Sold out?

Seen on the train to Nagoya.

Kitty!

Staying at my friend Tomoko's house - this is her cat Chobi.

Tales of the unexpected

The special exhibit was good - many items were taken from temple treasure houses. But way too crowded, and it seems to bring out the worst in some Japanese people. I lost count of the number of times my bag was nearly ripped from my shoulder with all the pushing and shoving.

The rest of the museum was excellent, with ancient pottery, calligraphy, textiles, paintings and some amazing Buddhist sculptures. There were no restaurants nearby, so I ended up walking back to the river and eating in one of those restaurants where you buy tickets for your food from a vending machine and give it to the staff.

Next was the potter Kawai Kanjirou's memorial museum, which is actually his house and kilns preserved as they were when he died. Small, but beautifully presented and almost certainly a better way of giving an insight into his life than your standard museum.

My friend in Gifu changed her plans twice so I had to queue again to get a new reserved seat to Nagoya and was late for dinner on my last day at the Mizutanis. When I got there, the place had been taken over by their grandchildren, Kouta and Ayako. Kouta had calmed down a bit since I'd last seen him, but Ayako was now the one tearing the house down under the guise of 'helping' with everything. Their mother Yoshiko and four month old sister Eriko were also there.

Normally I don't get on well with kids or babies (Kouta threw a slipper at my head the last time I was there) but by the end of the evening Kouta and Ayako were calling me おねえちゃん (big sister) and climbing all over me, and the amazingly good-natured Eriko and I had got into a cycle of looking at each other, seeing the other was smiling and starting to laugh - then Eriko would hide her face in the mattress and look up, and it would start again. I laughed so much I got a stitch.

Now on the shinkansen to Nagoya, where I'll change to the Chuou line for Nakatsugawa to meet up with some of the teachers I worked with when I first came here in 1998. Tomorrow it's back to Nagoya to stay with the Iidas and Dad arrives on Monday!

Culture is popular

Doing the national museum today - there's a special exhibit on and the queue is out the door, across the grounds and down the road! Shall persevere...

Lunchtime!

Had chilled noodles and some sweets made from rice toasted and served with honey and powdered sesame seeds. Better walk it off...

Another sunny day

After chatting with Nobuko last about places I hadn't been to yet, I'm off to the mountains in Arashhiyama today. I've been there before, but not to one particular temple - it was a pauper's graveyard and is crammed with statues dedicated to the dead. I'll spend most of what is shaping up to be another glorious day there - forecast is 22 degrees.

In other news, David now has a new case.

Beautiful day

In Kyoto and seeing a few of my favourite things - including Fushimi Inari shrine.

Okayama is home to Momotaro!

Long, old story. Look it up.

Onwards...

Looks like I left Kurashiki just in time - even at 10:30 thetour groups were starting to flood in.

I decided to skip the Ohara Museum as it's European art and set off from the hotel at 8am to wander the streets. The historical area was smaller than I thought, so I ended up visiting a few shrines as well, and bought a daruma academic success charm at one.

Around the side of the old textile factory was the smallest shrine with gates I had ever seen - two rows of them at right angles. As I passed under one, I noticed the wood was rotten to the core. I threw a coin into the box and prayed for a safe journey. That's when I noticed it. The second thing I noticed was the cloud of wasps. The first was to wasps what Godzilla is to an iguana. I backed away from the shrine.

After going around the canal area, I went to the Folkcraft Museum, and now in Okayama!

Oops

Explains the tilt.

A room with a view

Arrived safely in Kurashiki, at the most expensive hotel of the trip - still only 40 quid (no breakfast). On arrival I thought I'd lucked out - incredibly fancy foyer. However, I had second thoughts on seeing my room. It's on the 7th floor, so there is a view of sorts, but it also has the most stained carpet I have ever seen. Including the rug hiding most of it. And then there's the sparking hot water pot. And I can hear the lift.

Never mind. I'm here to plan for tomorrow and sleep.

Glass Village

The last tram

Spent yesterday in Nagoya with Dawn - our usual mix of lunch, shopping and coffee. Bought some Xmas themed cloth and patterns for a Xmas tree and some cloth bowls. Just need to learn to sew now...

There was no room at the inn for my case - all the large lockers were full. After I had hauled my case back up the stairs, the attendant who had been telling everyone the lockers were full started shouting in my direction. I couldn't make out what he was saying, something-customer (何かお客様). It was only when I heard the elderly lady next to me gasp and say 「外人と言った！」("He said 'gaijin'!") that I realised he was talking to me. He had found a medium locker - I didn't care what he called me! It's actually the first time I've heard anyone object to the word 'gaijin', which strictly means 'outsider' and as such is apparently very rude. A controversy best kept with learners of Japanese!

The locker was too small, so I ended up hauling the case around all day. Nice blister on middle finger to show for it, plus making a nuisance of myself in all the shops.

After coffee and cake and buying a bentou, I ran for my train. Jet lag is making me disastrously sleepy from about 6, so really had to concentrate especially when changing trains - ended up going around in circles in Osaka. Arrived in Hiroshima at 10:30 and headed for the streetcar. The first two didn't go to my stop, but the conductor told me to wait for the Number 0. I checked the the timetable as his tram left - there was no 0. But it arrived anyway, old, creaking and juddering. The Lonely Planet thankfully had a list of stops so I could tell where I was between counting my pieces of luggage. Damn jet lag.

Have arrived at the Toho beads park - later!

Hiroshima tram

There were some newer ones, but the one I took last night was like this too!

The view from Comfort Hotel Hiroshima

Needless to say, it's not why I'm here.

The kindness of strangers

I didn't sleep at all on the flight - nothing like three episodes of CSI, Pirates of the Carribean 3 and Die Hard 4 to pass the time.

While queing for my Rail Pass, I picked up a tourist leaflet which said Nov 3 - also culture day - was the 東京時代祭, a historical festival. I grabbed my canera and headed out, photos to follow.

I felt fine until I got on the train back to Hanae's, when I literally started nodding off. Unfortunately, I had a cup of coffee balancing on my lap. Which soon made it onto the floor. I grabbed some tissues out of my bag (I only carry them in Japan as despite being a developed nation their toilets often lack paper) and desperately tried to mop it up as the train swayed. I was scrabbling for another tissue when a small cloth landed next to the spill - a man in his fifties sitting across the carriage had thrown it to me. I had barely thanked him when another tissue appeared, this time from the lady beside me. The spill was gone, leaving me with coffee-soaked tissues and the cloth. The man across the carriage reached over to hand me an empty tissue packet to hold them with, and a moment later the lady beside me gave me an empty plastic bag. I could only thank them again.

I felt guilty about the cloth but when I asked, the man just waved his hand gently in my direction - I could have it. I managed to stay awake for the rest of the journey (who knew mortification worked against jet lag?) and thanked them again when I got off. The lady was in her own world and didn't notice me, and the man just gave a slight nod in response.

I told Hanae about it at dinner and she gave a huge smile - ここ下町だからね - this is an older part of town (北千住) with older people, and as far as she's concerned, kinder ones.

Off to Nagoya in a few hours, meeting Dawn and Nozaki先生，then on to Hiroshima tonight for my anorak trip to the Toho beads visitor center tomorrow.

This phone is going to give me RSI - no predictive text entry in English and actually quite chunky. Think I'll get up soon and quietly do some packing.

Sandals of the Gods

One ofthe pair of colossal straw sandals at Asakusa Temple - they were having a Parade of the Ages which I caught the end of.

Testing...

If this works, I should be able to email posts while I'm in Japan! From
a Japanese mobile, so will be short and full of weird punctuation no doubt.

A place to lay my head

I've been doing some intensive planning for my trip to Japan in November, and have found some good sites for hotels - AsiaRooms - and also ryokan and minshuku - Japanese Guest Houses.

The end is nigh

I've switched to buying weekly commuter passes, as I have only 3 weeks left to go...

Hopefully will be doing more posting here as I get back into the swing of things with the new year kicking off today! Patent translation, more Japanese to English translation, Writing in Japanese, Japanese the Spoken Language (albeit more listening than anything else) - and in six months, either Literature or Social Sciences. Hmm. Hmm.

And off to Japan Nov 2-24! Already attempting to put an itinerary together, since one of the people I'm staying with confirmed when they can put me up. Must go read up on my guidebooks...