We made it Kyoto, my favorite place in Japan, and promptly illegally camped alongside the Kamo River. The wonderful thing about being so familiar with a place is knowing when and where something like this is possible and convenient; our campsite was just down the street from a subway station, a supermarket, and a public bath.
Our first few days in town involved us walking around quite a bit. From Nanzenji on the east, the Imperial Palace in the middle, and Arashiyama on the west, we covered quite a bit of Kyoto, although not all in one day.
One of Sam's favorite things about Japan were the tanuki. Statues of these well-endowed, magical, lucky raccoon-ish beings stand in front of stores everywhere. One theory why is that because they are so well-endowed, they will bring a similar bounty of fortune to the store. True or not, they're fun to look at. I took Sam to the largest one I'd ever seen, and he seemed to enjoy it.
I much prefer the many stone statues of Jizo Bosatsu, the bodhisattva who protects children, who usually is clothed with a red bib. This one is from a small temple in Arashiyama.
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