I first visited Kyoto in August of 1999 with my good friend Avi and his fried Ben.  We traveled down from Tokyo.  Ikebukuro, Sunshine City to be exact.  On a weekend break from our studies at Sophia University.

At that time I had completed 3 weeks of intense college study on Japanese economics and literature as well as a Modern Japanese History course from my high school.  I did not know what to expect after disembarking from the bullet train at Kyoto station.  After checking into a hotel we found ourselves at the base of a hill, in the rain.  We stopped at a small ramen shop to eat and rest, before ascending the east hill to Kiyomizu Temple.

With umbrella and camera in hand, a cheap disposable as I didn't own a real camera at that time, I took a shot from the deck of Kiyomizu out onto the hills with a small shrine in the distance.  I have been chasing that single shot, trying to recreate it with digital photography across several more recent trips to Kyoto.  I have not been successful.  Not even the exquisite cherry blossoms in April of 2003 or a chilly bicycle alongside the Kamo River on a December morning to catch the sites with a fellow traveler could match that feeling.

Emerging through the mist, my first glimpse of Kyoto.