KYOTO ZEN

The Golden Pavilion temple, built originally c 1500 by shogun, who bequeathed it to a Zen sect.  the temple houses some (alleged) relics of Buddha. It was once burned down by an obsessed monk who destroyed it so no one else could possess it.  One might think that a pavilion covered in gold leaf would be gaudy but its shine is elegant and not at all gauche.  The lake water is deliberately kept muddy so as to have the best reflection.  After walking around the lake you end up in a section with snacks, gifts and fortune vending machines.  Lots of school tours.

Fortune telling vending machines in Japanese (above)

and for foreign tourists (below)

high school students enjoying green-tea and black-sesame ice cream. (There were
a few other boys in their group but the girls said they were too ugly to be photographed LOL)

Then we went to another temple, which houses a famous zen buddhist rock garden, which was made c. 1500 CE.  There was also a lake with lotus flowers and an active frog chorus.  

The garden is walled on three sides, the fourth side has wooden platform for sitting/viewing,
which lead into the tatami pavilion, below.

the "dragon resting" tatami pavilion. Notice dragon claw on left panel.
when the doors close the entire dragon can be seen.

pavilion housing rock garden seen from across the lake

Back to Tokyo on the bullet train...  Between Nagoya and Tokyo we passed by Mt. Fuji.  Unfortunately it was somewhat obscured by clouds.   In addition to rice paddies there is a interesting industrial and urban scenery: the Panasonic solar ark in Gifu and the HAL tower in Nagoya.  HAL is a technical college which trains students in computer skills, from games to aerospace. 

Below is Shibuya crossing, as seen from second floor of the station/mall.  I did not know that this is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, intersections in the world.  It does sort of make Times Square look tame by comparison.

And no jaywalking in Japan!