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Japan, Pt. III - Tea

We had tea ceremony at Obachan's house.  Obachan is like saying 'Auntie.'  She is the leader of the tea ceremony study group, which has been meeting for many years.  The tea ceremony is an art and a way of being, and I was very excited to experience it. Obachan looking at the chopsticks.  There were hydrangea mochis in the lacquer boxes.  That is my knee at the bottom of the picture.  A sand pit about a foot deep was recessed into the tatami mats and a charcoal fire burned inside, heating water for tea. Mixing the first tea. Drinking the tea.  The first cup of tea is thick like porridge and since I was the guest of honor I went...

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Japan, Pt. II - Food?

 I went to Japan a month ago.  I still don't know what to think about it.  For the past few days I have been wanting to go back. Lunch at a restaurant in Kyoto run by Chinese people.  They told us that it was the tourist season but no westerners came there, that it was because of the nuclear disaster.  I ordered ramen with pork.  Nami ordered ma po tofu which is in the bowl on the far left.  We got some fried gyoza dumplings.  It came with pickled burdock root which is in the little bowl next to the big ramen bowl.  There was hot sauce too.  This meal was very good and it was regarded by all involved...

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Japan

I went to Japan, to Tokyo and Kyoto.  It was unbelievable.  Everything there is opposite.  They walk and drive on the other side of the street.  Nothing will ever be the same for me now that I have been there.  Enough with the platitudes here are the photographs. This is the subway in Kyoto.  The subway is tidy and orderly.  I loved the green velour benches and the plastic rings hanging everywhere. As a New Yorker, my immediate thought was "How do they get people not to piss all over everything?"  It's cultural, is the answer. This is in Kyoto, at the Ginkaku-ji, "The Temple Of The Silver Pavilion," in the pouring rain.  There is a very mystical garden with...

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Flowers

This photograph was taken in Kyoto at the house of a ceramic artist during a studio visit.  Many Japanese houses contain flower arrangements, and this one was particularly striking.  I showed it to Japanese people and they often commented on how western it was.  That was a surprise to me because I could not imagine such a hybridization occurring anywhere else.  There were about a dozen apples and a few bunches of grapes.  The roses and fruit are fresh but the green foliage is 'preserved' - dried or otherwise treated.  It was beautiful and interesting to look at and think about.  There was much to look at in this house but I couldn't help staring at this.   Kyoto, as it...

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