Ian Robert Knight Photography

The Namba district of Osaka is filled with wonderfully unique cafes and bars. This is a great example - The Creperie Alcyon.

The building was designed to look like a French cafe, and has plenty of detailing inside to give that impression. Although it's not clear in this image, there are French flags on masts above the door.

#creperie_alcyon #namba #osakafood

This is the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

It's dedicated to one young girl, Sadako Sasaki, as well as the many thousands of other children who perished from the atomic bomb that dropped on the city in 1945.

Sadako survived the bombing, when she was just 2 years old. By the age of 12, she had developed leukemia. She died 8 months after her diagnosis.

While in the hospital, she continued to fold Orizuru (paper origami cranes) with her desire to get well. The story of Sadako and orizuru had spread around the world. Today, Orizuru is known as a symbol of peace.

It's a common sight to see school children visit the monument and hang strings of Orizuru in honour of the victims of the tragedy.

This is the very beautiful Hiroshima Castle, otherwise known as the Carp Castle.

Obviously, this isn't the original structure, as that was destroyed in the atomic bomb blast in 1945. The original was built in the late 1500's and the current one was built as a replica in 1958.

Although the castle didn't survive the bomb, three trees did. These iconic trees are now symbols of the city's strength and ability to survive and flourish even after a truly devastating event.

#hiroshimacastle #hiroshima #carpcastle

Just off the coast of Hiroshima is Miyajima Island, and the famous Itsukushima Shrine. This is the "floating" torii gate that serves as the entrance to that shrine.

The shrine and the gate are built over water, so that during high tide, they appear to be floating.

The island is officially called Itsukushima, too, but is more commonly referred to as Miyajima, which translates to "shrine island". Trust the Japanese to make things simple and literal.

#itsukushima, #miyajimaisland

This is the Genbaku Dome in central Hiroshima, Japan. It's also known as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

It was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945. Through the efforts of many people, including those of the city of Hiroshima, it has been preserved in the same state as immediately after the bombing.

In December 1996, the Genbaku Dome was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Nijo Castle in Kyoto was built about 400 years ago, as home for Shoguns of the era.

This first image is one of the watchtowers, on the southeast corner of the massive complex. There used to be one watchtower at each of the four corners of the outer moat, but two of them burnt down in a fire in 1788. Today only the southeast and the southwest watchtowers stand.

The second image is the entrance to Ninomaru-goten Palace, just inside the grounds. The Palace consists of 6 interconnected rooms, all filled with art and showcasing intricate carvings and and metalwork fittings.

This incredible structure is Kinkakuji, otherwise known as the Golden Pavilion. It's one of Kyoto's top draws for crowds, and that's pretty understandable.

The top two floors of this zen temple are covered in gold leaf. This is not the original building, as it's burnt down several times over the centuries, most recently in 1950. This particular iteration was completed in 1955.

Since this site attracts many thousands of people every day, it's a challenge to get a decent image, because of the depth of the crowds. But patience will be rewarded.

I find that the best time of day to visit this temple is at the end of the afternoon, when the sun hits it nicely. Mornings are OK, but the light isn't quite as good.

Ginkakuji is a Zen temple, built along Kyoto's eastern mountain slope.

Built as a retirement villa in 1482 by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, it became a temple after his death in 1490.

It is commonly nicknamed the Silver Pavilion, despite not being covered in silver. It's believed to have gotten that nickname because it was originally covered in black lacquer, and at night the moonlight would give it a silvery appearance.

The Fushimi Inari temple is one of Kyoto's main attractions. Famous for its thousands of brightly-painted torii gates, it draws millions of visitors every year.

Perhaps less known to most foreign visitors, especially those who can't read Japanese, is that each of these gates are actually donated by individuals or businesses.

What you're seeing here are the reverse sides of the gates, which is what you'd see when you are on your return journey back down to the entrance after you're turned around.

Each one of the gates is engraved with the donor's name or business information. They donate to the temple, and in exchange are given the opportunity to tell everyone about it.

Torii gate donation rates start at about 400,000 yen for a small one like these (about $2500 USD), to over 1 million yen for the larger ones (about $6500 USD).