Pictures from Japan, Part VII: Kyoto (the second half) and Osaka

These are the second half of the pictures from Kyoto, mostly from the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji, not Silver at all, but what can you do. It's the garden that makes it, though). Tacked at the end are a few pictures from Osaka between day trips to Kyoto and Nara.

Had a hell of a time getting these uploaded for some reason, though, but there's only one more batch after this one.

A view of one of the ponds at Ginkaku-ji, along with some of the garden, a couple of the buildings, foliage, fallen leaves... The whole package:



[Pictures start from the link to the right, older pictures are to the left. Really.]

Pictures from Japan, part VIII: Nara, Osaka, and home again

I visited Nara the next-to-last day I was in Japan. I didn't know what I was going to do, but a friend suggested Nara (and Kobe -- I never did make it to Kobe) and at the last minute, we decided to go there.

The last day, I wandered around Osaka a bit, then was off to the airport and (eventually) back home. Jet lag is a b*tch.

Shinsekai ("New World," but not so new anymore, and one of the most run-down places in Japan. But the old tower there is still neat, in an immediately-post-war industrial kind of way):



[Pictures start from the link to the right, older pictures are to the left.]

This is it, the last set. The whole set is available here.

Pioli, huh?

I think it's an outstanding hire, and exactly who I was hoping they'd get when Peterson resigned.

Not that I thought Peterson was terrible (he did a great job when he first came to Kansas City), unlike some people who might be reading this, but he clearly blew it on the offensive line a few years ago. It's completely obvious now, but I saw it coming, as probably did a lot of people.