Day 206 - 24th of March

11:00pm　セミナーハウス

天気：雨天

Just finished watching “The Producers” with Sarah, Rachael, and Julie; brings back great memories. I couldn’t help singing along; this drove Rachael up the wall. The weather was dismal today, but I still had a good day… I didn’t get up till about 11, which was quite sad actually; half the day already lost. I had the last of my milk and cereal for breakfast (really, really have to go grocery shopping), and then showered, before getting stuck into my blog; I have a lot of catching up to do. It was not until after thinking back on what I’d had done these past few days, that I realised that today was actually Wednesday; I had it stuck in my head it was Tuesday. At around 2, I made my way to uni on foot, meeting Simon on the way; we had a quick chat under cover of umbrellas. Getting to uni I went to my mailbox in the CIE and, as I had expected, there was a package waiting for me. I went up to the desk and signed for it, so eager to open it; but first some lunch. I went over to the convenience store, and bought a sandwich and onigiri. I sat down in the convenience store, and I couldn’t help myself; I had to open my box right then and there. The inside was chock full of chocolate; oh a pun, clever me.

To lighten the box, I put I heap in my bag, and then got stuck into eating my sandwich and onigiri; very filling. While there, I saw Marika, and she let me know that the next koto practice would be Friday from 11 – 3; well at least I can stay for 2 hours. I definitely have to go, since the next performance is only 2 weeks away. In the mean time, I really have to practice for the music party on Sunday; I’m definitely considering playing my own rendition of Lux Aeterna from “Requiem for a Dream”. Finishing my lunch, I made my way back home in the pouring rain, failing miserably to keep the box dry; oh well no harm done. Getting back, Hugo was still out, so I went to see if my family was online, and indeed they were. I spoke with Ben for a while, and then Mum came back from seeing “Alice in Wonderland” (she said it was great), and we talked for a while; and I even got to talk with Dad a bit later. 2 hours later, and they were having dinner, so I said good night and went up to the kitchen, not actually feeling very hungry; as soon as I got home, I got stuck into Nanny’s biscuits.

Getting to the kitchen, I talked with Brett for a while, and watched a really old anime called 鉄人２８号 (Tetsujin28gou - “Iron man number 28); apparently it’s called Gigantor in the West. It was actually kinda cool, especially considering it was made in the 80’s. After that, I watched a show about healthy old people in Japan, and their tips on staying fit. Soon, Sarah and Julie, and I learnt that Ash had taken her parents to the aquarium today, and this made me happy; I meant I hadn’t missed out on going somewhere I haven’t been before. It was about 7 at this point, so I decided it was finally time to make some dinner; gyudon. While cooking, Julie suggested that we watch The Producers sometime, and we thought, well tonight’s a good a time as any; so we decided to get started at 8:30. In the mean time, I ate with Julie and then went back downstairs to lace up my shoes; I used both the green and white laces, and did the same pattern Alex had done yesterday. It looks really cool, though the laces are a bit too long, especially the white ones; I may have to come up with something else. At 8:30 I went up, and we started watching the movie. Rachael had gone with Katie, and Ash and her parents to the aquarium, and she got me a penguin badge for my bag; so, so thoughtful. Katie came in about halfway through, just coming back from somewhere; it felt like I hadn’t seen her in ages. Tomorrow, they’re going to USJ, and I’m free to join. I think I’m going to pass; I’ve got stuff to do, and the weather’s probably going to be crappy again. First priority is getting my blog up-to-date…

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…