About this picture
Sunlight floods the polished wooden floorboards of a quiet Japanese temple room lined with woven tatami mats. On the left, a sliding gold screen features painted cranes soaring among pine branches above a glowing floor lantern. Wide timber pillars frame a veranda overlooking a dry stone garden with raked white gravel, mossy rocks, and blooming cherry blossoms. In the distance, a temple pavilion rises against green hills, while a solitary figure in a grey coat walks along an outer gravel pathway.
The story so far
This photo is part of The Mender of Lantern Street, a story told one torn photograph at a time. Mira pieced together grandmother Ada's long day in Gion, only to discover a midnight portrait of Ada taken by someone standing across the street. The mystery photographer left no name, only a question scrawled on the back.
How to play
Drag a piece onto another square to swap them, or tap a piece and then tap where it should go. Hold Preview for a faded glimpse of the photo: enough to see where the sky and the street go, not the details. Pieces that belong together join up and move as one, and turn green once they are in the right place. You have 2:00 for these 16 pieces, and the clock keeps running if you leave the page. Each photo has three stars: one for restoring it, one for finishing with0:48 still on the clock without taking extra time, and one for doing it in 18 moves or fewer. Each episode starts with 2 hints and earns more along the way; unused hints carry over to later photos. Playing needs a free account, which keeps your stars and stamps on every device. Restoring photos earns stamps (more for more stars, and extra for whole episodes), which buy more time or more hints. Once the photo is restored, turn it over and look for the clue hidden in it. Photos open one after another and episodes in order; each new chapter opens once you have enough stars from the chapters before it.