James' Empty Blog

In Japan, shrines are Shinto and temples are Buddhist. While Zuigan-ji is thoroughly let's zen  (rinzai sect - same as the much posted ...

A couple more photos taken in Zuigan-ji, Matsushima, where we went on almost our wettest summer holiday ever (It might even have been the ...

Just got another email from Peace Boat: it sounds like they are struggling to find enough volunteers to keep their operation going. The gene...

Day 1 The reward for successfully taking a tandem on the Shinkansen was a succulent steak in ugly rainy Sendai. View from our hot...

Tearoom , originally uploaded by julesberry2001 . Fortunately we had our own private wattle and daub tearoom from which to enjoy the typhoon...

The Big Wet , originally uploaded by julesberry2001 . David Benson asks if we are prepared for the weather... With two typhoons approaching ...

My supposedly rugged camera turned out to be not 2 weeks of volunteering proof, and is now unusable. Thus a shiny new toy arrived o...

Now you've read the post all about the festival , the carrying of the mikoshi around the town and out to sea, this picture may have so...

We had another week in Ishinomaki recently. It wasn't quite as much fun as the first time , but perhaps that's only to be expected a...

Following on this ridiculous story (not to mention the temporary TEPCO worker who died of leukaemia within a few days after starting work a...