Everyday life of Kyoto residents in neighborhoods away from where the vermilion lacquered paint glistens from tori gates and where flash bulbs can be seen lighting up the night sky. My emotions were full of melancholy and hope. The mood was set…I went hunting during the early a.m. hours and I captured 'Midnight Prayer'. *The manji (swastika) seen in this image is a marking of Buddhist Temples and a symbol of purity, mercy, and good fortune used in Japan and throughout Asia. The symbol predates the right facing swastika used by the Nazi Germany regime by some 3000 years.