I had a quick jaunt down to Kyoto today for a magazine assignment. I enjoy these quick trips, gets you out of your neighbourhood and gives you a change of scenery for the day. And you get to travel at high speed on the shinkansen bullet trains, at approx 130USD for a one way ticket. I never tire of bullet train travel, smooth, clean, effortless, and if you sit on the right hand side on the outward journey you get rewarded with a great view of Mount Fuji. This morning Fuji-san was clear cut against the sky, snowy at the top, fresh and bright, unlike me.

The great thing about bullet train travel is it gives me a time to chill out and enjoy some music. Today’s listening on the way down to Kyoto was Antony and the Johnson’s cd ‘I Am A Bird Now’, followed by the ever-cheery Arab Strap, including the great song ‘Xmas (Baby, Please Come Home)’.

Then there were a few hours of walking the streets of Kyoto, upto Gion, down to Toji Temple, miles and miles, grey, flat, boring light. I don’t listen to music when I’m walking and photographing, I find it too distracting. I only tried it once when I was on a shoot that i wasn’t enjoying, but even then I didn’t particularly take to it much.

Then back on the shinkansen, homeward bound, and do my editing at approx 200kmph, followed by a snack and some more music. The return journey soundtrack was Blind Doc Watson’s excellent ‘Shady Grove’, Dusty Springfield’s ‘A Girl Called Dusty’, then 2 songs of Elton John, a quick one tune of Eminem, but that was a bad choice, and then finished with Johnny Cash for the walk up the road.