ブログを書いた久しぶりですね。　今月日本にいっぱい旅行したから、ぜんぜん暇がありませんでした。　まず、東京に行きました。　やっぱり、東京はすごいところです〜　そんな大きい町は初めて見たので、びっくりしました。今京都と東京の違いがよく分かります；京都はもっと落ち着いて、自然と伝統的な建物が美しくて、東京に面白い店とか高いビルがいっぱいあります。

先週広島と宮島に行きました。また、広島の雰囲気は京都と東京と違います。でも、いつものように日本人は親切で、やさしい人です。

将来いろんな日本人と会うために日本にいろんな旅をしたいです。　このとき楽しみしています。

今日は京都で大きな祭りが行われました；時代祭り。

これは私の初めての祭りでした。鎌倉時代とか平安時代の着物はまだ見たとこがありませんから、すごく面白かったんです。　社長のおかげで見に行きました。

Being very interested in Japan and Japanese culture I really wanted to visit Japan. And my dreams come truth! Finally, after a long flight from Moscow to Kansai, I am in Japan now!

So what can I say? Comparing to Russia Japan is totally different, especially Kyoto, where I will live for six month. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture. In spite of it is the major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area it doesn`t look like megapolis. There are a lot of old traditional houses, beautiful temples and cosy narrow streets; and Imperial Palace; and a lot of museums and gardens. So it attracts many tourists from all over the world and is a good place to see the culture of Japan.

The other day, I climbed a mountain called daimonji-yama, a very famous mountain for its role in the Gozan no Okuribi (send-off fire of five mountains). I will follow up on the Gozan no Okuribi (a festival where large chinese characters are lit on fire near the top of certain mountains), as it takes place in August. Dai means "large" or "great", and monji means "word".

I went at night, so I wasn't able to get a nice picture of the mountain, but I was able to get a nice picture of the view from the top!

Hellooo from Kyoto!
I haven't been able to take pictures of the Tondaya itself, which is a shame because it truly is a site to see.. but no worries; they are coming soon!

Instead, I will talk about my visit Nijo-Jo, or Nijo castle. This castle is over 400 years old and located in Kyoto, and it is spectacular!

I don't have many pictures because no photography was allowed inside. But there are many, many rooms inside for many different purposes. The artwork on the Japanese closet walls are very beautiful, and almost always covered in gold (the only exception was the shogun's private chambers, where it was not covered in gold but had simple but artistic ink drawings). There were also pieces of art that separated these rooms near the ceiling, where the artwork was sculpted using a piece of wood, and had different artwork on both sides! I could go on and on, but I really think that you should see for yourself.
 

the garden

the gate into castle grounds

the moat

If this place doesn't look that beautiful to you, blame my photography skills. It really does look better in person.