Japan Light Up and Uji

Japan has 14 World Heritage sites compared to 20 for America. However just to give you a feel of how great the Kansai region is (Osaka Kyoto Kobe Nara) 5 of the 14 are within 1 hour of me. And confusingly enough one those 5 is called "the Ancient Buildings of Kyoto", which is comprised of 14 separate shrines and temples.

So one of my "before I leave Japan" goals is to visit all of the World Heritage sites in Kansai/Kyoto. http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/visitkyoto/en/theme/sites/shrines/w_heritage/.


I've been to about half of them, so I've been spending my weekends trying to check off as many as I can.

These are a couple of shrines in Uji, a town about 25 minutes from me.

This is a shrine called Uji-gami. Its not the impressive (its only famous because it was built in the 14th Century) which makes it the oldest shrine or temple in Japan.

This is Byodo temple. If you've ever been to Japan and seen the 10 yen coin, this is the temple on the back of it.
Sean and I in front of Byodo. Me sporting the new shaved haircut.
A view of Uji no the river. The fall leaves are starting to change so its been really beautiful around here.
This is called light up or "レアイトウプ”(re-a-i-to-u-pu). Its were they open the temples at night and put lights on the autumn leaves.

Since Nintendo is based out of Kyoto, anyone else think this might be the inspiration for worlds 3 and 6 in Super Mario Brothers 1? http://ian-albert.com/misc/gamemaps/super_mario_bros/full/mario-3-2.gif


Some Bamboo








Last a couple of really cool pictures of Tokyo at night. I didn't take them but I think this really solidifies the idea that living in Japan is sometimes like living in a video game.

Other than that the only thing I can say is GO COWBOYS!