Awata-jinja Shrine Festival

The other day, Awata-jinja Shrine, a Shinto shrine on Sanjo-dori Street in Kyoto held their annual festival. It was great. There was a parade of floats and a mikoshi (portable shrine) procession.

Unagi: The Way It Oughta Be

The other day I took my mother to Kane-yo, an unagi (eel) restaurant in Kyoto. She loved it, which is no surprise: Kane-yo is one of the best eel restaurants in town. Here's a picture of the lunch set:


Here's a closeup of the eel. Note the dusting of sansho (mountain pepper) on it:

A Trip to Ohara

My parents are in town to see their newest grandson and I've been showing them around Kyoto. Yesterday, we took a bus up to the village of Ohara, in the mountains north of Kyoto. First, we visited Sanzen-in Temple, where we checked out this spectacular garden.


Here's a picture of my parents enjoying the garden:


Here's a picture of the village of Ohara.

Three-Star Cuisine

Yesterday, the French company Michelin launched their new Kyoto guide. I joined a journalist from Bloomberg News to have lunch at Kiku-no-Ii restaurant before the Michelin press conference. It turns out that Kiku-no-Ii, where we dined, received three stars. Here is a picture of the bentos we enjoyed. A total of six restaurants received three stars here in Kyoto, making it the world's third richest concentration of three-star restaurants, after Paris with 10 and Tokyo with nine. That's pretty good, considering that Kyoto is a fraction of the size of Tokyo and Paris. The fact is, Kyoto punches well above its weight when it comes to restaurants!

Kieran's Miya Maeri

Today, we took my son Kieran to Yoshida-jinja Shrine near my house for his "Miya Maeri" (first shrine visit). My parents are over here from the States. We were joined by my wife's parents, sister and her husband. The priest, Mr. Suzuka, was wonderful - he really put his heart into performing the ceremony.

This is a picture of Mr. Suzuka in front of the altar at the shrine.


Here is a picture of my wife, my sister-in-law Sachiyo and my mother-in-law dressing my mother and Kieran in the ceremonial shawl for the ceremony:


Here are my parents and Kieran with Mr. Suzuka after the ceremony:

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.