Adventures in Japan

It was this, or a McDonald's fried cheese "burger"

I thought I'd never get tired of Japanese food, but just on a whim, Tyler and I ate at an "Italian" café today. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a sandwich so much. The bread was soft, but not too soft, and a little bit chewy. Between the bread was meat that wasn't pork, and crunchy vegetables. Best of all, it didn't involve rice or noodles. Whatever it was that Tyler ordered had noodles, but they were swimming in a cheesy sauce and covered in beautifully browned, melted cheese, or "gratin" if you will. Ooohhh, melted cheese.

In actuality, neither dish was really all that special. But oh man was that nice for a change!

Less Unemployed

Yeah. Someone gave me a job. I guess he thought I was a girl or something. Must have been the lipstick. It sounds like a decent job. I get to go to all sorts of people's houses and sing songs with kids. The only downside to the job is that I don't earn that money. Not near as much as Carla. Then again, I do have that pesky Y chromosome. I have to work for like more than a day to buy my DS and I won't get paid until at least the end of the month. I may have to mug someone.

Sock It To Me One More Time

Himeji castle is arguably Japan's most famous castle. It's not the biggest, nor the oldest, but it is the most unchanged since it was first built. Or something. Lots of original materials still compose it. Most castles you can visit around Japan have been rebuilt numerous times. Due to fires (both natural and man made) or earth quakes or bombs, every castle has had to be refurbished. Not Himeji castle. Never saw warfare, has stood through countless earthquakes, and was about the only part of Himeji city unscathed by American bombers.

Himeji city is a bit of a hike from where we live. In fact, if we were to hike there, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this right now. I'd still be hiking. So we had to buy us some tickets. Usually we're pretty good at that kind of thing. I say we but mainly it's Carla who takes care of those details. Not that I was in charge today, oh heaven's no. Nope, there was just some miscommunication and it took us a lot longer than usual to get things sorted. Plus once we finally got on to the right train, we had to stand. Usually not such a big deal, but this train ride was going to be over an hour. Not the best start to the day. Luckily some seats opened up a few stops into the journey and I was able to enjoy the scenery.

But I wasn't able to photograph it. Carla and I have to get better at getting our gear in order the night before. We had enough forethought to dump all the pictures off the memory card last night. We just kinda forgot to put the memory card back into the camera. Kinda sucky, but no real drama. We just took the memory card out of the phone and plunked it into the camera. See, no problem, but it was just another thing not going as well as it could this morning. Not that I am one to point out ominous portents or anything. I fell asleep sometime after seeing the biggest suspension bridge I ever done seen. I woke up near Himeji.


You leave the train station and you can see the castle. It's a 15 minute walk away, but it's still pretty hard to miss. Impressive even from afar.

Even more so up close. But here is where I should mention that we had more camera trouble. One of the screw from the bottom of the camera fell out. SO now there's dust all on the inside of the viewing screen. Doesn't seem to affect the quality of my picture. Insert self deprecating comment here.


We paid our hard earned money to visit the castle grounds and they threw in an English speaking tour guide for free. And a Swedish guy named Eric. Of course I forget the name of our tour guide. He was very good. A little hard to understand at times, and I would have liked to have taken a more leisurely pace, but he knew all sorts of stuff about all sorts of stuff and that's the stuff that counts.


Himeji castle is just nuts with cool stuff. It looks stupendous and beautiful but it is also one of the most military minded castles ever. Full of bottlenecks and switchbacks and collapsible walls and blinds and dead ends and stuff to put the invaders at a severe disadvantage. Every possible entrance can be easily monitored from within the castle. The castle walls are filled with holes big enough to shoot through but not see in to. Lots of places to drop rocks and boiling oil on the heathens below. The steps are all uneven. Low ceilings so the enemy can't use their spears, but the ceiling panels can be removed by warriors in the room above so they can stab the helpless people below. Crazy lots of stuff. And it looks fantastic, as I've mentioned before. Plus one of the wells contained a hidden ninja entry point. It led down to the moat. Where there was a submerged path that he could run along, making him to appear like he was running on the water. Neato.


One more bit of knowledge, this one not told to us by our guide. Floors in Japanese castles are intentionally squeaky in places so that people can't sneak in in the middle of the night.

Okay, more stuff about the castle... I can't help it, I really liked it. Construction on this castle started in 1601 and finished in 1609. That's eight years to build this magnificent castle. Almost completely of wood. On top of a small mountain. Right up to the edges of the mountain top, so there was nowhere for enemy forces to climb up to. Using massively sized timbers. One of the main support pillars is 26.4 meters tall. That's tall. That's five stories tall. Experts today still have no idea how they managed to stand it up. They're also amazed at the forethought of the people who built the castle. 400 years old and more earthquake proof than a lot of modern buildings. Insane. Okay, now I'll shut my yap about the castle.

Now I can talk about the gardens right next door. The tour took nearly two hours so the light was beginning to fade as we entered the gardens. Still, they looked fantastic. The light just made it harder to take decent pictures is all. I need all the help I can get, y'see. But there's a chance we might go back. Just to see it in the different seasons. I'd try to better describe it, but I think I'm over my word count for the day. Maybe, I'll just show some pictures that I don't hate.


You'd think I would be sick of taking pictures of leaves by now. You'd be wrong.




It's hard taking pictures of a girl who doesn't like getting her picture taken.


According to the informative plaque next to it, this bush is a Schneider bush. I post just in case any Schneiders read this.


This fish just ate some Imperial Margarine.


Little bit of engrish for y'all.

Once we got back to Osaka, Carla made a new friend. I only tell you this because I know that she won't. But first, I need to mention something to help set the stage. Kinda

Y'all know what sake is right? Cool. They sell cups of sake in vending machines and most convenience stores and supermarkets. Usually clear glasses filled with clear sake. There. Table set. Now I just need to figure out which fork to use.

The man that approached Carla, repeating the Japanese words for pretty and beautiful over and over, had such a cup of sake. But I couldn't be sure if it was filled with actual sake or his own drool. To be fair, any of us would drool as much as he did if we were as drunk and had as few teeth. So Drooly McStinkalot poked Carla in her pretty face with his wet finger and tried to get her to try his cup of clear fluid.

Addendum

We forgot to mention something about our karaoke excursion. After the izakaya, we were all standing around discussing what to do. I espied a Canadian flag a little farther down the way. So I went to go investigate. I was poking about when an old, heavy-ish woman of Asian decent in a very blue jacket with a very big mole came up to me. "Can you speak Japanese?" she asked me in Japanese. "A little." I replied, also in Japanese. "Good." she said and then grabbed my by the arm and started to drag me into an alley, all the time saying to me (in English), "You'll like this place. It's nice. It's clean."

Needless to say, I was a little freaked out. "I have to go back to my friends." I pleaded in my native tongue, "They're waiting for me. We're going to karaoke." I had managed to break free by this point, but the word karaoke caused her to lunge at me anew. I scampered back to the safety of the herd. When they heard of my encounter, they decided that they had to check it out. So back we all went. Blue jacket lady was very happy to see such a large group. She launched into her spiel again, this time in Japanese. So the Japanese people in our group decided to check out the Canadian bar. Which is where the woman was trying to drag me earlier, she was just taking me to the side door. A couple of them took one look in the front door and then turned around and told the rest of the group that we were leaving. I don't know what they saw, I was hiding from mole lady.

Also, we saw a fat guy in overalls

So there was another national holiday in Japan today (they have two in November) but it took us a while to notice because we didn't set foot outside until around 6:00 PM. The only reason we did, really, was to patronize a local bar offering cheap food & drinks in honour of said holiday. I think it's National Labour Thanksgiving Day or something to that effect. No turkey. It's not that kind of holiday. The bar had yummy burgers, though. Well, kinda yummy. The beef was weird, but the toppings were divine. Best (or only) dill pickle I've had in months. And the cheese, though processed, was rather nice. The bacon, though not quite "bacon" was tasty. The whole thing was messy. I heartily approve.

There were A LOT of foreigners in there tonight. (Probably every night, but this is the first time we've been there.) All those people speaking English without a Japanese accent made us feel somehow out of place. It was odd. But much more affordable than a birthday celebration, so there you go.

Look At All Our Mutant Children

I haven't blogged all that much lately. I don't have any good excuse, either. I haven't been playing Halo 2, or a DS or anything like that. Instead, I've been applying for jobs. Jorbs. JayRobs. You know, for to stem slightly this money hemorrhage we've got going on over here.

And interviews take a good deal of effort. For one, I have to pay attention to my hair.

For B I have to wear a suit. Me in a suit is much like a Japanese person dressed up like a cowboy. These things happen, but there is no photographic proof. You just have to take it on faith.

Anyhoo, I've had a few interviews. I've duded myself up, I've tamed my hair, and I've smiled till my face near cracked. I've been witty, charming, gracious, and well spoken. All my interviewers have said as much. They have also said that they would love to hire me. They all have also said that they are going to hire a woman instead. Except for that one place. They wanted me to start as soon as possible. But that was a low paying job. And I'd have to change diapers. Not baby diapers. Any job that doesn't involve doo-doo seems to be earmarked for ladies. It's not fair man. Understandable, but fair. You see, there are a lot of guys over here. White guys. Ain't most of 'em lookers. Almost all of them with pretty Japanese girlfriends.

Most of the adult Japanese who are taking English classes are men, and they would rather practice talking with girls. Makes sense. But it makes it harder on me. But enough of me complaining.

At the supermarket, or su-pa in Japanese, we go to near here there is an old man. We've seen him every time we've been there. He is bent in half at the waist. He shuffles about the supa, picking stuff off the middle shelves and putting it in his basket. I'm not at all joking. I would have to sit cross legged on the ground in order to look him in the eye. I have no idea how he gets stuff off the top shelf. Kinda sad, really.

And yeah, there is a great gap in size between the generations here. The kids today all eat the meat. Back in the day, the grandparents didn't eat meat so much. The old people here, about 80 percent don't even make it up to past my ribs.


There was other stuff I wanted to touch on during this disjointed rambling, but I forget it. The only thing left to mention is that "Hit Me Baby One More Time" is a fantastic karaoke song.

I felt dirty just writing that, but it's true.


I guess I can also mention that Carla and I saw Shrek 2. It was better than the first. I was surprised at how much Carla laughed at it. Until the Far Far Away Idol part. That ruined it a little.

This one's for Nathan Sprung

If I'm not mistaken, the translation of this movie title is "Blood and Bones". Scary, eh kids?

The movie stars Beat Takeshi and is based on a best selling (and I think award winning) novel. I don't know too much about it, but I'm pretty sure it would make a lousy campfire story.

What we didn't notice while we lived there

Someday soon it will be Canadian Tina's birthday. We heard through the grapevine (a.k.a. David) that there would be celebratory karaoke. So last night we met up with Tina and her many, many friends in an izakaya in Umeda. By the time we got there, the party was well under way. If we'd heeded David's sage advice and just met them for karaoke instead of showing up for the tail end of the eating and drinking, we could have saved ourselves ¥6000. You see, what David must already know but Tyler & I have trouble adjusting to, is that around here the bill for a drinking party among friends is divided evenly among the group, regardless of what each individual ate or drank. So if you show up for the last hour of a night-long party, a couple drinks and bit of food are going to cost you a hefty chunk of change. Especially if there are two of you.

After that, we weren't sure we wanted to spend money on karaoke at all, but what with the birthday, we decided to miss the last train and sing until morning. It wasn't long before someone found a place with a karaoke room large enough to accommodate the lot of us. The lobby featured posters with a weird google-eyes-under-the-nose kind of theme. You can watch the commercials on their website. I recommend that you do. Then you'll have an idea of the kinds of things we see on TV every day. But I digress. The karaoke only lasted a couple of hours, and then everyone else went home. Except David. He's such a trooper. The three of us should have gone back to the karaoke bar and kept singing (we were having a really good time), but what we did instead was wander the streets waiting for the first morning trains that could take us home. In Umeda at about 4:00 in the morning, pretty much the only other people we encountered were transvestites, and groups of young pimps with big, blond hair and snazzy black suits. Eventually we stopped in a little bar and indulged in perfectly ordinary cocktails that cost us each ¥1100. Cheaper than I taxi, I suppose.

And now we're home and the sun is coming up, and that's about the end of that.

Better than a library

We were in Kyoto again yesterday. But not for touristing. Tyler had a job interview. While we were there, we took the opportunity to visit Green e Books, a bookstore we've been reading about all over the place lately. I guess it's pretty new. They sell used foreign books, which not a lot of places around here do. Books in Japan tend to be crazy expensive. At least compared to home. I guess it has something to do with the incredibly bloated distribution system or something. So Japanese books cost a lot. Imported books, even more so. Foreign magazines? Don't even go there. So finding a place that sells reading material for half price or less is like Christmas and birthdays all rolled up into one. But without church.

The store itself was pretty cool. They didn't have shelves and shelves of fantasy/sci-fi/romance series like a lot of the secondhand bookstores we saw in Australia. If we were made of money, we could have easily come out of there with a couple armloads full of stuff to read. But then we'd spend all our time reading and not Japaning. We could do that at home. So maybe it's best that we're frugal.

And the music in there was eclectic. I like that.


As we were walking to the bookstore, we saw a flock of eagles or hawks or something. They were swooping around a bridge over the Kamo River, along with a whole lot of seagulls, a stork and a bunch of ducks. I've never seen so many all in one place. The raptors, I mean. Usually they hunt alone, or maybe in pairs, but I've never seen a flock like that. And when they weren't in the air, they were all roosting in the same tree. I guess that's city living.

My 2¢

Surprisingly, we couldn't taste the leaf part of the deep-flied maple leaves. I guess they just function as batter receptacles. Yum. I've heard, though, that the maple leaves are pickled for a whole year before being fried up for the enjoyment of tourists. I guess that's the trick.

Mino-o Ho Down

Mino-o is known for its waterfall. It has a waterfall. You go there to see it. So we did. It was there.

Maybe specifics are in order.


One of the first things we saw after getting off the train in Mino-o was a whole lot of booths along the long and winding road up to the waterfall. Booths selling the usual tchotchkes, with an unusual focus on monkeys. They also sold deep fried maple leaves. The whole place smelled of hot oil. Luckily, Carla and I both find that scent enjoyable. We managed to pass the first dozen stalls just fine, our resolve faltered during the next dozen, and then we finally caved in and bought some. I noticed that the deep frying of maple leaves is a job only entrusted to elderly Japanese women.


I didn't see one lady with naturally non-grey hair, nor one bloke manning the deep fryers. The leaves themselves were just fine. Crispy yet tremendously greasy. Tasted like crisp grease with a hint of sweetness. Kinda good. Better than anything involving sweet red bean paste at any rate. Beans should never be considered a part of dessert, in my opinion.


It's fall over here in Japan. Which means that the leaves are starting to change colour, unlike Saskatchewan, where fall means the leaves fall off the trees in a week and then it snows. I think we've mentioned that the Japanese people are big on going out and admiring the leaves as they change colour. Well, there were leaves along the path to the waterfall, and there were plenty of camera carrying Japanese, out to enjoy the fall foliage.


Not that I blame them, I may subtly mock them, but I don't blame them. The leaves in the fall here are quite splendid. So many different colours, some are muted yellow, some are nearly neon. When the sun hits them just right, they glow. I don't remember many glowing trees back in Canada. Maybe I just hung out in the wrong neck of the woods.


Near the beginning of our not short hike to the waterfall, we saw some steps off to the left. Consulting our handy-dandy map, we couldn't quite figure out what it was. Probably a temple. We decided to investigate. The steps looked a lot less crowded than the main path we were on, which meant there was a much better chance of seeing some actual wildlife. And by wildlife, I mean monkeys. And maybe tanukis. So we started climbing the steps.

There were a lot of steps. We were quite sweaty and a little bit winded when we finally made it to the top. So we relaxed and took in the view. Not quite sure if it was worth the hike.


The view was not bad, but not awe-inspiring either. The whole city of Osaka stretched out as far as the eye could see all along the horizon, but smog obscured a lot of it. Would probably look better in the winter, or at sunset, or if I could figure out how to take a good photograph. Any hints or tips, Cory?

The climb down was much easier than the climb up. Which is usually the case, I guess. Still, 398 steps ain't no cake walk no matter how you slice it. It took longer than expected to walk up and down all those steps so we figured we had to boogy to make it to the waterfall before the light went away. Still, I had to stop and take a few pictures. That's when I noticed that my battery was just about dead. I should really get better at recharging it before big sight-seeing trips. What I didn't take pictures of: blossoming trees. Like, trees with roses and other pretty flowers on them. Pretty.

Not as pretty was the massive amount of shops and restaurants and booths and stalls along the path to the waterfall. We'd be walking, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature when we'd see booths up ahead and go, "Oh, the waterfall must be right up ahead!" Nope, just a clump of shops because the last clump of shops were now out of view.


We finally made it to the waterfall and it was not the greatest waterfall I've ever seen. Nor the worst. It was interesting. It kind of leans to one side. I'm not sure why, it wasn't windy or anything. Also, since the day was mainly overcast, it made everything look kind of muddy and smudgy, which went well with the surrounding vegetation. Looked kind of like a painting. The oil painting filter on our phone camera is laughably bad. That was an aside.

I should probably mention that all along the path there were signs warning us not to feed the monkeys. What monkeys? thought we. Later, as we sat near the waterfall, eating a jumbo frank, Carla noticed a monkey up in a tree. Then she noticed more in other trees. I think we saw five monkeys in all. All up in the trees, none down on the ground. Not sure how they trained the monkeys to not bother the tourists. But monkeys can be trained.. Everyone knows this.


For example, the monkeys at Mino-o have been trained to not stay still when Canadians try to take their pictures.

Chopper!

My favourite part was the part where I got a free cell phone strap/charm for filling out a survey. In Japanese. And I did it. And I got a prize. And it was free. Yay!

We saw a lot of other people walking around with big brown paper bags full of goodies, but I think we showed up too late to get one of those. Which, if you want to look on the bright side, meant we didn't have to carry them around with us all day.

Rub The Stomach

On Sunday we went to the Japan Games Festa, where all sorts of new and not yet released games were on display. I was a little bit happy.


First thing I did upon arrival was to get in line for some DS hands on play time. Actually, the first thing I did was avoid a giant, spasming cat blob near the entrance. That thing was weird man.


As were most of the DS games we played. The DS, in case you don't know, is a portable game system with Dual Screens, one of which is touch sensitive. It makes for some interesting game experiences. For example, I had to rub a dude's belly, to get him to puke up some fish he accidentally swallowed. Each time he purged, a rainbow would appear over his head. Using the stylus on the touch screen is a very different kinda of play mechanic. It makes everything seem more fun somehow. Maybe it is just the thrill of the new. I don't care. I was thrilled. But I wasn't very good.


Carla schooled me. She handled the fish way better, found the girl's missing items of oddness, and defeated a herd of stampeding bulls. Plus she did a little dance after each stage. I'm not so good with the dancing. I'm going to talk a bit more about the game. The graphics were like something out of an Ipod commercial, all the people were silhouettes and the backgrounds consisted of bright primary colours for the most part. I don't know what it sounded like, cause the showroom floor was plenty loud. I liked the game, I thought it was rad.


It weren't my favourite game there though, that honour belongs to Donkey Kong's Jungle Beat, another Nintendo game that uses a unique form of control. It's a platform game where you run and jump and swing, but you input all of these actions via a pair of bongo drums. I played it multiple times. It's really easy to learn and great fun to play. Plus it looks and sounds fantastic. And it's full of little touches, like the way you need to applaud before Donkey Kong will appear. Man, I want's me some vidja games. I guess a DS'll do. But we might have to get two. Carla seems to really want one now. Not that I'm complaining.

I'd talk more about the games there, but I don't want to bore y'all. But, I'll give a quick list of some of what I played, just to rub it in the faces of those who do care.

Mario 64x4, WarioWare DS, Biohazard 4, Devil May Cry 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (crap), Altered Beast, Viewtiful Joe 2, plus plenty more. If I had my own blog, I might go into more detail...

Plus we got all kinds of free swag. Mainly stickers, but also a free DVD and a music CD. Good haul for a free show.

After the show, we met up with David and went out for some enjoyable half price-Indian food and a relaxing drink and talked about videogames and near death experiences. Good day.

More Talk of Food

I think we've talked a fair bit about the fast food over here. That ain't gonna stop me from talking about it some more.


Christmas is coming up and KFC is getting in the spirit. Not only is the Colonel all dressed up, KFC serves roast chicken during the holidays over here.

Not to be outdone, McDonald's counters with...


Tomato.

huh.

They may have bullet trains and cheap electronics, but it seems the Japanese have yet to master the elusive art of red produce.


Now here is an example of Japanese food. It's an omelet covered in ketchup and filled with either noodles, fried rice, or brains. Me? I think it looks like a gut shot omelet that has been set upon at both ends by maggots.

I was twitching for a while there

The internet was out for most of today. We nearly lost our minds. But our kitchenette has never been cleaner. Because we cleaned it. Instead of surfing the internet. You know, like regular people.

My hands smell like I've been swimming. Because of the bleach.

The Pictures Don't Always Match the Text

I've seen deer before. More than one has darted in front of my car in the middle of the night. But I've never seen a deer up close. I've certainly never been able to walk right up to one and touch it before. But that's what you can do in Nara. The deer are all crazy sociable.


You could be waiting at a bus stop and a deer could come up to you, as if to say, "Hey man. What up? You got any Cheetos?" We just missed the annual antler sawing. All the deer had stumpy circles on their heads. Kinda like Hellboy.


There's more to Nara than just deer. It's also got old, historic temples and shrines and trees with pretty leaves that are changing colour. And right now, for a limited time only, they have some National Treasures on display. Even though it is against our nature, we paid money and went in to see them. Money well spent. It's amazing how well preserved some of the stuff is considering it's all over 1300 years old. A few of the pieces are in pieces and falling apart, but for the most part it all looks fantastic. There are paper scrolls still intact. One of the oldest censuses in existence was on display. That may not sound interesting, but it was. There was a lute on display that was a work of art; it had a bent neck, a painting on the front and mother of pearl inlay on the back. There were intricately carved tables and mirrors and boxes and all sorts of stuff and it all looked gorgeous. There were little tiny ivory birds, smaller than my thumbnail, painted and etched in exquisite detail. There was a box on display, stunning in it's beauty (yet it wasn't even the nicest box on display). As we were looking at it, an old Japanese man came up to us and asked, "You see the trick?" We were a little confused, but still answered no, just to be safe. He then pointed out that the tortoise shell reinforcements along the edges of the box were fake, and the gold base of the box was just a fine layer of gold over wood. The old Japanese fellow went on to explain that the box was a gift box, given away never to be seen again. So it only had to look like it cost a lot, make a good first impression. I just like that some random Japanese dude came up to us and dropped some knowledge.

Speaking of knowledge, do you know how these treasures were kept in such mint condition? They were stored in a log cabin. That may not sound like the most protective of environments, but this may well be the swankest log cabins of all time. The wood swelled in size in humid weather, keeping the moisture out and shrank in dry weather, to let in the breeze and the whole building was on stilts to prevent flooding. And this was constructed back when my ancestors were still soiling their pants. Maybe they didn't even have pants. Not hemp and silk ones, with their vital statistics written on them at least.

We saw some historic undergarments in the museum.

They have ¥180 ramen there too

Before the imperial court moved to Kyoto, they all lived in Nara. It was only the capital for about 74 years, but it's still got a lot of old temples and stuff to look at. Plus a special exhibition of especially well preserved artifacts that's only on until the 15th. It's all only about a 30 minute train ride from here. So we went. We even paid the slightly steep entrance fee to see the special exhibit of the Shoso-in treasures. Luckily, I had the forethought to bring my student ID from the U of R, so I got ¥300 off the price of admission, which nicely offset the cost of an illustrated English guide. The guide turned out to be a pretty worthwhile investment. It explained a lot more than the one or two line English descriptions next to each display in the museum. Plus we weren't allowed to take pictures, so, you know, souvenir. I noticed a fair number of Japanese people taking short little notes as we shuffled between glass cases. Some were even making sketches. It's really none of my business, but I'm curious what they were writing.

After the special exhibit, we still had time to see the rest of the National Museum. Aside from a lot of old Chinese bowls, they displayed mostly Buddhist sculpture. I wouldn't have thought I'd find it all that interesting, what with me not comprehending Buddhism at all, but I thought the sculptures were actually pretty cool, especially the fierce ones. Once again, no pictures, but I'm sure we'll have had our fill of Buddhist statues by the time we go back to Canada. The rest of you will just have to come see them for yourselves.


One final observation: deer are to Nara what Canada geese are to Regina. Which is to say, the park is full of them. And they poop.

Our neighbour seems to REALLY like Girl From Ipanema

Today we ate at a Lotteria, another Japanese fast food chain. I asked for what I assumed from the picture to be a pork cutlet type burger. It turned out to be mashed potato and butter in a crispy, battered shell. If I'd paid attention to the name under the picture, I would have known that. Really quite tasty though, if not overly meaty.

Later on we watched Japanese people eat very, very spicy food on TV. It sounds stupid, and it pretty much was, but it was also really funny. We should really get a VCR so we can bring some of the hilarity home for all of you. I am completely convinced that Japan's the most entertaining TV in the world.

Pictures and Words

There's not a lot of separation between Osaka and Kyoto. There are a couple of patches of less built up spaces, maybe even a couple fields, but that's it. Kinda hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. But somewhere during our 45 minute train ride all the vending machine prices increased by 20 yen.

Interesting things I saw out the window during our train ride: the statue of liberty, and a 5 storey bowling alley with a batting cage on the roof.

There are temples and shrines EVERYWHERE in Kyoto. We passed at least a dozen that weren't mentioned in any of our tourist information or maps. And our maps and information mentioned a lot of temples.


We didn't hit as many places as we wanted to today but we'll be back. Probably within the month. Kyoto is a pretty place. Very easy to get sidetracked by an interesting looking path or odd looking shrine or an overcrowded cemetery. But I'll get to that last one in a bit.

First let me mention that I saw more white people today than I have in the last two weeks. Kyoto is a tourist mecca, y'see. Seeing all those white faces was kinda distracting. Not as distracting as the incredibly short skirts some of the Japanese girls were wearing, but fairly distracting. There was one couple in particular that kept crossing me and Carla's path. Mainly my path, Carla was busy stopping in every other store looking for purses. And tchotchkes.


I reckon most of our souvenir shopping will be done in Kyoto. But back to this couple. They were annoying. Never said a word to me or I to them but they just rubbed me the wrong way. They just had a look about them. They were either really conceited or mildly retarded, you know that look. They might have been French. The girl especially. She looked like she had once been beautiful but that time was behind her. She hadn't aged gracefully, unlike me. Not that I'm Johnny Depp or anything, but I've just about grown into my forehead, and she had totally overgrown her ass.


But I'm ranting about annoying people when I should be talking about the gorgeous scenery. Fall is the time when people from all over Japan come to Kyoto to look at the leaves change colour. Well, I probably won't talk all that much about it because y'all would rather just look at the pictures anyways.


Kiyomizu-dera was easily the best part of the day. Full of interesting architecture and great views. We walked around for hours, taking in all we could.

Then we strolled through the adjoining graveyard. If this one is indicative of the rest of Japan, this country has got crazy crowded cemeteries. Nearly piled on top of each other the graves are.


Heck, there's an overpass over part of the multi-level graveyard. It was really pretty and kinda bizarre. Especially the vending machines.


We walked back up to the viewing platform to take in the sunset and get bit by mosquitoes. I was going out of my way to squish the little pests when Carla pointed out that maybe I shouldn't be so violent in a Buddhist temple.

After the sun went down, we wandered around. I have no pictures of the geisha we saw because I didn't want to be a part of that whole scene, man. Bad vibes.


I did, however, take a picture of all the people trying to take a picture of the geisha.

Carla recommended First Kitchen's Yakiniku Dog, and I dis-recommend their raw bacon and asparagus pizza.