We awoke the next morning to nice weather and enjoyed a Japanese-style breakfast at our youth hostel. While rice, fish, and seaweed aren't our usual morning fare, we gobbled most of it up and washed it down with cold canned coffee from a vending machine.
Then it was off to Komyo-ji Temple, where we found a variety of Buddhist statues that differed quite a bit from the type we'd grown accustomed to seeing in Korea. The real highlight at this site, however, was the "Zen garden," the gorgeous and tranquil grounds around the temple. The raked pebble gardens and manicured plants and trees were even more beautiful than the already impressive groundskeeping we'd noticed around suburban Japanese homes. The pictures don't quite do it justice, but here are the highlights.
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