Kobe turtle mirrored

Mirrored turtle in a Kobe inner city park

A calming, but not quite tranquil picture. A single turtle, on a stone out in the water, enjoying the heat of the beaming sunlight. A pool of water surrounding the stone that is calm enough to offer mirror images, but wavy enough to jar the mirror image. As so many other images I end up liking, it has an inherent contradiction: an iconically slow animal in a calm scene, but not quite calm enough. Stretching out, aiming its head up, out, and away.

Even in color symbolism, this image stays mostly coherent — the turtle is enveloped in a rippled pond of green reflections from the foliage surrounding it, giving associations of calmness and of fecundity.

Kanteibyo

The famous chinese temple Kanteibyo in Kobe.

Inari's torii walk, Minatogawa

Another one of these temple walks leading up to the shrine of the kitsune god Inari, clutching the keys to the granary in his maw. This one in the large Minatogawa temple in central Kobe.

The Minatogawa shrine

The Minatogawa shrine is possibly the largest of the Shinto temples in Kobe. Gorgeous, as are they all.

Teeming Kobe in the evening sun

With the red of the cranes and bridges positively aglow with the evening sun's golden rays.

A Kobe Sunset

Not how Carbonara is done

My lunch yesterday was supposed to have an egg-yolk spread over the scallions and stirfried meat on top of the rice.

So instead of cracking the egg for me, I get an egg. And an egg separator. And two bowls. Get crackin'!

Buttocks up

In Sannomiya, close to the train stations, this statue may be found. It's one of the more explicit homages to the female curves in the area - though gelded and tall curvaceous women with rather more European faces are found all around the area my hotel is in.

Kobe Mosque

The Mosque in Kobe, crammed in at the very south end of the Kitano part of town. Nearby, a number of turkish restaurants, halal grocers and other noticable features of its demographic were noticable.

The Ikuta Shrine

The main gates at the Shrine at Ikuta, the shrine that gave name to the city Kobe. I went there today with a few jetlagged mathematicians; and we were lucky enough to witness parts of a Shinto wedding ceremony while walking the grounds.