Day 204 - 22nd of March

6:44am　マック

天気：晴れ

I’m sitting in the Makkas in Makino. We’ve been for about 40 minutes, and enjoyed a small breakfast. Karaoke was the best!!! We staying until just after 5, when they finally realised we were still in our room; we were literally the last people there. Getting out, the funniest thing ever happened… we decided to do purikura, and the photos turned our really well. But, as we were embellishing them, the power went out; thinking that everyone was gone, they shut everything down! They soon realised we were still in the booth, and a bit shocked, promptly turned the power back on. We were really worried that the photos would be lost, but after everything loaded back up they were there. We beautified them as quickly as possible before printing them off, and left feeling pretty bad; we had a good laugh about it soon after. Anyway, we’ll be making our way back to the seminar house shortly…

8:34am　枚方市駅

Now we’re in the waiting room at Hirakatashi; going to take the train back to Kyoto. Basically as soon as we got out of Makkas, I decided I would crash at the hotel tonight, so we could spend some more time in Kyoto. So we walked back along the river, enjoying the beautiful cool morning, and got to the Seminar house. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, Alex wasn’t allowed into the Seminar House since it was before visiting hours. So I had to make her wait outside while I quickly got changed and packed a few toiletries for tonight; trying very hard not to disturb Hugo. I emerged feeling a lot better; ready to face the day. We walked over to the uni, so I could show Alex, and I think she was really impressed; we didn’t go in since we just wanted to get back to Kyoto. Catching the bus across the road from the uni, we soon arrived at the station; getting on the train now…

10:44am　ホテル

I just had a bit of a rest in the hotel room (couldn’t sleep). Alex crashed on the bed as soon as we got here, and now we’re waiting for Sandy and Nan to get back from breakfast. Apparently we’ll be going to the imperial palace today, which should be great; ever better because I haven’t been before.

12:09pm　ホテル

Suprisingly, although not so surprisingly, I’m still in the hotel room, waiting. Out of boredom, I made a quick trip around the block and through a shopping centre, before coming back just in time; Nan and Sandy had just gotten in the door, with more clothes. Now they’ve gone back down to reception, because Sandy lost the key. So yeah, hopefully we leave soon, before the whole day has gone…

1:53pm　地下鉄

In the subway; finally!!! We’re making our way to the imperial palace, getting off at 丸太町 (Marutamachi)…

3:42pm　京都

I’m sitting on the pavement outside of Makkas. Alex and Nan are getting something to eat; I’m not too keen on eating Makkas again today. The palace grounds were amazing, and although we couldn’t enter the main complex (it’s only open on special occasions), the trip was definitely worth it. There were so many massive, old trees, including a huge, weeping cheery blossom in almost full bloom; it was really incredible. After walking a fair way down, we stopped at a small souvenir shop, and Nan and Sandy picked up a few things. After getting a photo of a beautiful young girl dressed in kimono, we exited through a side gate and made our way back down along the main street, looking for somewhere to eat. On the way, we came across the 護王神社 (Goo shrine), dedicated to the 猪 (Inoshishi – boar). Also, it was apparently a shrine for feet protection; something I’ll definitely need after all this walking around. We’re on our way back to the station now…

5:17pm　京都

On the move; walking back to the hotel… They all decided to get Makkas in the end, and I just settled for a few onigiri; I’m really starting to like them. However, it can be a bit of a gamble when it comes to the filling, since I can’t always read it; I got a few weird flavours today. After getting to the entrance of the subway, the girls decided to make their way back to the hotel. I on the other hand, wanted to explore some more, so we separated and I continued down the street. After a bit of videotaping, I stumbled upon the Kyoto International Manga Museum; what luck. I decided I had to check it out, and promptly made my way in. Because of copyright and all that jazz, no photography was allowed, so I’ll try my best to explain what it was like. Basically, it was a huge three storey building packed with manga, which people could look at, and even read at their leisure; so many people were doing just that. They would be sitting at tables, in the stairwell, on the floor, or just standing; there was even an outside area of artificial grass, for people to read and play on. I had a sneaking suspicion that the building was a converted school building, due to the layout and architecture…

5:30pm　京都

I’ve just made it to the intersection in front of Nijo castle; turned left and now heading back towards the station… So yeah, I wandered the corridors, and marvelled at the sheer amount of books. On the second floor, I found chairs set up for something, and decided to sit down. It turned out to be a 紙芝居 (kamishibai – lit. “paper drama”) performance. Basically, it’s a mode of storytelling that uses illustrated boards inserted into the stage. These are withdrawn one by one as a story is being told; it actually originated in the 12^th century in Buddhist temples so the monks could convey stories with moral lessons to a mostly illiterate audience. The storyteller, noticing me, asked if I wanted him to speak in English, and I said no Japanese would be fine. I was really happy that I could understand a lot of what he was saying, and he was speaking really fast; he was a very energetic speaker too, using lots of vocal techniques and hand gestures. He started off with a quiz that involved word play to get the kids (and the adults) involved; while I could understand what he was asking, I couldn’t comprehend the contextual meaning behind it. When they answered correctly, the kids would receive tickets that they could exchange for gifts after the show. After the quiz, he went on to tell a few stories, one about two siblings using their mums “mixer” i.e. blender, to create bubbles and getting in a lot of trouble.

The other stories and illustrations had been devised by primary school children, and admittedly they were very clever and funny. He finished off with a bunch of “countdown sequence” boards (best way to describe it), getting the audience to count down from 5 to 0, showing a consequential sequence of events. My favourite was a piece of toilet paper that ended up pooping out a toilet roll. Others included, a beer bottle that when shook up exploded with bottle caps, and a boy blowing up a huge bubble, with him eventually exploding not the bubble; they were all very dramatic and unexpected. Very satisfied I continued exploring, and confirmed my suspicion, finding a memorial room for the primary school it once was. It made a lot of sense, the floor boards were squeaky, there was a central stairwell, and the doors were very typical of primary schools. After coming out of a room that showed the timeline of manga (with books from every decade of the 20^th century), I had a little look around the gift shop, and not finding anything I liked in particular, collected my bag from the coin locker (well it was free, so I guess you would just call it a locker), and exited feeling very happy. I haven’t really seen anything else of interest yet. Oh well, it’s getting dark and cloudy, so I need to get back anyway…

6:34pm　ホテル

Finally back at the hotel; my feet are killing me!!! I ended up walking past the 西本願寺 (Nishihonganji – the Western equivalent to Higashihonganji) before finally getting to the station. I walked down into the subway, emerging just out the front of the hotel, and dragged myself up to the 6^th floor, to Alex’s and my room, which ended up being right next to Nan’s and Sandy’s. I’m not hungry at all now, but I guess we’ll go out for dinner soon…

Day 202 - 20th of March

天気：晴れ、風が吹いている
Today was so much fun, though very exhausting… I woke up at about 9:30, and got ready for the day. Since it was such a nice, sunny day, I put on some laundry, trying to be as quiet as possible; Hugo was still asleep. At around 11, I heard the reception desk bell ring, and I knew straight away that it was Ash, trying to sign her parents in; by the sounds of things, Otousan wasn’t coming. Soon after, Ash came to my room, and asked if I wanted to go to the park for a picnic; of course I did. I went out to meet her parents, and then let them know I’d catch up in a bit, since I had some washing on. Like Katie, Hugo was going to the graduation at Kansai Gaidai today. I had wanted to go, but at the same time, I wanted to go to the lake with Ash and her parents. After putting my washing out, I left on my bike, and in no time at all, caught up with them; Rachel had also joined. The walk to the park was surprisingly hot, and I found myself stripping down to just my shirt. Getting to the park and some relief from the sun, we made our way around to the northern side of the lake; I abandoned the group to take photos of flowers at one point.

I met up with them at an undercover area, and we sat down to enjoy our “picnic”, which consisted of grapes, Ritz, chips, bread sticks, and chocolate. We sat for a while and just talked about various things; Ash’s parents are very well travelled. At around 1, we continued our walk around the park, and came across a grove of what might have been sakura; not entirely sure. Indeed, there were many people taking advantage of the warm weather, lounging under the beautiful blossoms. It was quite windy by this point, and it was an amazing sight to see all the petals flying about; many other flowers were out too. We circumnavigated the lake, wandering through the bamboo grove, and watching the carp, before making our way out. Ash had decided that we go straight to karaoke; we would meet a few others there. So, we made our way back along the river, a route I had never taken, on to Makino; it was very pleasant, with lots to see along the way. Getting to Sanko, we stocked up on a few supplies, before continuing on to Karaoke. Rachael and Katie met us along the way, and when we got there I went around to the back to park my bike; by this point it was more of a burden than anything else.

Getting inside, I signed us in, and then we had to wait for about 30 minutes to get a room. Peter arrived just as we were about to go in; perfect timing. Since it was almost 4, we decided to get daytime free time, which goes till 7. We soon found Peter to be an amazing singer; I was equally as impressed as I was jealous. Seriously though, his singing voice sounded completely different to his normal voice, and he really knew how to get into it; he was doing funny things with the mic chord. Rachael didn’t feel comfortable singing much, but we made her sing a few, as we did Ash’s parents, finding out that Ash and her Mum have the exact same singing voice. All in all, we had a wonderful time, although I was a bit disappointed we didn’t stay that long. Peter had to leave a little early, so he missed out on doing purikura with us when we got out; we had to do it with Ash’s parents. After that, we walked back, intending to go to Sandoru in Makino for dinner. When we got to Sanko, both Rach(a)els decided to go straight home, Rachel because she was going to Tokyo tomorrow and had to eat the rest of the food in her fridge, and Rachael because she isn’t too keen on Japanese food; Rachel was kind enough to take my bike back with her.

When we got to Sandoru, we soon realised it was closed; Friday and Saturday are regular holidays! So that idea went out the window. We walked back down the street, and ended up coming to a place called Zenya; the menu looked good so we thought why not. After a short while, we were seated; the interior was really nice, and traditional. After ordering, the conversation began to flow. For a Japanese restaurant, it actually took an uncharacteristically long time for our meals to arrive. And, there was a bit of a mistake. Ash had ordered two of the same set for both her parents, and they only ended up bringing out one. When we realised this, we promptly informed the waiter, and eventually Ash’s Dad got a meal. That sorted, we all had an enjoyable dinner, and I even got to finish off Ash’s rice and her mum’s meal; so lots of variation for me! After hearing Ash being referred to as Chirstina (or Chris or Chrissie) by her parents all day (it is her name after all), I had to bring up the, “Why is your name Ash,” question; and tonight, I finally got the answer, and not from Ash. Her mum proceeded to tell as that Ash was short for Ashley, a boy’s name Christina liked and would use as part of her pen name if ever she were to publish a book. Ash herself had completely forgotten this, so it was really awesome to have the mystery behind the name finally revealed.

At around 9:30, we made our way back out into the windy night, and Ash escorted her parents back to the uni, so they could find their way back to the hotel, and Katie and I went home. I was quite tired by this time, and was very grateful to Hugo for bringing my laundry in. I spent the rest of the night chatting with Carly and Alex. Much to my surprise, I found out that Alex would in fact be in Kyoto tomorrow; the time just stuck up on me. So, after going to Nipponbashi for the parade tomorrow, I’m going to go meet up with Alex, and her Aunt and Nan, and we’re going to go to karaoke; can’t wait…

Day 181 - 27th of February

天気：曇り
Against expectations, it did not rain today, which meant that I was at least active during the afternoon… I tried to get up at 9:30, but ended up falling back to sleep, finally getting up at about 11. Hugo was still in bed, so I had breakfast, and then went out to the lounge, and played Final Fantasy Tactics A2 on my DS; it was really great to be able to read most of the text. Shortly after 12, I went up to ask Ash if she still wanted to go to Yamada Lake. She did, so we decided to leave at 1; Rachel came along too. Since Ash doesn’t have a bike, we walked, and it was a very pleasant walk; the sun was out and it was warm. Soon enough we reached the lake, and circumnavigated it clockwise. There were many cats out enjoying the fine weather, much to the girls’ delight. We walked through the Queensland fauna exhibition (which was very familiar to me), and then made our way around past the bamboo grove. As we approached it, we noticed a large group of people with telescopic cameras on tripods set up. We were unsure of why they were all gathered around this spot but were soon to find out. From out of the trees came 1, 2, 3 beautiful green breasted, purple-winged birds that might have been parrots or doves; it was hard to tell. Straight away we knew that they were the photographers’ focus, as a flurry of flashing noises filled the air; I didn’t get a very decent shot since I was so far back. We figured that they were a rare species, or only came here during a certain time of year. It was really cool to be able to see them; the photographer’s must have put food there to coax them out. We came just at the right time, as they soon flew off.

We continued on to the plum grove, to find the ground a patchwork of pink and white. There were still a lot of flowers on the trees, but not nearly as many as the other day; yesterday’s rain had not been kind. It was still a very pretty sight, and I couldn’t help but to take another round of photos. We ended up spending about two hours in the park, walking through the woods, going out to the pagoda on the lake, and finally making our way back round the lake to the south exit; it was a lot of fun. Feeling hungry, Ash suggested we go to かっぱ寿司 (Kappazushi), a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Since I had never been, and hadn’t had sushi in a while, I thought, why not; Rachel was keen too. It was only a short walk from where we were too, on the highway. I was really amazed by the set up; three lots of conveyor belts coming out from the kitchen, surrounded by booths. And basically, as soon as you sat down you could start eating, taking what you like off the conveyor belt.

Pretty much all the selections were 105円 each, with some items (like the desserts) being a bit more expensive; calculating the bill was just a matter of counting the number of plates. They mostly served 握り寿司 (Nigirizushi – lit. “hand-formed sushi), which is basically an oblong mound of rice, with a bit of wasabi, and topping draped over it. This could be some sort of fish, including salmon and tuna, octopus, roe, eel, squid, shrimp, or sometimes egg. There was also 稲荷寿司 (Inarizushi), which is a pouch of deep fried tofu filled with rice, and takoyaki, the octopus-filled dumplings. If you wanted to order something in particular, you could a touch screen system to make your selection, which is exactly what Rachel did; she wanted to try takoyaki. It was promptly delivered to our table on the back of a mini Shinkansen that came straight from the kitchen; no need for waiters. I was just content with the selection that came around. I really liked the Inarizushi, and the eel Nigirizushi. I also got a dessert; a sort of tiramisu pudding. Considering how small the portions are, I was full after 6 plates. As Ash explained, it probably has something to do with the break between servings, allowing your stomach to “catch up”.

Feeling very satisfied, we paid and left; I’ll have to go back again sometime. Actually, Saigou Sensei told our class about a really good sushi place past Yamada Lake, which is, in his opinion far, superior to Kappazushi; have to check it out. Ash wanted to go to the uni, and do some grocery shopping, so we walked back down the highway, towards Midori. On the way, I was informed of what, or rather who, Don Quijote was; a fictional character of Spanish literature written in the 1600’s. Apparently it’s really well known novel, though I’ve never heard of it; I’ll have to try and find it and read it now. Anyway, we walked over to the uni, to find it still open, and went to the CIE. Ash was expecting a parcel, and was disappointed when she found out it hadn’t arrived; it’ll probably be there on Monday. Having nothing else to do at the uni, we went on to Fresco, and the Lawson 100円 store (recently converted from the 99円 store), and I picked up a few things. When we finally got home it was after 6. I stayed in the kitchen for a while and chatted with Simon, then went down to my room and read some more. Finally feeling a bit hungry again, I went up and made dinner at 8; gyudon.

After cleaning at 9 (it was Ash’s week, but Rachel and I also chipped in), we contemplated on what we should do, considering Katie and Sarah were still out; they had gone to Kyoto today. We didn’t want to watch firefly without them, so Ash invited the two of us back up to her room to figure out something to watch on her laptop. I suggested we watch Hetalia, and Rachel was immediately taken by the idea, having never seen it before; Ash was more than eager to introduce it to her. So we got set up on the futon, laptop on the table, and proceeded to watch the entirety of the first season; 26 episodes. Keep in mind the episodes are only five minutes each, so we finished up just after midnight. Katie came back in that time, having gone to eat at a Mexican restaurant; that would have been great. She soon went to Sarah’s room, leaving just the three of us. I was really tired by the end of it, and went straight to bed.

Day 179 - 25th of February

11:07pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

Today was a wonderful day, and went a little differently to how I had planned it; always a good thing… To start off with, I ended up staying home this morning (slept in pretty late), and getting my homework done for Reading and Writing tomorrow. I got to uni for my Speaking class at 12, and then went on to Religion, with a snack in between of course. We talked about 靖国神社 (Yasukunijinja – lit. “peaceful country shrine”), in Tokyo. It is a shrine dedicated to the Japanese war dead, in which they are all deified, the good and the bad alike. This has of course led to much controversy. Part of the controversy arises from the Prime Minister’s annual trip to the shrine, which in the citizens’ minds is a breach in the constitution, separating church (i.e. religion) from state. This brings back the question, what is religious, and what isn’t? And coincidently, the end of the war in Japan (August 15^th), and the day the Prime Minister is expected to visit the shrine, is the same day as the お盆祭り(Obon Matsuri – “Festival of the Dead”), the day which the dead are said to raise again; creepy right. Outside Japan, there is also a great unrest concerning the shrine, especially in China and Korea, where protests are held against the Prime Minister visiting the shrine; an act which is seen by them as worshipping their enemies in war.

And even the shrine itself is a little controversial. It has a war museum on the grounds, the first thing you see being a kamikaze plane. Also of interest are the bride dolls, that have been given as a kind of offering to the fallen soldiers, most of which would have never married, since they were so young. Our professor told us that they have a whole room filled with dolls; that would be really cool to see. Outside, there are statues in honour of the animals that aided the troops in war; dogs, horses, and pigeons. This is again an attempt to placate the spirits. So yeah, that’s another thing I have to put on my to-do list when I go to Tokyo. Earlier today, Katie brought up the fact that mid terms were only two weeks away, and likewise, the professor told us we’d been taking this class for a month now. I really believe how fast it’s gone; my time in Japan is rapidly running thin! But that’s why I have to make the most of the time I have left, and that’s exactly what I did this afternoon; Plum blossoms at Yamada Lake!!!

I got home, and Hugo was there, having come back in his break between classes to do some homework. I went up to have lunch, watching the Olympics, and then got my washing in, before going out again. I had my camera and tape recorder prepped, and sped toward the lake on my bike; probably only took 10-15 minutes to get there. I rode around to the north side of the lake, and was at first worried, and confused about the lack of flowers in the trees; where were all the blossoms? Then I rounded a corner and a flash of colour caught my eye, and soon enough a sea of whites and pinks stretched out before me. I quickly parked my bike, and then dived in, consumed by the intoxicating smell of the blossoms. I busied myself taking as many photos as possible, using the macro setting on my camera feverously. I was honestly overwhelmed; there must have been at least 200 flowering trees. And the colours were spectacular, with a huge range from white through to deep pink. There were a few people picnicking, but overall it wasn’t very crowded, so I could walk through at my leisure, taking video at one point.

I spied Sydney, capturing the moment in another way, with her pencil and sketchpad. She was so focused that she didn’t hear me come up to her (fair enough she had head phones in), and accidently took out her earring in surprise; sorry… It was fine though (she said it happens all the time), and we soon got chatting. She told me she came here almost every day, and had therefore seen the transition, which she said was very sudden; one day buds, the next day an explosion of colour. She also told me that I’d come on a good day. The wonderful sunny weather had brought the masses out here yesterday. I soon let her get back to her drawing, and continued taking photos. She told me about the bamboo groove to the east, and while I had indeed seen it before, I’d never ventured through it. So I made my way over there, passing a fair few cats. It was a bit more open than I had expected, but still very beautiful to walk through, and I came out by the Australian fauna part of the park; the wattle were already flowering. I slowly made my way back to the bike, taking some more photos from the top of a hill of the lake, and the plum grove. Keeping my bike company was a sad-looking black and white cat. He probably wanted food, but unfortunately I had none to give. I really do feel sorry for all the stray cats, a lot of them don’t look to be fairing very well. However I did see a rather fat ginger cat a bit earlier on, so I guess some of them are doing well for themselves.

I rode past more gardens, and cats, and decided to check out the open fields to the south, where I had previously gone for a BBQ with the clubs from Gaidai. There were many people with their dogs and a few kids too. It was getting dark and windy, and threatening to rain, so after taking a few more photos of a small corpse of plum trees, I made my way back home. I decided to go back via the highway, to see if I could find the park Simon had been talking about with all the plum blossoms, before realising (due to his directions), that it was indeed Yamada Lake he had been to. Since I was out this way, I decided I may as well do some grocery shopping (fun), so I went to Kirindo, and Fresco before finally riding home. I put away my purchases, and then soon returned to the kitchen to make dinner. Since I had to use up the rest of my vegetables (especially the potatoes), I decided to make stew, not exactly the right kind of meal for a warm day but still; this meant though, that I had to wait an hour for it to cook. In the mean time, I talked with Katie, Ash, and Rachel, telling them about today’s exploits, and urging them to see it themselves. Ash seemed eager and, weather permitting, we might go Saturday morning. Didn’t stay in the kitchen quite so late tonight; got back down here at about 9:30. I played Plants vs. Zombies for a while, and did my readings for Gender and Sexuality, and then got ready for bed. Hugo still isn’t back…