensity of the building nor the sense of peace and serenity emanating from the Daibutsu. I remember this place with reverence . . . but it tickles me to know that there is a tile on the roof with my name on it! They were having a fund-raiser for repairs when I was there so I "bought" one, wrote Keiko's prayer on it, and then signed my name in Japanese. So in a small way, I'm protecting Buddha. The sheer size of the buildings is awe-inspiring. The main hall above rivals the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in size. The size of the people on the main floor give some indication of the main hall's immensity. The nearby bell repeats the grand scale of the place. These bells are so large that the way to ring them is to pull on the rope attached to a good-sized log. The carved wooden figure to the left is one of two 'guards' housed in the temple's gate. The word 'gate' may be misleading as it is a wooden structure with a large roof supported by two 'columns', such as the one at the left, with an open space in between for people to walk through. These figures are also quite large, as can be deduced by the size of the young boy in the lower right of the photo. This figure is approximately 15 feet tall. They are typically fierce looking figures, designed to keep out evil spirits. Nara is also the home of hundreds of deer, who roam freely, beg for food unashamedly, and steal it whenever possible. One of my favorite places is this waterfall, which I found on my first visit to Nara. After visiting the grounds of Todai-ji I found a trail which led up the mountain. Eventually, it led me to this waterfall, where the beauty of nature, for me, rivaled the enormity of the great Daibutsu in generating a sense of serenity.
	Ise, Chizu
	The town of Ise (ee-seh) is home to Japan's most sacred Shinto Shrine, the Grand Shrine of Ise, where a relic from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu is supposed to be buried. It is where the Emperor goes to pray before he is crowned, and where he goes each year to plant rice in dedication to the new year's crop. As opposed to other Shinto shrines throughout Japan, with their bright vermillion colored gates and buildings, Ise is plain, with unadorned wooden structures, all the more impressive for their simplicity. Inside the shrine, the grounds adjacent to the walkways are covered with small, light colored stones. These are what the townspeople were transporting in pulled wagons to resurface the rebuilt shrine, and they gave the name to the matsuri. This was Oshiraishimochi-gyoji, the festival of the white rocks. Once again my luck was good, for it occurs only once every 20 years, when the shrine is rebuilt. Here is just one of many groups marching in the festival parade. It starts at one end of town and ends at the gate to the Inner Shrine. The wagons of stones are then taken to the new section. Ohyabu Kizo had been principal of a local school, and could speak English. He explained the matsuri to me. When I asked where I could purchase a hachimaki (decorated band worn around the head) like the one those from his neighborhood wore, he informed me they were not made for sale - - and then he presented me with his. His daughter, Norie, joined us and put the hachimaki on me. Inner Shrine Entrance The Uji Bridge leads to one of the outer torii (gates). Chizu is a logging town up in the mountains of Western Japan. There, Yukio Taniguchi agreed to be my host, despite great difficulties with English. Yukio was truly courageous. . . and a magician with a soccor ball! Another cousin, Makiko, pictured on my right, spoke English well and joined us each night to help me communicate. This photo is also interesting in that it shows a four-generation family who all live in the same home. This was far more common in years past but with more and more people moving into the cities, it is becoming less and less common. Yukio failed the college entrance exam and became a ronin, literally the word for the feudal era's samurai who had lost their master and wandered the land but now refers to those like Yukio who spend up to several years with no job going to juku, cram schools, preparing to retake the entrance exam. About 45 inutes by train from Chizu is Tottori, a resort town on the Sea of Japan. Its major feature are these beautiful sand dunes, reaching 30 metres high, and stretching along beautiful beaches for miles. The water was exceptionally clean and so I took off my sneakers and waded in.
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