Camera: Fujifilm XT5.

So I’m going to give myself a 9.9/10 for this one. Shot late in the afternoon just after arriving in Hakone. It was like 3.30 pm but the sun was just setting behind the tall mountains that cusp this town. Nothing special, just a pool of fish in front of an old hotel. But that particular spot was lit, and I crouched there for way longer than you’d imagine waiting for the fish to come over into my framing.

Camera: Fujifilm XT5

After a dreary, grey-rain morning in Kyoto, the sun unexpectedly rearranged the sky palette into scarlet purples and deep magentas, and low-hanging mist. A postponed excursion out to the Philosophers Path was now the perfect response. The path curves along the route of a canal and is lined with hundreds of cherry trees that explode with colour every spring and autumn.

Without diving too deep into the linguistic weeds here, the upshot is that human beings, as a species, benefit tremendously from using language to share our knowledge, both in the present and across generations. Understood this way, language is what the cognitive scientist Cecilia Heyes calls a “cognitive gadget” that “enables humans to learn from others with extraordinary efficiency, fidelity, and precision.”

A cold rainy umbrella day in Kyoto. A stay inside and eat chocolate muffins day. A double shot espresso day. But first, some pics.

Randomly stumbled into the beautiful little village of Uji this morning, and then even more randomly walked up a path that led to Koshouji temple. It turns out that this is a pretty significant Zen temple, being the first Soto Zen monastery founded by Dogen Zenji in 1233. Not too touristy. A working temple. My new favourite.

It’s Monday. A public holiday in Japan. The objective was to explore the bamboo forrest at Arashiyama before the anticipated crowds arrived. Narrator: unfortunately the crowds had a similar objective. And so it was. If you were to collect the people from every mosh pit at every concert in the world and bring them all to a new concert….well the mosh pit at…

It’s Monday. A public holiday in Japan. The objective was to explore the bamboo forrest at Arashiyama before the anticipated crowds arrived. Narrator: unfortunately the crowds had a similar objective. And so it was. If you were to collect the people from every mosh pit at every concert in the world and bring them all to a new concert….well the mosh pit at…

Camera: Fujifilm XT5

Randomly stumbled into the beautiful little village of Uji this morning, and then even more randomly walked up a path that led to Koshouji temple. It turns out that this is a pretty significant Zen temple, being the first Soto Zen monastery founded by Dogen Zenji in 1233. Not too touristy. A working temple. My new favourite.

Camera: Fujifilm XT5.

Sadly, the truth is that for decades we have been fed the lie and the illusion that recycling and consumer responsibility will solve the plastic crisis. But the reality and the truth is that this crisis was never about waste management or recycling—it has always been about production and consumption. The fossil fuel industry and its profiteers, threatened by the rise of renewable energy, has doubled down on plastic as a financial lifeline.

Arrived at our Kyoto digs late in the afternoon. Out to walk the crowded (so many westerners!)streets. First objective: relocating a favourite vegan cafe. The writer Pico Iyer said this of Kyoto: “I loved the quiet places in Kyoto, the places that held the world within a windless moment. Inside the temples, Nature held her breath. All longing was put to sleep in the stillness, and all was distilled into a clean simplicity.

Camera: Fujifilm XT5

Enchantment is small wonder magnified through meaning, fascination caught in the web of fable and memory. It relies on small doses of awe, almost homeopathic: those quiet traces of fascination that are found only when we look for them. It is the sense that we are joined together in one continuous thread of existence with the elements constituting this earth, and that there is a potency trapped in this interconnection, a tingle on the border of our perception.

Camera: iPhone 17 promax Up early today. Shinkansen to Kyoto. A few hours on my favourite train to kick back and watch the country unfold. Just enough time to hunt down a convenience store egg and mayo sandwich with the crusts cut off (addicted). Perhaps a bottle of ice cold peach water. So many people going somewhere else.

Camera: Fujifilm XT5

Camera: Fujifilm XT5. Wandering the narrow streets of the old Samurai district. Pour-over coffee (single origin) and fat fluffy pancakes with sliced banana and chocolate drizzle. Stuttered convo with the female owner of the cafe via Google Translate got me extra whipped cream for making an effort. All this wakes me up with a high caffeine buzz and transmogrifies me to my fat fluffy happy place (the rebound sugar flop is for future Ian to deal with).

no speaking.no pointing.yet clearly,this is the way.

Camera: iPhone17 promax temple pond.with no thought of trapped,she swims onforever.

Camera: Fujifilm XT5

Camera: Fujifilm XT5 I love the subtle light spilling down across the stone wall and out over the steps. It gives it a mystical, ancient feel. I experimented with the same composition on slightly different exposures, and nailed it on the third. Yep. Pretty happy with this one. 8/10.