Boxing Day Walk

I have some friends from Australia in town now. Yesterday, I took them for a walk on my favorite route in the Southern Higashiyama Area: Tofuku-ji to Fushimi-Inari. This is one of the routes I often do with my clients. My Australian friends absolutely loved the gardens we saw and they were blown away by the arcades of torii (Shinto shrine gates) at Fushimi-Inari.

Here's a picture of the garden at Tofuku-ji Temple.



Here's a picture of a secret temple that I often visit on my tours:



Here's a picture of one of the arcades of torii at Fushimi-Inari.



Here's a picture I took at an abandoned shrine that I often visit on my tours. This is a spooky place, as you can see.

Kieran's First Christmas

We enjoyed our first Christmas with Kieran. My parents sent a nice little Christmas suit for the boy. Seven friends joined us and Hiroe cooked a real feast. Here's a picture of Hiroe and Kieran on the day:

Shodo

I've been studying shodo (Japanese calligraphy) for about a year. The year-end project this year was to write my son's name. The first character, "Ki," means "noble" or "precious" and the second character, "Ran," means "mythical bird" (like a Phoenix or a garuda).