Kyoto Sakura

Well, it's that time of the year again...Cherry blossom time! This was the first time I saw the blossoms in Kyoto. The whole area around my apartment and my work exploded into a pale pink canopy above the street. There are whole neighbourhoods where it seems the only tree ever planted is the beloved Cherry. This year, they were whiter than I remember.

I've seen them about 5 times now, but they are still just as magical as the first time I saw them. Wow! Taking sakura pictures is addictive!


This is Kiyamachi street. It runs along a little canal and is one of the most beautiful places to see the blossoms. I think it has such a stunning effect because the trees here are right in the middle of the city.

I like the street sign here that says: "Hey son, let's run into
the middle of the road to check out the sakura!"

People tend to have picnics under the trees during spring. This is Maruyama Park and there were so many people that it was hard to find a place to sit down. The whole area was filled with drunken businessmen, tourists, and college kids skipping school. Wouldn't you?

There were a tonne of stalls selling food. This takoyaki-ya san hung his lantern in the branches. It was a good way to get free advertising.


Many women wore kimonos. This was also common in Kanazawa. But the designs in Kyoto take the cake!
After eating some delicious Japanese junk food in the park, I left to go to Nijo Palace to see nighttime blossoms. Nijo Palace is one of Kyoto's many world heritage sites. The illumination was incredible. You can't capture the magic on film...or digitally, even...But I tried! Here are my two best attempts.

The people are so small beneath the ancient trees. It's hard to imagine Japan's first Shogun also walked in the same garden so many years ago.

Everyone had their cameras out. It was irresistible.

The shrine of good humour!

yes, his junk is hanging out

It's a little know shrine in Kyoto, which shares real estate with some kind of noodle shop, but the Shrine of Good Humour is a popular place to visit for pranksters, funnymen, and others seeking the holy grail of gags, puns, and punchlines. The pantsing god, seems like a 'punny' acronym for the panting dog, but he is, in fact, the mascot for the shrine.


The shrine itself is actually comedy size as well. Shrines usually have large torii gates at the entrance, but this shrine has tiny wee things leading to a miniature matchbox building inside a little niche in the corner of the shop. It is a real shrine and people pray for a good sense of humour, and then make a joke.

I tried making a twitter joke: 100 characters of less. "Two men walk into a bar...Ouch."

As in all religions, if your prayers are answered (in this case with a hillarious punchline, a la business man in a suit slipping on a banana, or a cat fail), then you bring a votive plaque to show your appreciation.

I couldn't read them, but one lady is watering her garden with breast-milk

The shrine in renowned for turning greasy dullards into comedic supermen. And this can be seen in the large amount of dirty jokes painted on the votives.

If you have a good twitter joke, please leave it in the comments. Mine was kinda lame, but I was under pressure. There was a big nerd behind me that wanted a transformance into a Charlie Sheen-type winning machine!