Stop the Kyoto Aquarium Kiyomizu Protest

The Committee to Protect Kyoto got together with two local Kyoto groups today at Kiyomizu-dera Temple to protest the planned Kyoto Aquarium. Today, mayors from around the world were visiting Kyoto as part of the World League of Historical Cities meeting being held in Nara. Kyoto Mayor Kadokawa hosted the delegates. Just two days ago, he gave a speech in Nara boasting about how much Kyoto is doing to protect the environment. Needless to say, he didn't mention how much CO2 his planned aquarium will produce, nor how many trees have been cut down to build it (nor, for that matter, how he and his staff commute to work by car on Kyoto's famous "no car days").

Mitokusan Mountain Temple in Tottori Prefecture

This past weekend, I headed up to Tottori Prefecture with my friends Paul, Anthony and Mike. We stayed at Mike's vacation house in the onsen town of Misasa. The highlight of the trip was a visit to the mountainside temple complex of Mitoku-san, which is said to date back to the pre-Nara era. It's HIGHLY recommended for anyone heading to Western Honshu.

Here is a picture of the famous "Nage-ire-do" hall at the top of the complex. The name means something like: "They just threw that temple up onto the cliff." No one seems to be able to figure out how they built it up there.


Here's the strong hiking team that made the ascent:


Here I am at one of the temples midway up the mountain:


Here's Paul at a garden lower down on the mountain:

Eat Well Shanghai

The other day I had the good fortune to meet Julie Meyer here in Kyoto. She's a licensed nutritionist who lives in Shanghai. She's written a brilliant new book about how to eat healthy food in Shanghai. The book tells you where to shop for good ingredients, how to prepare healthy food based on these ingredients, and it lists lots of great restaurants that serve healthy food in Shanghai. You can find out more about the book here.