Japanese maples.

Things I like: composition, this photo feels pretty balanced to me.  I like the green too.

Things I don't: Blown out highlights where they shouldn't be blown out.  I need to learn to coax a larger range out of my camera.  Technically this is an example of "bad bokeh" as well but I'm not too sensitive about that sort of thing.

shrines

Walking up a mountain to a Tendai Temple for what seemed like a mile.  These little shrines, decorated with colorful aprons and fans, lined the way.

gaping

Feeding koi at a temple pond in Japan.  You would go grab an old plastic mug from a cute mismatched little collection (very clearly the castoffs from temple members' kitchens) filled with fish food pellets, and leave 500 yen or so in another mug.  Then you'd approach the pond and watch the fish go crazy.  There were probably over a hundred of them, some colored but mostly these huge grey-brown guys.

 Things I like about this photo: the curves--in the water, in the fish mouths; the dark-and-light pattern of the water.  Things I don't like:  I wish I had gotten some of the colored fish to do this.  Also, this took some post-photo cropping/rotating, which I just need to learn to do while I'm taking the picture!