This is a photograph of the gate at Nijo-jo, a massive castle in the center of Toyko built by the Tokugawa Shogunate in the early 1600s. Like much of Kyoto, parts of it have been rebuilt time and time again.

It's still a fascinating sight - the building and architecture were engineered for social control, with sitting rooms and sections laid out hierarchically - but maybe the most interesting thing about it were its "nightingale floors," paneled floors built to squeak like birds when walked over to protect the castle inhabitants from sneaking invaders. They still work.

On our way out, I passed this gate and was struck by all the texture - it seemed a monolith, an impressive sentinel guarding its charge through time. Enjoy (click for a larger file).

The Massive Gate at Nijo Castle, Kyoto (1/40 sec, f/3.5, Canon EF 28-105 at 28mm, ISO 400)

The Grounds at Ginkaku-Ji (1/40 sec, f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm at 18mm, ISO 400)

This summer I took my first trip to Japan and my second to the Far East (following last year's China trek). My brother John was teaching English in several high schools in Hokota, a small town in the Ibaraki prefecture near Tokyo. Since his year-long stay was coming to an end, my younger brother Mark and I decided to visit while we still had the chance. For ten days we traveled through Japan, stopping in Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Tokyo, and Mito.

Kyoto was our first stop, after spending our first night in Hokota. We arrived at Kyoto Station via Toyko after a pretty cool ride on the Shinkansen (bullet train). My Sigma 10-20mm UWA began getting a non-stop workout immediately:

Kyoto Station (1/200 sec, f/4, Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm, ISO 400)

The city itself is amazing. Once the Imperial Capital of Japan, it's now a major metropolitan center famous for its myriad stunning gardens and temples. It's a fantastic city to walk in. It was pouring on the day we visited, but the rain stopped for just long enough for me to press my camera against a wooden rail for support and make this long exposure of a tiny waterfall along the path:

The Gardens at Eikando Zenrin-Ji Temple, Kyoto (1.6 sec, f/22, Sigma 10-22mm at 11mm, ISO 100)

We visited Eikando Zenrin-Ji (above), the head garden for a major Buddhist sect, Ginkaku-ji - "The Temple of the Silver Pavilion," a zen temple built as a place where Shogun could enjoy solitude and respite, and Nijo-jo, a major castle in the center of the city built in the 1600s by the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Here's another shot of Ginkaku-Ji:

The gardens at Ginkaku-Ji Temple, Kyoto (1/250 sec, f/4, Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm, ISO 400)

Generally, it was pretty difficult not to find something to want to shoot:

Trees (1/80 sec, f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm at 18mm, ISO 400)A scene window along the Philosopher's Path (1/13 sec, f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm, ISO 400)

It was a great first couple of days in Japan. Fighting jet lag, we stayed up and walked miles upon miles as we explored a city that seemed a microcosm of the meeting point between modern urbanity and tradition that seems to define the country in many ways. We had arrived in Japan during tsuyu, the rainiest time of the year, and we spent much of our two days in Kyoto simultaneously awed by its beauty and trudging through what at times seemed a torrential downpour.

And if I sometimes forgot to document our own experience, my little brother Mark - my inspiration in photography - was around to capture it. Here he has grabbed my camera and fires off a frame of John and I, taking cover in a temple's foyer as we rest our feet.

My brother John and I resting and taking cover from the rain (1/20 sec, f/4, Canon 70-200mm L at 70mm, ISO 400)

Stay tuned for more - Hiroshima next.