Spent today showing visitors around Ohara village. Hosen-in was our first stop.

Autumn comes from the north. The leaves in Kyoto won’t turn for a few more weeks but in the colder reaches of the country, they are already red.

Fireworks have been part of the Japanese summer for centuries. In the Kyoto area, the Uji Hanabi Taikai, held every year on August 10, is one of the bigger fireworks festivals.

Just a notice for those who follow the Letter from Kyoto in The Straits Times. The column will be moving from the Opinion pages to the Saturday section with effect from this Saturday (July 21). It will no longer carry the Letter from Kyoto tag but I'll still be there.

Spent today rushing around Ohara village north of Kyoto city. Visited three temples, one of them twice, and climbed a long slope once more than I would have liked.

You'd stop to look too.

The Hanatouro light-up in the eastern hills was one of the first things I saw in Kyoto more than six years ago. I still go back, finding something new each time I do or something old that looks new from a different angle.

Outside some restaurants in Japan you will find paper and a pen. If you arrive at one such restaurant and there's a queue outside, add your name and the number in your party to the list.

Dragons of the East, by birthright and by nature, Rulers of the Four Seas, Kings under the Waves, River Gods and Storm Lords, to the Children of Man, also known as Human Beings and now styling themselves Primate: Greeting.

Tuesday marked the 17th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, better known outside Japan as the Kobe earthquake.

In winter, the monkeys of the Jigokudani Yaenkoen nature park get serious about bath time.

When the crowds show up at Kodai-ji on autumn evenings, this is probably what they're hoping to see.

More womanly than women themselves - that's how the men who play female roles in kabuki theatre are sometimes described.