This weeks PhotoFriday challenge is “Lines.” I have a lot of pictures that have lines in them but fairly few where it’s the most prominent feature. My first choice of image was of my old, broken MacBook hard-disk but then I realised that I had already used it for a PhotoFriday last year! So I switched to the above picture, taken in the Tokyo Forum.
Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Ride.” I’m entry number 155.
When I initially thought about this weeks PhotoFriday theme, “Ride,” my mind first went to cycling. Only I couldn’t find an image that showed bikes in motion which seemed to defeat the point. So, instead, I went for this picture that I took while riding on the Tokyo subway. (It might be a bit of a stretch but I really like this picture!)
Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Elaborate.” I’m entry number 161.
How to interpret the PhotoFriday theme this week, “Best of 2010“? Something that signifies 2010 in some way? “Just” the best image of 2010? If so, by what definition of “best”? This is hard.
But in the end I went for the above shot, which was taken in the Tokyo International Forum.
Why? It’s no great shakes technically — the glare in the top left is even a little distracting — but there’s something about the muted colours, the neatness. And it says something about Japan that this guy, clearly not homeless, not a drunk, had no qualms just lying down and sleeping in a public place.
But ultimately the short answer is that it makes me smile when I see it.
Having spent a good couple of hours looking around Kyoto I decided it was time to get out and head to Nara.
Actually it wasn’t nearly so dramatic. Nara is only an hour away on the train and it’s a much smaller, though culturally nearly as important, place. I’d be back in Kyoto in time for sunset at the Silver Pavilion.
Two things that immediately stood out were the long, shady lanes lined with these lanterns. The paths invariably had long lines of school children, some of whom would try their English on me. Even in fragments it was always way better than my Japanese.
But these are not the things that Nara is famous for. It’s the deer that roam everywhere. They are curious, tame and a menace if you carelessly hold your map within easy reach. It turns out that they’ll eat almost anything. If a map was considered a tasty snack, I didn’t like to think how aggressive they’d be with my lunch so I hid from them while I munched.
While searching for the other thing that Nara is famous for — made more difficult because of the missing map — I stumbled across a few more temples and these lamps.
Before I got to the main “feature” I found a lot of school children, presumably in art class, painting the surroundings.
When I tried to get inside I also timed it very badly ((This is normal. If I pick a line at the super market or passport control or security I can almost guarantee that it’ll be the longest one.)). Almost every kid in the prefecture was trying to get to see the same thing as me.
And once inside Todaiji they were all there talking pictures of each other and of the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world.
It’s huge, though it’s difficult to grasp a sense of scale since it’s inside a building. Depending on where you look, this is described as the largest wooden structure in the world. Or maybe that was the old version.
After seeing the statue I meandered back through the park and towards to the train station.
