Homemade mochibana to welcome the new year.

May 2025 be a year to bring joy with something you create.

Dinner doesn’t have to be complicated.

When you have only a few days to spend in a place, especially if it’s a gastronomy capital like Kyoto, the pressure is on to…

It's Kiyomizu-dera but probably not one that you've seen. A 20-minute film that took about three years to produce, Kiyomizu - Cycle of Blessings shows…

A friend is debugging a website, a troubleshooting canary in the e-commerce mines.

The problem? 

If you put too many things in your cart…

Welcome.

Years ago, when I moved to Kyoto, I started a blog called The Sound of One Hand Waving.

Much has been learned since then and…

You have to prepare for snowfall in Kyoto simply because there isn't much of it.

Even if there's enough snow to send photographers rushing to Kinkaku-ji to take that classic shot of the golden pavilion under white, chances are…

明けましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。

Christmas trees have gone up in town but autumn's not quite done. This is what it looked like in the morning light at Genko-an.

In the west of Kyoto, north of the tourist scrum that is Arashiyama in autumn is one of the city's most underrated temples.

If a stranger waves at you...

Bunnies in Pontocho looking worried. They've heard that Typhoon No. 27 is on the way, with Typhoon No. 28 close behind.

In a dim gallery of a museum of modern art, a year is on display.

I heard cicadas for the first time this year last night - there's no turning back from summer now.

The rainy season has reached Kyoto, beginning the annual drenching 11 days earlier than usual.

The ume was late this year but it's bloomed at last.

The key to successful spring cleaning: demon removal.

明けましておめでとうございます。本年もよろしくお願いいたします。

Konkai Komyo-ji isn't a temple so much as a sprawling temple complex. I found this in one corner of the grounds.

For much of the year, Renge-ji, a small temple in the north of Kyoto, is quiet - a good place to think while enjoying views of an Edo-period garden.