Oideyasu! Please take off your shoes.
There are a number of places where you can get made up and dressed up like a maiko, then stagger around in platform okobo sandals and get your picture taken.
Looking out over the valley. Autumn has swept into Kyoto behind the last typhoon, with increasingly cooler days and evenings, and the flopsweat can be forgotten until next summer comes. The Kyoto Arts Festival is in full swing once again.
Awesome, literally. Robert Brady wrote about splitting camphor wood a few days ago.
If you take the Kyoto Karasuma subway north to the last station, Kokusaikaikan, there is a large park called Takaragaike Park (koen) which has hills for hiking, a lake with rowboats and paddle boats and the Kyoto police equestrian center (usually open until 4:30) if you like to look at horses.
Kyoto is a valley, and the surrounding mountains are not big ski resort mountains like those of central Honshu, but rather comfortable hiking height. Hiking trails with broad views are plentiful.
Tonight (Sept. 18) was the night of the harvest moon and the japanese moon viewing festival. It was quite clear, and here is a picture taken an hour ago to prove it. Can you spot the bunny?
A telephoto shot from a small northern mountain, looking at the Takano River heading downtown. The greenbelt on the right is the little Shimogamo Shrine forest between the rivers, and at the south end of Shimogamo is where the Takano and Kamo Rivers converge. a bit of the water treatment plant can be seen in the right foreground, the first bridge is Kitaoji St. and on the left (East) end of that bridge the two large buildings are the new department store Qanat and the Holiday Inn.
Before and after photographs showing the framing (Japanese post-and-beam style rather than 2X4 balloon frame) and finished, soon-to-open 3-story teahouse in Miyagawacho, south of Gion.
It's curving east now and we are within the range of possible paths (Kyoto is marked in red), although they tend to be unpredictable.
Dracula ice cream is garlic flavored; or perhaps you'd like some roasted eggplant ice cream, or sake wort ice cream.
You may have seen the wacky Japanese ice cream photo feature they seem to run in the Mainichi Daily News every year, and wondered whether it was for real. So did I, but yesterday we got a chance to go to the exhibition when taking Greg to the Osaka Aquarium next door, and indeed they do have all those bizarre flavors from makers all over Japan.
Unfortunately, the one I wanted (Nikka Whiskey ice cream) was sold out, but we did get some packs to take home in a styrofoam ice chest.
Perhaps unappetizing taste test to follow...
