Tuesday 21 – Thursday 23 August
Daytimes we go out and about in Kyoto. It’s still baking hot (35-37 degrees) and heavily humid. The first day is largely “wasted” by visiting the Emporer’s Imperial Palace (closed) and Nijo Castle (closed), but had a good time nonetheless visiting temples and wandering through the lovely gardens:

The sound of Cicadas has been constantly in the background all summer. This what they look like:

And this is what Japanese politicians look like:

Wednesday was more productive: a visit to Rengeoin Sanjusangendo temple to see the 1001 Buddhas and then just over the road to the Kyoto National Museum. Unfortunately in both places photography was banned. In the case of Sanjusangendo this is entirely justified: it does mean visitors are more respectful and it is, essentially, still a working temple: there were people in there praying. The 1001 Buddhas are themselves incredible works of art and devotion. There are 1000 Buddhas arrayed in ranks. Each is about 5 feet tall and made of wood, with spiky halos and twenty arms each carrying a small implement. Each of the 1000 Buddhas is unique. They are protected by 8 guardians. All of these flank one massive central Buddha. The overall effect really is awe-inspiring (these images downloaded from the Internet):

Here are my slightly more prosaic images from the day:

In the evenings I was pulling 6-hour sessions developing the music and video for Friday’s show. I built myself a little studio in the hotel room:

Satisfying but relentless. A full-on week, and I haven’t even mentioned what we did during the day Thursday.