Kyoto

We had meetings with TOSE yesterday, down in Kyoto. TOSE is Japan's largest independent developer. After our meeting, they showed us their "Wall of Fame" which is a display of many of the 1,000+ games they have developed in the last 29 years. TOSE prefers remaining quiet; I didn't even know that TOSE had developed so many of these games, many of them top franchises.

Also very cool was the fact that their Wall of Fame is right next to their CEO's office, and not many people get to see this. We could also see their CEO sitting at his desk in the next room working, and his desk was covered with papers and work. Having always believed that a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind, I found great satisfaction in seeing this. :-)

But enough of that boring stuff. After we left TOSE, we had some time for me to take Elliott to some of my favorite spots in Kyoto. Kyoto is my favorite city in Japan, for all of its historical value. First we went to "Kikakuji," the Golden Pavilion. Whenever I'd been there previously, I'd been in the morning or early afternoon. Yesterday, though, we got there as the sun was close to setting, and for the first five minutes or so that we were there, the sun was hitting the Golden Pavilion directly (pic inset here); it was amazing!

Then, we went to Kiyomizu-dera. As the name implies, this is a temple where water is purified by the gods, so to speak. I think it's very pretty. Normally, it closes at 5pm, but for a limited time (November 13th through December 7th) it was open at night, with the structures and the maple trees (bearing full Fall colors) all lit up. It was absolutely breathtaking, and the posted pictures do not do it justice!!!

Also fun there was me making new friends. Elliott had gone off to by some tea (a very British thing to do!), he came back and found me talking to a half-a-dozen high-school-aged boys. We were sharing Japanese riddles and puns, and I felt bad that most of them were impossible to related to Elliott (or any other non-Japanese speaker). But there was one that translates; remind me to tell you of the bus driver riddle. It stumped me (they were happy to stump me after I stumped them several times).

I've posted a few pics here, but for more from this trip, check out all the pictures I've posted, either here on Facebook, or here on Flickr.

Me with Kinkakuji shining in the sun behind me, with some really cool reflections in the water.

One of the Kiyomizu-dera structures lit up.

With Kyoto city lights in the background, Kiyomizu-dera structures and trees lit up.

Notice the maple trees all lit up.

More Kiyomizu-dera structures lit up.

Mt. Fuji as seen from the shinkansen ride down to Kyoto yesterday morning.