Pathways of Japan

Japan is a country best represented in visual details. At least, based on my experience of its two capitals (ancient and modern), I found endless examples of visual delights. The elegant rope ties of a handmade bamboo fence at Nanzen-Ji temple in Kyoto. The shiny perfection of a plastic food display in a restaurant in Kyoto's underground shopping mall. The ghostly beauty of falling snowflakes seen from the 53rd floor of a skyscraper in Tokyo's Roppongi Hills. And on and on.

My overwhelming impression of the country was that everything, from cuisine to clothing, crafts to gardens, buildings to rituals - seems designed to showcase the inherent perfection and elegance of the materials and methods used therein. Moreover, everything is carefully cleaned, manicured, folded or cultivated in some way.

Japan's beauty, therefore, comes not from the sheer drama of nature revealing itself - as seen in the wilds of the Americas, but from the imprint of humanity on nature, especially when nature is so lovingly framed by human hands.

Here is a sampling of some of the visual delights I encountered in Tokyo and Kyoto. If you have visited any of these places and have impressions you'd like to add (or corrections to my background information - I tried to research where possible), please comment.