Grocer's
I don't recall where this was. I do remember that the whole family was amazed that Kate and I were bicycling and that we'd come all the way from Kyoto. They kept asking us if there were motors on our bikes. We went into their "mise" (shop) by a rice field to buy some items for lunch which we planned to eat outside by the field. When we went to the counter to pay, they not only would not let us pay for anything, but they insisted we stay for lunch. We went upstairs to their living quarters where we had a wonderful rice-miso-pickles-tofu-vegetable-tea lunch. After lunch they insisted we take a nap! So, many hours later, we said our farewells and bicycled away.
Man farming in Kyoto
This was near my friend Yoko's danchi (apartment house) in Fushimiku, Kyoto.
My bike "bosque".
I named my bike "bosque" (Spanish for "forest") because of its forest green color.
I notice my bungee cord stretched out between handlebars and seat post which means I had been drying some wet article of clothing there. A common occurrence in rainy Japan.
Monk on his takahatsu "alms rounds" in Fushimiku, Kyoto, in the neighborhood where my friend, Yoko, lived.
Jizo shrine on the water
Noto Hanto. Shrine with little jizo statues inside. Jizo are protectors of children, travellers/pilgrims, and women.
A covered outdoor walkway within a temple.
The wood is smooth from many people padding over it in their socks. In Japan, shoes are taken off before entering into homes, temples, shrines, other sacred "home/inside" spaces, even some offices and schools. A very wonderful custom, if you ask me. I like the demarcation of the sacred from the "pedestrian".
boy, boots, bucket
I posted a different picture of this little boy earlier.
ika (squid) hanging at an outdoor market near the ocean
