Sorry! It has been really hard to find internet access here, and it is expensive. We stumbled onto a coffeeshop with free internet access on an old laptop this morning, so I wanted to let you all know we are doing fine. We are in Nara at the moment, but we are leaving for Tokyo after breakfast.

These photos were taken during our first few days in Japan, when we were in Kyoto. We have tons more, and I'll upload them all eventually using a thumbnail layout.



Our first sight of Mt. Fuji from the plane on our way to Osaka. We got an even better look at it on the train to Tokyo.



In Gion, most mornings we could hear crows when we woke up. We see big crows everywhere in Japan.



( Click here for the rest. )

By the way, I haven't color-corrected these or anything yet. The final gallery will have that.



On the walk to the famed-in-poetry Kiyomizu temple, we went through narrow streets full of all kinds of shops. One was devoted entirely to cute cat stuff, complete with photos of customers' cats. (I should send Bianca one of Miss Kitty to give the owner.) He showed us photos of his own cute Persians. Aw.

After we were done with the amazing Kiyomizu complex, we stopped for inexpensive udon noodles. Later we noticed that the platform we'd been sitting on was built on stilts over a cliff.



Obligatory Kyoto-Gion geisha photo. But there's a really good chance that these are just tourists dressed up.



The approach to Fushimi Inari shrine, marked by its statues of fox-spirits. It's really crowded because of New Year, but it turned out to be worth it.

( Click here for the rest. )