Photography heaven today with visits to the gorgeous red gates of Fushimi Inari temple and the gold n glitz of Kinkakuji temple - at opposite ends of Kyoto. The weather had finally cleared in the morning, so caught the JR train to Inari station just south of Kyoto. Hordes of other tourists had had the same idea it seemed, though as we let the girls set the pace winding up through the arcade of thousands of red gates towards the summit of Mt Inari, the crowds thin...

Still more rain!! With only two full days left in Kyoto, and much to see, we prepared ourselves as best we could and headed to Tambaguchi station to catch the JR train to Saga Arashiyama and the world famous bamboo forest. It's like entering another world - peaceful, beautiful, and with the overcast sky, quite dark. The bamboo path leads past the Tenryu-ji temple and up the hill about 900m to the summit and monkey park (where people are put in cages to feed the m...

On the 10th of September my family and I went to Japan. I went with my mum, dad and my little sister Harriet. Our flight was at midnight so we left at 8:00pm. When Harriet and I arrived back from school, we had a nap. ( Mum said so. I didn't.....) By the time I woke up from my nap, it was quarter past 7. We got our luggage organised and waited outside our front gate for the taxi. When it arrived my family and I expected a normal cap, but we got a van all to ourse...

Where: we went to Japan When: we left at September 10th midnight Who: I went with Matilda, mum and dad. What we did: we went to many places like hedgehogs, cats, owls, bamboo, sumo and several temples and museums. We tried lots of food and noodles and egg was very tasty. How: we went to places by walking, taking buses and trains. Conclusion: Japan is a fun country. Our adventure was great at the moment.

With another warm, rainy day ahead, we were glad of having fortuitously pre-booked some indoor activities. First up - a quick look around Kyoto's Manga museum and library. I hadn't realised what depth this field had, nor it's long history dating back 150 or so years before photography. As well as the better known comics, there were historical pictures of political and social commentary, educational pictorial stories for kids, and Manga from all over the world. Ne...