Zen temples

This time, I went with the university club to 2 Zen temples in Northwest Kyoto. The first one is Touji-In 等持院, the family temple of the 15 Ashikaga　足利 shoguns (14 and 15th century). Takauji Ahikaga　足利尊氏:

The temple and its Zen garden:



Afterwards, went to Ryoan-Ji 竜安寺、with its famous stone garden. A classic.


And after that we went eating and drinking.

A lot of gates in Fushimi Inari Taisha

I went with the university club to Fushimi Inari Taisha, a famous Shinto Shrine with a lot of torii (gates).




After that, we ate grilled sparrow (little bird). Strange taste.

Storm Mountain

Last week I went with the university club to Arashiyama ("Storm Mountain"), a district in Western Kyoto. We went to Joujakko-Ji, Gio-Ji and Tenryu-Ji. Here are some pics of Joujakko-Ji.

Walking Kyoto

I joined a university club that visits temples and shrines in Kyoto. A few weeks ago, we went to Umemiya Taisha, a shinto shrine with a nice garden.





The week before, we went to Chion-In, which supposively has the biggest temple gate in the world.

Last night in Cologne before going to Japan, March 2006

Ein bisschen spaet, aber besser als nie!

Tiger`s day

May 5th is the day to celebrate children in Japan. Tiger was king for a day. The puppets are almost 30 years old!

The Nozaki clan got together for lunch at the Hotel Nagoya Castle with a superb view at (guess what?) Nagoya castle.



Tiger`s parents Joji and Akko are very satisfied.

Asuka`s Birthday

May 6th was my cousin Asuka`s birthday. She wanted to get San-Nagji (Korean raw octopus). It was still moving while we ate it. Yummy


Afterwards, we went to a bar and then ended up at Cheetah, our favorite bar in Nagoya.

Getting Baby Bamboos at Seto

May 3rd to 5th are holidays in Japan, so it is called the Golden Week. We went to Seto, close to Nagoya, to get some Baby Bamboos.



My cousin Arisa, my aunt Chizuru-San and my cousins` cousin Mami are proudly showing what we got:

Baby Bamboos are tasty. We had a nice BBQ.