Oideyasu! Please take off your shoes.
If you ever come to Kyoto at festival time, MK Taxi (look for a heart-shaped sign on the roof) offers 10% off your fare if you wear kimono, yukata or jinbe. So, every time we go to Grandma's house, we pack Greg's yukata or jinbe, and before we go home we change Greg into it so that on the way back we get our discount. (We always ride downtown to Grandma's house by Aoi Taxi, because their office and motorpool is in our neighborhood, so they get here right away.) Also, MK just finished a Kimono Campaign, in which we filled up several stamp cards, so we are hoping to get a prize.
not to mention, MK has a reliable shuttle service to the Kansai airport, as they say in America, door to door.
MK
Olivenhain, CA
Posted by: Mehyar on September 19, 2004 10:32 AMVery clever Nils. Don't the taxi drivers ever give you a hard time for doing this? MK's service is great so maybe not but any other driver is likely to mumble and complain or just not pick you up.
MK drivers are some of the most polite, professional, courteous drivers I've ridden with. I'd be surprised to hear they gave someone a hard time. Having Greg in jinbei is a marvelous idea!
Now, Tokyo taxi drivers, on the other hand... (shudder)
Posted by: Jerry on September 20, 2004 05:03 PMJerry is right, MK drivers are the epitome of politeness: They jump out and run around to open the doors for the passengers, rather than using the automatic door device, and I can only remeber one time being in an MK taxi that smelled of cigarette smoke. They not only graciously stamped the card even though the baby was the only one wearing "kimono," they frequently gave extra stamps for cuteness.
Posted by: nils on September 21, 2004 12:09 AMYour son looks great in that jinbei. I can't wait until our son is old enough to wear the two sets of jinbei that we already bought for him. Come to think of it, I wonder if there are samue (作務衣) for babies/toddlers...
Posted by: Quinlan on September 21, 2004 09:27 PMBlatant child exploitation! You should be arrested for this!
:p
Posted by: MJ on September 25, 2004 12:51 PMThe BBC has this topic as a news story today on the main news page. But not taxi fares, but free transport and entry to tourist attractions! Its not fair (pun intended) I dont arrive on holiday until after this offer ends! (I dont own kimono anyway!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4328439.stm
