Jam-packed day of sightseeing around Kyoto today. Japan 2008 map updated.

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Video from our visit to Todai-Ji temple (and deer park) today. Note how the deer are trained to bow politely to ask for more crackers.

New pictures from Japan added to album.

Our hotel in Kyoto. Just on the edge of town and perched high on a hill, we have great views of the city and temples below.

Some short videos from our Japan trip.

Photo album for our trip to Japan

This is why "cap and trade" programs (like Kyoto) are bad. If you allow participants to negotiate a certain amount of "free emissions", then people will try to make sure their caps are more than the amount they need. Then the price of teh carbon trading system collapses, and you get no change is behavior by anybody (you just shuffle dollars around to the best negotiators in the system).

What we need is a universal Carbon tax that sets a price on ALL carbon emissions (just for being alive - you need to be taxed for 1 ton per year). This way, no one can cheat, and we can uses the taxes to directly offset the emissions.

Quoted: "The Stern Report suggests we need a price for a tonne of carbon emissions of $20, rising to $30, $40 or even $50 to stabilise [the level of CO2 in the atmosphere] at manageable levels," he said. "But there is a good chance that the carbon credits that are meant to provide incentives for reducing emissions will be available for next to nothing."