Right. So...Japan.

So I'm in Japan. Cool right? I thought so too.

The Kansai region of Japan lies far south on the island of Honshu, which is the big banana shaped island in the fruit salad archipelago that is this wicked place. It's packed with amazing places like Osaka, where amazing food clearly must fall from the sky (that's the only explanation I can think of that would explain the quantities of deliciousness) and Kyoto, where ancient Japanese history jumps out from behind every metropolitan corner to scare the bejeezus out of any native of such a young toddler nation as the U.S.A.

Cradled in the urban sprawl that really makes these two cities one massive metropolis is Hirakata.





With mountains constantly on the horizon and a beautiful claustrophobic atmosphere so omnipresent you could lose yourself, I'm thoroughly in awe. From the sheer grandeur of it all to the smallest details this place is distinctly its own.




In one of my shortest wanderings in a while I walked up to a small park about halfway between my dorm and the school intent on taking some good photos. There's not much I can say about this place except that it put every "old" park I've ever been to back home to shame.







Small stone statues flank the traditional Torii gate that stands at the entrance, and then similar statues lie scattered throughout the small plot. On the southern end is this beautiful old building flanked on either side by fierce lions. Particularly interest to me was that those statues had different shaped holes carved in them, possibly with some lunar connection?


In any case the place is beautiful and feels very at peace. Its location in a very residential area is also somewhat perplexing but at the same time beautiful. I think I may spend quite a bit of chill time here.

That is all for this episode. More on Kyoto probably at the end of next week. I plan to head up there for a moon viewing festival on the equinox (which is a holiday here, how awesome is that?). Then I shall reveal all of the cool photos from that as well as my recent wandering up there for the Kansai Queer Film Festival at Kyoto University. This weekend may put me in Ise, but if not, then somewhere else interesting.

Do let me know if you read/found this and enjoyed it. If you've got a request/recommendation for where I should go and take photos please do let me know. Tell your friends, family, strangers on the street, and go wander yourself. You'll be astonished what you run into.

Then come tell me.

Cherish the Stoke friends,