Japan - Oct 2009

I loved Japan, it is an amazing country. So different and full of beautiful, wonder, bright lights and singing technology.

Tokyo

The textures and patterns which typify Asia are still there, just around the corner from the pristine city blocks.

There is a great contrast between old/traditional and super-modern/western Japan. The next photo was taken at the Meiji Jingu Shrine and illustrates a little bit of what I mean.

The fish markets in Tokyo are an amazing place to visit and be totally surrounded by so many different types of fish, the shouts, chatter, machinery, buying, selling and people.

Ah, the metro, so many people in suits always on their way to work in the morning, even from as early as 5am!

The parks are very pretty in the midst of the hugely populated city.

A nice place to sit, watch people and contemplate :)

Iya Valley

Oh the beautiful, clear, crystal, fresh, cold, gentle, bubbling flow of the river, kept back by the dam was breathtaking.

Matsuyama

Nagasaki

Kyoto

Kyoto again was a beautiful city. Magical, I spent a while just getting lost in the city, physically, in feeling and spirit. Sitting at the back of a bus going nowhere in particular listening to music and writing thoughts, amazing.

I will be back. So much more to see and experience!