Joy loved the garden!

Here the owner of the house demonstrates the use of what is known as a water harp. There is a cistern under the fountain that rings out most musically as the water drips into it. It is quite magical sounding!

Looking back at the house.

Kyoto was our favorite city that we visited in Japan. It seemed to still possess much of it's ancient charm. In this picture we are looking out the door of a traditional Japanese house upon a traditional Japanese garden.

But even the the most ancient of ceremonies we are still reminded that we are living in a modern world. "Yes, you can play your gameboy, just stay still while I fix your outfit!"

The music is difficult to describe. It's definitely not western.

And how intricate the ceremony.

It was amazing how many people were involved.

The music was as ancient as the ceremony.

Do you think Joy liked the costumes?

We happened upon an ancient Japanese traditional dance in Osaka that is still performed to please the soul of a long dead prince.

It's hard to believe that such beauty could exist in the midst of such a large bustling city.

Though it was said that nothing would grow in Hiroshima for seventy-five years after the blast, you can see by this garden that the Japanese land as well as the people are resilliant. It's hard to imagine the effort that goes into producing such beauty. In some cultures it seems as if man and nature are struggling against one another. Japanese gardens make me appreciate what can be when man and nature work together.

Joy of course loved all the Koi in the ponds, and rivers around Hiroshima.

This castle was completely destroyed, but rebuilt as a museum.

These multicolored ribbons are actually innumerable paper cranes strung together. There is a myth in Japan that if you fold a thousand paper cranes your wish will come true. One of the many children that developed cancer from the radiation of the blast believed the story and folded countless cranes before she died of leukemia. In rememberance of her and the other children victims there are hundreds of thousands of paper cranes placed upon the monuments.

After China we stayed with Kevin in Korea for a couple more nights before heading to Japan. The first major city we went to in Japan was Hiroshima. It was quite a "tear jerker" as they say in Texas. The whole city is like a massive monument. They don't want the world to forget the power of Atomic weapons or the victims of them. The city is officially dedicated to World Peace.

Joy loved all the lanterns and other decorations that could be found tucked away in hidden corners and market streets.

Here I am trying to decipher a map (written in Chinese of course) of the Forbidden City.

Even with large sections being inaccessible due to construction, the Forbidden City is massive!