Kieran William Comes Home

My wife gave birth to our first child ten days ago. His name is Kieran William Rowthorn. Today, they came home from the birth clinic (they keep them a long time in Japan). We hope he likes the house.


Here's a picture of Kieran taken a few days ago. I think he looks like his mother.

Ashiu Primeval Forest

The other day my friend Paul and I went for a two-day backpacking trip in Ashiu, in the Kitayama Mountains north of Kyoto. Ashiu is one of the few remaining areas of virgin forest left in Japan. It's a storehouse of incredible biodiversity. It's surprising to see so many broadleaf trees in Japan - one gets used to all the industrial cedars you see growing on most of the hills. We bushwhacked down a steep river and camped by the Yura-gawa before hiking out over a rather steep ridge. It was excellent, leech bites and all.

This shot gives you a good idea of how rich the green is in Ashiu.


This is me at the base of one of the rivers that flows into the Yura-gawa.


Here's Paul with a mossy river.


Here I am drinking some of the best water on earth.

Hiyoshiya Wagasa: Traditional Japanese Umbrellas

Today, I visited Hiyoshi Wagasa, a maker of wagasa (traditional Japanese umbrellas). I had a nice chat with the president of the company, Mr. Nishibori Kotaro. Mr. Nishibori is representative of an interesting group of young Japanese people who are trying to find new uses for traditional techniques. His company is now making wonderful lamps with traditional wagasa-making techniques. Mr. Nishibori said, "Tradition is continuing innovation. What we now call `traditional' was once new.'"

Osaka's Tenjin Matsuri

Last night I hopped on a train to Osaka to catch the famous Tenjin Matsuri. There were raucous festival barges on the O-kawa River and teams heaving gaudy mikoshi (portable shrines) around the streets. I was struck once again by the contrast between Osaka and Kyoto. The Osakans I saw seemed almost like a different species from the Kyotoites I'm used to - they were rough, ready and speaking an incredibly thick Osaka-ben dialect. I recommend this festival to anyone in Kansai in late July.

Solar Eclipse in Japan

The decade's longest solar eclipse happened over southern Japan and other parts of Asia this morning. Here in Kyoto, the eclipse did not reach totality - it was about 80%. There was just enough cloud about to watch the eclipse without eye protection. My wife Hiroe and I watched the eclipse from Shinyodo Temple, near our house. It was much better than we had expected. While we were watching, an airliner flew right in front of the sun, creating a double artificial/natural eclipse. We liked that. This was my fourth solar eclipse: I've seen previous partial eclipses in New York City as a child, and in Paris and Thailand as an adult. Now, we're keen to see a total eclipse and we're looking at one that's going to take place in Borneo in 2013.

Gion Matsuri 2009

Kyoto's biggest festival, Gion Matsuri, was held today. I checked out the parade of floats on Oike-dori around noon. There were several gaijin in the team pulling this float, including one of the guys sitting on top.

Jewels in the Lotus Flower

I am very lucky to live right below Shinnyodo Temple in Kyoto. There's almost always something in bloom. I took a walk around the temple grounds yesterday to enjoy the rich green of early summer.

First, I stopped by the bell tower, where there are some great ajisai (hydrangea) in bloom. They form a nice backdrop to this Kannon figure.


Next door to Shinnyodo is Kurodani Temple, which is home to Saiun-in subtemple. Saiun-in has a nice collection of lotus plants growing in front of the main hall. The lotus plant, of course, is a significant figure in Buddhism and the central mantra of Buddhism proclaims that the Buddha is the jewel in the lotus flower.


The jewel in the lotus flower:


The jewel in the lotus leaf:


Another flower in bloom at Shinnyodo: