Kyoto

Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto.

Japanese Maples

These pictures were taken on a Saturday in early November when I went to Morioka with Angela, the other JET in my town, and a few Japanese locals. We found a temple and a nearby public garden which had some amazing red maples!

Notice the roofing tile with the swastika. You'll notice it's left facing. Apparently, Buddhist swastikas in Japan after the mid-20th century are almost universally left-facing because of the association with Nazism. The swastika used in Buddhist art and scripture is known in Japanese as a manji (which literally just means "the Chinese character for eternity"), and represents Dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites.

Persimmons

I took these pictures while visiting a friend in the program in the neighbouring village of Kunohe. It's about 20 km from Karumai and at a slightly higher elevation, so the view of the surrounding area is great. These will give you a good idea of what it looks like around here though, lots of fields and not too many buildings!

The picture at bottom is a Japanese persimmon tree, they grow everywhere here and the fruit from one of the varieties was ready to eat about a month ago. Before coming here I'd never had a persimmon before, they taste slightly sweet and have a pulpy texture to them.

"Kaki"