This is one of the most-photographed places in Kyoto, and for good reason. Thousands of these gates have been built over the years, following a maze of trails all around the mountain. It’s impressive to see, right in front of you, evidence of centuries of conceptual continuity.
Japan’s crows are enormous and deadly-looking. In Tokyo, I used to wake up to them screaming. Every time I see one up close, I imagine how easy it would be for it to kill me, if it really wanted to.
I guess [2ch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2ch) in-jokes are good enough to use for advertising clothing sales, now. In the process of finding that link, I went on a Wikipedia journey and read about popular online communities. I got a bit stressed out, as I occasionally do, about all I’m missing every day, out there in online communities and geeky subcultures. Just walking into Kinokuniya stresses me out, because of all the stuff on the shelves I feel like I should be keeping up with. But Nathaniel reminded me that I’m doing more important things with my time, and that the good stuff finds its way to me anyway.
Here’s a typical street out in the environs around Kyoto. We had some delicious mini-donuts. Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, but I went to Japan **again**. I really need to catch up, here.
