2008/03/27

Scenes (some unlikely) of the ancient capital

In the morning of Tuesday, I took a nice jog in Kyoto - the place where a protocol to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with the objective of reducing Greenhouse gases that cause climate change, (Kyoto Protocol), was signed in 1997.For that, the city of Kyoto is very eco-conscious. All the city buses use recycled cooking oil.

Here's the famous five story pagoda of Toji. It is definitely one of the tallest buildings in this city.


This is a ridge-end roof tile of a building of Toji. We call such a tile "Onigawara," a figure that mimics a face of Oni to scare away evil spirits. This pigeon is not at all bothered by it, however.


Cute figurines in a souvenir store showcase.



This is St. Agnes Episcopal Church - across the street from the Imperial Palace ground - built in 1898.


Apparantly, these are very popular Italian and French restaurants.

2 comments:

dbp said...

Here is a story related to the Kyoto Treaty. I have some commentary about the NPR story on my blog

dbp said...

Love the pictures by the way. I remember seeing Onigawara tiles when I was in Japan--of course, I didn't know they were called that back then!