Japan pictures!

And here, without further ado, Japan pictures! (More after the jump)

A monkey points the way.

Picasa it seems has fobbed the order of them, so they're all mixed up, and I haven't the time to reorder almost 150 pictures. The subtitles will help.

The palace of the last Shogun (Tokugawa Ieyasu), inside Nijo castle.

The first temple we saw, in Arashiyama.

Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion.

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion.

The Golden Pavilion. Notice how it's gold?

Whereas the Silver Pavilion is not silver.

A little craft shop selling some incredible paper crafts.

A phoenix greets the sun.

A bamboo grove.

Open the full size .jpg to read the placards. Parental Guidance is Advised.

Our first Japanese beer.

A rat with an AA battery.

Yakisoba! Fried noodles with stuff we weren't sure what to call but were certainly delicious.

Monkey like an apple?

Kyoto tower reflected in the windows of Kyoto JR Station.

The Philosopher's Walk.

A small part of our favourite temple. 

Kyoto Station, interior.

No! No means no!

Entrance tickets are themselves quite artsy.

Probably the best zen garden we saw.

Lovely curving wooden stairs down the hillside. I want a house with one of these.

An old-school Hiroshima streetcar.

View from Sanmon, the great gate to Nanzenji Temple.

A statue placed in the International Convention centre in Hiroshima's Peace Park by Richard Branson. A matching one was placed in the bombed-out ruins of Coventry Cathedral.

A watch stopped at the exact moment the bomb was detonated above Hiroshima. 

A very Roman-looking aqueduct.

Hiroshima before the bombing.

Hiroshima after the bombing.

"Let all the souls here rest in peace/For we shall not repeat the evil."

Hiroshima Children's Memorial

Hiroshima Castle.

We spotted a Geisha on this street.

The sun is setting and the tide rising behind this arch.

A sun-spotted view of Kyoto.

The Shogun's palace again, entrance.

As the palace of a man who ruled Japan, it's actually quite restrained.