Officially now a yuppie family

Robby & I ambitiously sent out our first Christmas cards - 100 of them. What a feat. It took me two days to order the photos, write the holiday letter, buy the stamps, & assemble the envelopes. I sure love Costco.

Lots of things going on.

My grandpa Gong Gong passed away on Friday, December 11th, three days before my birthday. The funeral is in two days at Rose Hill Memorial Home in Whittier.

Gong Gong died at 96 years old, and before his fall and hip injury, he had few physical ailments - prostate cancer (common in older men), asthma, blindness, & deafness. I know 40-some-year-old people who take twice as many medications as he was taking before he died. His healthy took a downward spiral after the hip injury. Sitting in a hospital bed 24/7 sometimes seems more harmful than helpful, but he had a lot of healing to do & daily mobility was out of the question. Last week, he had a stroke in the majority of the left hemisphere of his brain. This affected the right side of his body. This also put him in the ICU for 2 days. My family went back and forth about life support. Luckily, his death was painless and quick, and my grandmother did not have to see his body invaded by tubes of fluids, running on man-made machines. She has lived her life for him more than for herself, so his death starts a new life for her at 89 years old.

Deaths and births have been occurring simultaneously in our family recently. Last summer, my paternal grandmother died less than a month before my niece was born. Robby and my wedding was shortly after that. This year, my sister gave birth to twins over Thanksgiving, and three weeks later, Gong Gong dies.

I can't say that any of this unfair in any sort of way. Our genes are resilient in old age, and we live for a very long time. When I was a child, I knew that I was very lucky to have known all my grandparents and that at one point in my life they would all wither and pass in a short period of time. I've so fortunate to have spent so much time with them.

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant & supposed to see the doctor every 2 weeks. Baby is doing well - kicking & punching all the time, like there's an earthquake in my belly. It's a strange feeling to have a little being incubating in my body.

Thanksgiving is finally over!

Robby's mom flew over from Germany and brought us lots of gifts. One large, hard-covered suitcase had nothing but goodies from Frankfurt: 6 bags of muesli, chocolate with hazelnut (our favorite), marzipan, delicious traditional German Christmas cookies, olive oil, a bottle of kids' carbonated drink called "Robby's bubble", bedding for the baby, etc. It was so overwhelming!

Ma only spent 3 days with us. We took her for Indian food (pani puri, mmm), sushi, Mexican, and a big American breakfast. We also saw the Globe Theater from England perform Shakespeare's Love's Labour Lost at Santa Monica College. We helped her buy a Macbook and took her to frolic in the lovely aisles of Target. We also had Shanghai-nese dim sum with my parents. It was a wonderful weekend.

Then, we had a hectic Thanksgiving weekend that involved a seven-hour drive up to San Francisco. It usually takes 5 hours. We thought we were clever to leave on Tuesday, but we left our house at 4pm & hit traffic on the 405 through West LA. Not fun.

Nonetheless, visiting family is always a blast. Tiring, but fun. My oldest sister gave birth to a set of cute girl twins on Wednesday. We participated in a birthday dinner and birthday party for my four-year-old niece. Robby watched Ninja Assassin. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with 13 family members, including an auntie who was visiting from Beijing whom I hadn't seen in six years.

We spent another seven hours driving down to Los Angeles on Sunday night (with a million other travelers). It feels good to be home with our fish Practice Three.

Time to buckle down and finish these two terms papers. They're due next Tuesday, and my fall semester at USC will be over! Now, if I could only finish these papers...

P.S. Baby kicks all the time.

Tummy Explodes from 5th to 6th month

Month Four was a honeymoon period for me. My constant fatigue disappeared, my appetite grew, and I had the energy of a body sans baby. My fifth month has put a damper on my energy. Fatigue has rolled back into my late mornings, and, with my growing appetite, my tummy has ballooned. I strain to tie my shoelaces or wash my feet in the shower, and if I'm active for too long my back begins to ache.

On a happy note, the fetus has started kicking regularly, especially when I sit at rest. It is a disconcerting and eerie feeling. The first time, I had a magazine propped on my tummy, and, while I read, the magazine would suddenly pop up. Sometimes, I catch a sharp, quick, bulging movement from the corner of my eye as my body feels a jolt on the side that the baby has kicked. Robby has also been so pleased that he can feel the presence of the baby too. I wonder if it gets motion sickness. I imagine it, floating around as if in a zero-gravity chamber, with its eyes shut tightly. Then I imagine it stretching its arms and legs (that's when I feel the kicking).

This pregnancy phenomenon is no stranger than science fiction, which has spawned a plethora of stories about beings growing inside of other beings. When I think about Aliens, I forget that this is a very human, very common occurrence.

Robby has been extremely busy in the last few weeks. He had a paper submission deadline on Friday, November 6th, for the ICA (International Communication Association) Conference. He is determined to go to its conference in Singapore next May, so he submitted five papers. He is eager to take me & our 3-month-old baby as well. We'll see about that!

Robby also attended the Presence Conference in Marina del Rey this past week. That meant a lot of entertaining of out-of-towners, drinking, karoake, networking, late nights, etc. I participated when I could, but left Robby to his own devices most evenings. This kept him away from Counterstrike. Plus, we had two swell Swiss guests, Bart & David, stay in our living room for a week. They explored Los Angeles, enjoyed large American breakfasts, ate a few hamburgers, checked out Annenberg's video games lab, and frequented a few hopping bars in Los Angeles. They appreciated out 75-degree weather over Switzerland's 3-degree weather. & they said that one would never be able to find American coffee anywhere in Switzerland, where everyone drinks espressos.

I have two large final papers due at the beginning of December, when the fall semester ends. I'm finding it difficult to be motivated enough to sit down & actually write them. Frankly, it has felt like pulling teeth. I've turned to the Huffington Post & Hulu to distract me. I haven't felt this amount of procrastination in a long time, and I'm ashamed that I can't be more productive. Oh, that's also why I'm writing his blog entry - to avoid writing these final papers.

What's on our plate these days?

Hello, everyone!

October was a rough and tumble month, & it won't stop until the Christmas holiday.
Robby and I traveled up to San Francisco for my sister's baby shower during the first weekend of October. We compared bellies and traded pregnancy experiences. Robby and I made it to Bea & Eric's birthday party - bowling at Strikes! in Cupertino, a way-too-cool place for a not-too-cool city. A lot of over-stimulation, if you ask me.

Then we drove up to the Bay Area again a few weeks later for Robby's 5th year reunion at Stanford. That the first time I felt like a trophy wife. Throughout the opening social night, Robby dragged me around the Computer History Museum and announced that he got married and was having a baby. I was the living proof. He would point to my belly with a satisfied look on his face.

I got a chance to observe three fabulous teachers at Dorsey High ad reconnected with some old colleagues from 2000 when I was teaching there and getting my credential and masters. The campus is beautiful as always, and the kids are vibrant and energetic.

We visited a perinatologist and saw 3D images of our baby. That was a bit scary. It looked like a roughly sculpted figure from Rodin's Gate of Hell.

Robby's dad & stepmom came for a few days. Robby & his dad had a heated political and philosophical discussion/argument over Korean BBQ. & we took them to San Gabriel for $15/hour massages & a visit to my super-cool aunties.

Halloween was a blast. We spent the afternoon decorating our front porch with our neighbor Sandra's outdoor decorations. Robby threw on his Jesus costume & I dressed up as Juno (yeah, a lazy-man's costume). I kept a tally of the number of trick-or-treaters, and our total was 170!! Lots of princesses this year. My favorite costumes were the ones where the parents matched the kids. Robby gave kids over 10 a math problem, like 34 + 17. I was pretty disappointed that they were slow to calculate these double-digit numbers in their head. My niece is already adding double digits in her head and she's six! Originally, we wanted a quiet evening with a horror movie, but we ended up having 7 people over in our little apartment. We watched 28 Weeks Later (not bad) & the boys played knee hockey with a newspaper ball wrapped in masking tape. It was a fun evening.


On a sad note, my grandpa fell at home and fractured his hip, so my recent weeks have been full of visits to Orange County. For a 95 year old, he has improved dramatically since his partial hip replacement. I'm very proud of him. As much as he moans and complains, he has the will to survive this accident. He's still got a mighty set of lungs too. Hear him hell in his cantankerous way, and you wouldn't think he was in the hospital last week.

As for the bun in my oven, it's brewing nicely. I'm getting bigger much faster than I expected. Robby felt the baby kick for the first time last night. At first, he thought that the movement was an involuntary tightening of a stomach muscle, but I had to remind him that I haven't used my stomach muscles in months! Nope, that was the baby moving around. I feel it most when I'm sitting in a reclining position.

I hope you all had an eventful and happy October. Gearing up for Thanksgiving yet?

Back in the Bay...Soon to return to LA

Robby and I are back in the bay, visiting friends & family, universities and work places, & attending my sister's baby shower. 43 people showed up at her baby shower - 29 adults & 14 kids. It was a noisy and fun event.

I spent some quality time with my nieces, whom I adore. They are such amazing little creatures. They certainly need training. They need to learn how to speak to politely to strangers. They need to learn how to be respectful towards and play well with each other. They need to clean up their toys after they finish playing with them. They need to brush their teeth every morning before they go to school. They need to allow adults to have their adults conversations instead of interrupting all the time. They need to listen to their parents. But they are still pretty awesome little girls.

We were watching Madagascar 2 on DVD, & the eldest child says, "This is so happy, I could cry!" & before she went outside to get picked up for school, she gave Robby a hug while he was still in bed, and she said, "Don't hug me for too long, or I won't want to go!" She is so sweet and sincere sometimes. When we talked to the middle sister about her tendency to make every statement a question by ending with "...right?", we tried to teach her about having self-confidence. We told her she was smart, kind, and friendly & that she should believe in herself. She interrupted, "Jie jie (Big Sister) is always smart....she's ALWAYS smart... she told me so..." & Robby almost taught the littlest one to say his name. She would walk up to his iPhone, tilt her head curiously, and smile widely with four teeth showing. So cute!

We love kids!

I can't wait to play with my oldest sister's twins!

Why I hate the health care industry

i really hate the health care industry. i inquire about fees at the doctor's office, & they say, "we can't tell you. it depends on your insurance plan" & won't even tell me their flat rates. i call the insurance company, & the rep. says, "we can't tell you the costs because it depends on the doctor's fees." both sides try to obfuscate the information in order to discourage patients from asking about costs. they want us to pay as we go without questioning the charges! one rep. at cedar-sinai says it costs $32,000 to have a baby there but added that the cost was arbitrary... what?! do doctors & hospitals charge diffferent amounts depending on the insurance company? i think i miss kaiser...
we're healthy people with no medical problems. we just want to find out how much it costs to have a baby. why is the information so difficult to find?

Hospital fees

Hmmm...
It looks like delivering at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills cost twice as much as delivering at UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital, even though UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital houses a brand-spanking-new maternity ward.

How do we make sense of that? Is it the convenience of having a NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) in Cedar-Sinai that raises its cost? Is it its location and its supposed service to Hollywood movie stars?

Although we love our current OB, we may have to jump to a third one (!!) in order to avoid delivering at Cedar-Sinai.

Plus, we just found out that adding a dependent on Anthem Blue Cross will cost over $500/month. Ridiculous!

All this health insurance research gives me a daily headache!

Two full-time students & a baby on the way...

"I'm so glad you didn't wait until you finished school! You're so OLD! You can do it! We did it when we were young..." were Jeanne's mom's words right after they announced their oncoming addition.

So the impending due date is in mid-February, though there's some discussion & vagueness about the fetus's age. Our first OB did not do an ultrasound & calculated the age with the first day of Jeanne's last menstrual cycle. &, apparently, measuring the top of the head of the fetus in order to determine age is not as accurate measuring the belly & femur. According to the diameter of the top of the head, the fetus is 19 weeks old. But the other measurements indicate that Jeanne is now 17 weeks. A big difference, apparently.

Robby is back the PhD office, playing racquetball twice a week, sitting in on his advisor's class on the video-game industry, & TAing a basic communication theory class. He loves teaching & wishes he had two sections instead of one. At home, he plays Counterstrike on the Christian server, so when he turns on the speaker, Jeanne gets to hear, "God bless" & "Jesus is the answer to everything! What's 1 + 1? JESUS!" The players on the Christian server do not curse or disparage one another, like players do on other servers, so Robby enjoys playing with them, though he remarked recently that late night when no one was monitoring players' comments, he heard some heftily misogynistic statements. But, he gets to ask lots of questions about Christianity while shooting the terrorists and counter-terrorists in the game.

Jeanne has started a Doctor in Education program at USC. She is currently taking an Educational Psychology class called Learning & a Diversity class. Ed psych is completely new to her, but Diversity is more familiar, & she is weekly inspired by her Diversity professor. Even though she is only a month into the program, she finds herself closer to forming a dissertation idea. It feels good to be in school again.

Today, we're sitting at a secret place in Santa Monica - a community center in part funded by the Annenberg Foundation & city of Santa Monica. We've got a patio that overlooks a 1920s marble swimming pool, a wide beach, & the Pacific Ocean. It is so breathtaking here, but we can't but feel like we're intruding on the lives of the rich & famous. We were brought here by buddies Patrick & Michelle, our favorite Canadians. Unfortunately, the employees here locked the outlets so we don't get the "phat" power that Patrick claimed they got previous visits here. It seems that they don't want people like us sitting here all day lounging with our laptops. As if they can't afford the electricity pumped out from a few laptops!

It's beautiful in Los Angeles this time of year, especially at the beach. We don't come to beach nearly as much as we should. The intense summer heat has passed & our apartment is no longer sweltering. Our beta fish Three (or Practice Three) is a happy new member of the family. We talk to Three all the time & he responds by swimming around ferociously.

It's wonderful.

We've started school & we're pregnant!

Robby and I have finally started our first week of school at USC.

The weather is in the unbearably 90s. An oppressively warm breeze flows through Culver City, which means that the air sits still on the USC campus, which is at least 15 miles inland. The stifling heat is intolerable, so I seek cooler temperatures in Doheny Library & the Annenberg building. But the air conditioning is so cold, that I end up getting the sniffles. Ugh, my body is not good at regulating temperature.

Despite the horrible summer temperatures, I'm very happy to be starting the Doctor of Education program at USC. Everyone has been SO nice.

Robby is also happy to start the new semester. He has a new set of impressionable undergraduate minds to mold, and he needs to start his dissertation soon. Plus, he's a 4th year & closer to being done!

Also, WE'RE PREGNANT!

We found out Japan at the end of June. We went to a pharmacy & Robby performed a funny pantomine of a pregnant woman.

A few weeks ago, I went to the USC Medical Center thinking I would just pee on a stick to get a confirmation. But after twirling her round calendar, the nurse practitioner pulled out the ultrasound machine and VOILA! I could see a little fetus with a big head & tiny heartbeat. Wow. I also saw its butt, spine, & toes. It was quite emotionally overwhelming. I wish Robby had been there. He probably would have teared up, like me.

Robby made a cute magic video for our parents. In it, he hosts a magic show that turns into a baby announcement. iMovie is awesome! We showed my parents first, then waited for Robby's mom & stepdad to wake up in Germany so that we wouldn't wake them up at too obscene an hour. Robby's dad & stepmom saw the video in the evening. After the parents & family members were told, we unleashed the video on facebook. You can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulp8LsTuWOs

Luckily, I have not experienced any morning sickness. Thus, I've been denying the pregnancy for the past three months. I simply haven't felt ANY changes in my body since conception. I thought my slight weight gain came from traveling & eating too much in Japan & New Jersey (like that chili hot dog at Prestige Diner). Actually, fatigue is my only symptom. Phew! I don't mind sleeping.

Oh, we've decided not to call IT a "fetus" but a "guppy". Fetus is too scientific, & though IT probably doesn't look like a guppy anymore, we figured "guppy" was cute enough.

Japan in Culver City

Yesterday, Robby & I rode our bikes past downtown Culver City into the artsy gallery district that surrounds the ever-so-popular Father Office (gourmet burgers without ketchup for $14; we've reviewed in it in a previous blog entry). On Washington Blvd., we rode by a Japanese-inspired gallery & cafe called Royal-T. All sorts of creepy vinyl dolls were displayed behind big windows, so we decided to stop and explore the gallery a bit. The large gallery had modern art of modern materials (plastic, vinyl, acrylic paint, figurines, etc.). The gallery works generally had a superhero theme: photos of aged superheros (a dejected Wonder Woman standing outside a mobile home...). The cafe stood in the center of the gallery and the waitresses were dressed up as maids. Maids! Just like the ones in the maid cafes in Tokyo! The first thing I thought was, If I were a gaijin opening this Japanese-inspired gallery, the first thing I would bring is a maid cafe. We Americans love novelties, especially ones that take the form of adolescent, submissive Asian women in pigtails and French maid outfits. There were about 4 parties there, all cool looking young people, not the way-cool, too-cool-to-make-eye-contact-with-you hipsters in Hollywood or Silverlake, but cool for Culver City.
It was a weird but pleasant reminder of our time in Japan.

Another quick recapitulation of our recent activities

Where to begin?
Robby & I have been settling back into life away from family. We're starting to cook again. We've been more adventurous in exploring our surrounding areas, like venturing to the Whole Foods in Santa Monica. It's an expensive supermarket, but Robby likes the healthy options. We have been riding our bikes around town for the past three days, meandering through unfamiliar neighborhoods and finding short cuts to our favorite places. It's amazing how much more one notices when she is on a bicycle.

What else?...

Movies! We love movies. Here are a few movies we've seen in the past month:

1. Public Enemies: BOOOOOO. It's a typical movie that glorifies the gangster, like Al Pacino's Scarface. Unfortunately, positive reviews in the N.Y. Times and New Yorker led me to suggest this movie. The cinematography is gorgeous, the costumes & 1920s setting are consistent & detailed (this is what the critics loved most about the movie), but the story & characters were flat.

2. Persepolis: I'm a big fan of the graphic novel. The film is very good; I cried a few times. It's tragic, humorous, dark, somber, touching. Plus, it's educational. I highly recommend it.

3. (500) Days of Summer: Zooey Deschanel is absolutely charming! This humorous break-up film is unconventional compared to the cookie-cutter Hollywood romances. It's a romance that is bound to topple. As a viewer, you see the signs early on, but since the film is from the point-of-view of the sappy, romantic male protagonist, you have to spend a few hours watching him step closer and closer to the epiphany that his girlfriend doesn't love him & does whatever she wants. It's got a fabulous soundtrack. & I love Zooey Deschanel's 1950s wardrobe.

4. Funny People: This is a serious movie about stand-up comedians. It's funny, but it's more serious than funny. I think that's probably why it received mediocre reviews in the N.Y. Times; it doesn't quite fit into a specific genre. Like all Apatow movies, the female roles are rough and shallow sketches of possibly complex characters. The male characters are given much more depth and sympathy. Seth Rogen is a likable actor, whereas Adam Sandler will never come across as down-to-earth and sincere. We were impressed that the opening footage of Sandler's crank calls were done when he and Apatow were roommates. All in all, I give it a B.

I think that's it for now.

Back in Los Angeles

I know, I know. It has been awhile since we've updated our blog.
Since the last entry, we've...

1. celebrated our one-year anniversary by watching Johnny Depp's Public Enemies (boo!), having a sushi dinner at our favorite restaurant in the Peninsula, Momoya on Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View, rented Clint Eastwood's 1964 Fistful of Dollars because we were disappointed with Public Enemies, took bites of our freezer-burned wedding cake (gross! Robby took at least three bites!), & exchanged gifts; read the first three Twilight novels in three days & neglected my childcare duties; hated myself for being unable to stop reading those trashy novels;

2. babysat my 3 nieces with my mom. Their parents were in Japan, so I helped take & pick them up for school, send them to swim class, etc.;

3. flew to Philadelphia & spent three days with Uncle Tom & Aunt Pat. Ate in the Little Italy area of Philly & toured University of Pennsylvania & the Annenberg School for Communication;

4. hung out with Karen's kids, went to a farm to pet some animals, and walked along a creek to catch toads, frogs & crayfishes;

5. attended cousin Patrick's wedding reception at Patti's sister's house in Bucks County, where most of the houses hang a big bronze star outside their door. Out of the 160 guests, we were 2 of 4 non-white people, so we got some curious looks. I was complimented in the strangest way: "You're like a glass doll, a little glass doll that you find in the 99-cent store!";

6. spend a week in New Providence, New Jersey, with Robby's dad & stepmom: went to the diner (of course), visited Robby's friends, watched Bruno, went to the city to visit Flo, Sima & Nina. Hung out with Flo's kids, had dinner at Sima's with Nina, Joe, & Robby's parents. Explored Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Botanical Garden, & Park Slop neighborhood. Was compared to the perpetually stoned Asian girlfriend in Knocked Up (who looks NOTHING like me). Met a few of Sima's lovely lawyer friends. Went to the anomalous, too-cool-to-be-here Van Gogh's Ear Cafe in Millburn;

7. flew back to San Francisco, helped with the nieces, & bonded with the one year old. Watched (500) Days of Summer with my cousin Jennifer & shocked the the reviews from the New Yorker & the N.Y. Times are completely opposite;

8. and drove back to Los Angeles sans Robby, who is still in New Jersey right now. Tried to temper my use of air conditioning as I drove through 100-degree weather on the 5 highway. Settled back into our Culver City apartment.

All the while thinking about our wonderful trip to Japan, recalling Japanese toilets every time I walk into a public restroom.

Back in the Bay Area

We still have some miscellaneous blog entries to write on Japan. Robby owes one entry devoted to Japanese toilets, and we have some random observation we'd like to put in a "potpourri" entry.

I started reading Dave Barry Does Japan, written in 1992. This comedic writer does Japan in 3 weeks, like us. He doesn't tout to be a Japan expert; on the contrary, he states that this book is entirely subjective, so don't come to it if you want expert advice. He gives interesting insight, & I am finding that his observations are similar to ours. So pick up this entertaining if you ever find yourself on a plane to Japan. You'll finish it in fewer than 4 hours, so you could watch a few movies & finish a book on the plane ride to Tokyo.

Reviews of Frommer's Lodging Recommendations

We enjoyed reviewing our lodgings in Turkey, so here are our reviews of our lodgings in Japan. This is one way of evaluating the Frommer's Guide to Japan, so maybe you'll find it helpful.

We tried to stay mostly in ryokans, & they varied. We never got the full luxurious ryokan experience - kaiseiki meal, etc. - because we were on a budget. We averaged about $84/night for the two of us, the most expensive being the last hotel in Tokyo (it had a private bath). Ryokan rooms are usually measured by the number of tatami mats that fit inside. They provide tatami mats, not spring mattresses, so you sleep on the floor, but some will offer Western rooms. Usually, there is a low coffee table, a hot water kettle, some tea, towels, & yukatas (robes that you can wear to & from the bathroom & inside the hotel).

Comfort was important, of course. Robby preferred rooms with private bathrooms, but that's rare in a Japanese ryokan, where communal bathrooms include an onsen, a "public" hot tub to soak in. All rooms had air conditioning.

Each rate below is listed for two people, & all these hotels have laundry machines available. The conversion rate is $1USD = 1.04JPY right now.

1. Tokyo: Kimi Ryokan
- 6,500JPY/twin double (approx. $67USD)
- located in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo (a busy, lively area but not as exciting as Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, or Roppongi. nevertheless, only a few subway stops away from those trendy areas.)
- reserved the smallest double room available, which was the size of two tatami mats & a little more (to walk around them). Thank goodness there was window that opened a little .
- perpetually musty stench on our floor, maybe because the hot tub was located across from our room. So you reserve a room here, request any floor but the second.
- men & women's bathroom on each floor, as well as a communal sink area & two shower stalls.
- rooms cleaned every 3 days
- communal kitchen area with refrigerator, hot water kettle, dishes & utensils, & TV
- wireless Internet access available only on first floor
- curfew (11pm-7am) is enforced
- hotel & room very clean.
- all the clerks professional but stand offish, almost unfriendly. won't initiate help unless you press them.
- recommended (esp. considering the low rate)

2. Kyoto: Gojo Guesthouse
- 6,000JPY/double (approx. $62USD)
- not recommended in Frommer's (but should be!)
- listed as being located in Gion District, but is a 15-20 min. walk from Gion action
- 5-7 min. walk from nearest bus stop on Higashiyama
- walking distance to Kiyomizu Temple
- large double room with sliding windows - clean, spacious, comfortable
- cute, creative touches everywhere
- wireless Internet available
- atmosphere: serene, laid back, easy going, a Lonely Planet type of place (isn't listed in it, but should be!)
- cafe on first floor (reggae & international music playing all day)
- communal kitchen & living room area (refrigerator, stove, dishes & utensils)
- laundry machines available
- friendly, interesting, helpful clerks (we hung out with a few on our last night)
- no curfew (automatic lock on front door with a secret code)
- no yukatas or towels available
- no onsen
- communal showers are difficult (you have to hang your clothes over a bar in the shower stall, no changing area)
- recommended (by far, our favorite lodging in all of Japan!)

3. Kyoto: Rakucho Ryokan
- 8,400JPY/double (approx. $88USD - discount if you pay by cash)
- very far away from Kyoto action
- nearest tourist site is the Kinkakuji Pavilion (Temple of the Golden Pavilion)
- extremely clean, quiet, & homely
- new fixtures everywhere (onsen has an adjacent showering area)
- lots of English signs
- large room with A.C.
- our room faced a small garden
- recommended (but beware: it's in a remote location)

4. Takayama: Minshuku Kuwantani-ya
- 8,000JPY/double (approx. $83USD)
- near Takayama JR station
- we moved from a small double room to one twice as large.
- clean, spacious
- TV, hot water, tea, & small fridge available in the room
- large women's bathing area (changing room with vanity table & large onsen with 6 showering "stalls")
- laundry machines available in the carport area
- rooms cleaned daily
- no wireless Internet access (but public computer in the front room)
- no communal areas
- unattractive dark red motel carpeting
- nice staff - owner understands but does not speak English
- recommended (great bathroom & location)


5. Nagoya: Ryokan Meiryu
- 8,400JPY/double (approx. $88USD)
- located in central Nagoya (take two subways from the JR Nagoya station)
- mainly a business man's hotel
- entire hotel has an undesirable, unclean feeling (dark red motel carpeting, old fixtures, dark)
- small room with TV
- our room faced the side of a concrete building
- reminded us of our hotel in Ankara, Turkey, but not as bad (Robby found stains on his pillowcase in Hotel Pinar in Ankara)
- good-sized women's bathroom (changing area, three shower "stalls" near a small onsen)
- not recommended (much too expensive for a hotel in nasty Nagoya)

6. Tokyo: Annex Katsutaro
- 10,500JPY/double ($109USD)
- located in Ueno Park area
- wonderful 15-20 min. walk to nearest JR station (Nippori) - pass little neighborhood shops & stores
- bus stop across the street goes to Ueno station
- far from the action (30 min. travel to Harajuku, Shibuya, etc.)
- concrete, modern, 3-story hotel in a traditional Japanese neighborhood
- small, clean room with private bath
- room is cleaned daily
- laundry machines available
- no wireless Internet access, but two public computers & a printer on first floor
- curfew (11pm-7am) enforced, but you can get in after curfew with a secret code to a side door
- okay staff (only the older woman is friendly)
- recommended (begrudgingly because its rate is still lower than most hotels or ryokans in Tokyo)

On the whole, we were not satisfied with Frommer's Guide to Japan. We did not like the restaurant recommendations - many were too expensive or not Japanese but French, Indian, or American food. It recommends Wolfgang Puck Express in Harajuku! We were flabbergasted about that. Also, the guide book did not suit our low budget needs. We might have preferred the Lonely Planet, which is written more for budget travelers.

Ja mata, Japan!

We are leaving Japan today. So sad!
Our flight from Narita Airport takes off at 6:30pm.
Hopefully, we'll spend the morning with my sister, then trudge to the airport with all our belongings.

We still owe a few posts:

1. a review of all our lodgings,
2. all the weird, random things we notice about Japanese culture,
3. Japanese toilets, &
4. our observations about gender.

We'll do those on the plane.
When we get back to, as Robby the East Coaster puts it, CALI, we have two weddings to attend within the next few weeks. Then we're off to school. Robby begins Year 4 at USC's Annenberg School for Communication, & I will be starting at USC's Rossier School of Education on a doctorate in education. We can't be bookworms forever, but we'll enjoy while it lasts!

As for now, ja mata, Japan! We hope to come back some day!

Tokyo Imperial Villa: BOO! Toto Showroom: YAY!

This morning, we have a 10am reservation for a tour of the Tokyo Imperial Villa. We are herded into a large visiting room with 40 Japanese tourists & handed audio guides. We are directed to use the restroom or browse the gift shop before we set off on imperial grounds, for there are no restroom breaks on this 2.2-km, 1.25-hour walk. In our group of approximately 40, only 4-8 of us need English translation & they thrust little machines at us. One guard leads us with a megaphone, giving out information in Japanese & occasionally blurting out, “English audio guide: Number Eleven.” Two other guards follow the perimeter of the group, roughly directing us to walk on the left side of the road or chiding an individual when he strays too far from the group to take a picture. The uniformed, middle-aged guards are brusque and callous, & in order to rush us, one says, “Prease walking.” When the group crosses a bridge into the imperial villa, we are warned verbally & on the audio guide against walking on the raised sidewalk near the railing because it is dangerous. The uptight guards are one factor that ruin our tour experience.

The pace of the tour is incredibly slow. There is no attempt to communicate with foreigners except “English audio guide: Number Twelve.” We cover very little ground in an hour. The audio guide itself is a waste of time as well. It gives minimal information, probably not nearly enough compared to the tour guide’s explanations. The audio guide barely describes the architecture of the buildings & says nothing of the emperor’s life except that he emerges from the imperial villa a few times a year - New Year’s & his birthday on December 23rd - to receive applaud & address the people. When we return to the visiting room, nobody is allowed to neither use the restroom or peruse the souvenir shop. We are quickly herded back to the entrance of the villa & set loose.

The entire tour of the Tokyo Imperial Villa is a waste of time. Don’t go! Sure, the fact that grounds are still in use by the royal family & its employees might justify tight security, but the tour is too limited & restricted to really enjoy. If the tour group were broken into smaller groups & the guides more friendly, multi-lingual, & informational, this tour would be more enjoyable. Robby thinks that the guards’ anxiety stems from a fear of liability. The audio guide warns us to watch our step on the slope. What if one of us tripped & fell on this 15-degree hill? Neither of us think that the Japanese sue much, but there must be a reason for the tour’s draconian attitude. We consider that they are concerned about our well-being, but that can't be true because the tour wouldn't have stunk worse than a rancid fish market.

After being thoroughly disappointed by the lame tour, we head back to the hotel for some rest. In the afternoon, we set out for Shinjuku in search of the Toto showroom. We find a police station, receive directions, & find ourselves on a fast elevator 27 floors above the Shinjuku skyline. In case you are unfamiliar with this brand, Toto is a superb company that produces efficient bathroom & kitchen appliances & fixtures. It is most known for its technologically advanced toilets. Many toilets in the showroom automatically raised their lids when approached by a user. They all have panels that display multiple features, such as the bidet spray (with at least 3 settings; two for men, one for women). Of course, the toilet seats are heated. The most expensive toilet has a digital display & costs $11,000. Toto also makes tiny sinks for tiny bathrooms. These sinks are about 10 inches wide & 6 inches deep. The faucet comes out of the top of the sink, & water drops vertically. When I first saw one of these tiny sinks in Amsterdam, I was blown away by the space-saving size. Toto’s kitchen faucets are also impressive. Their bathtubs, like all Japanese tubs, are small but deep, & some shower heads are stalks with faucets on the side & squirt water horizontally as well as vertically.

Experiencing a unique Toto product will change your whole toilet & bathing experience. But be ready to pay a pretty penny for these water-efficient, high-tech appliances.

The Shinjuku area is relatively crowded for a Monday night. I don’t like walking through Kabuki-cho, where loitering men hawk their female goods (“hostesses”), so we walk through the shopping area. We end up really liking UniQlo, the Japanese version of Gap but larger & of better quality. The clothes are simple & in solid colors, but the quality of the material is durable & comfortable. Robby purchases a pair of convertible pants that are so short that they hardly need to be convertible. I buy a t-shirt dress & layered skirt. We spend about $52 on these three pieces. Then we go to Taito Games & spend $14 on the funnest video games! One involves jumping & racing on a pogo stick. There are a few good first-person shooter games. In one, called Spice Island, we are two tourists on a back of a Jeep, shooting giant tarantulas & wasps. Then there is another called Razing Storm (I think), which was like Time Crisis but the player has a shield. Robby likes it better than Time Crisis. Of course, we play Super Mario Kart too, the arcade version which doesn't exist in the U.S. Robby is extremely happy that I can have fun at an arcade. If you hate noise, don’t walk into these arcades. The noise is incessant & thunderous, & you’ll walk out with a booming headache.

Everyone should visit the Ghibli Museum!

This morning, we set out for the Musee D’Arte Ghibli, or the Ghibli Museum, located near the Mitaka subway station (get there from the Chuo Rapid or Sobu Local JR trains). The museum features the works of Studio Ghibli & its creative director Hayao Miyazaki. He wrote & created classic Japanese anime movies such as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, & Princess Mononoke. The museum is an amazing building accessible only by public bus. It houses original sketches & teaches the visitors the process of making animated movies. The architecture of the building itself encourages visitors to wander & get lost, & there are many small doorways & staircases for children. We are fascinated by Miyazaki’s imaginative works. Robby leaves the museum wanting to watch all his movies, & I leave thinking about sketching & painting. We are both inspired in some way.

We check out Harajuku on a Sunday evening. Boutiques on Taskeshita Dori, where all the young people shop, are closing by 7pm, so the place looks people dead. Most people walk in one direction - toward the subway station. We see small booths in alleyways that sell the heavy rock genre - Slipknot t-shirts, silver chains attached to unwieldy wallets, & pins with punk-inspired themes. One store sells hip-hip-themed attire, & the three shelves facing the doorway are full of the classic NY baseball cap in at least 15 colors. We see a handful of girls who look like life-sized dolls, straight out of Alice in Wonderland: blonde curly wigs, short pink dress with white apron, pink parasol, white tights, & enormous platform shoes.

Groups or pairs always match in style. Even their make-up is similar. Couples match too - same hairstyle, same type of dress, similar shoes. A boyish-looking woman in sagging pants would never be seen with a girly woman in spiked heels & a short skirt. Only heeled women hang out with heeled women. Women must call each other up & choreograph their attire for the evening:

“I’m going to Takeshita in my ‘60s Indian hippie dress.”
“Which one?”
“The blue one with the red pattern.”
“Okay, then I’ll wear my pink Indian hippie dress.”

In their attempt to look different, they all end up looking the same! Robby thinks that these extreme styles of dress have to do with a claim to individual identity. Everyone wants to cling to a specific identity, so that they feel set apart from others, especially in such a homogenous society as Japan, where (don’t hurt me or Robby) less racial diversity means that people all look similar. I am not sure I agree with him. There are many homogenous countries where people don’t take it to the extreme as the Japanese do, but Japanese do have the money to spend on appearances, unlike many other people around the world.

Since Harajuku is closing, we go to Shibuya, which ends up looking a bit crowded, but also semi-empty compared to Saturday night. We explore the Sega arcade store, which contains mostly gambling games, like the machine into which you feed coins in order for one level of coins to topple another level of coins (I don’t know what this is called). There are a ton of these games. Then after a burger or two at Mosburger (mmmm!), we go to Taito Games, another multi-story arcade. Lots of gambling games, some Streetfighter type games. One large game consists of a large screen that shows horse races & 20+ reclining chairs attached to personal screens. Players sit comfortably in these plush seats, while they bet on horses that compete in fictional races. There is also a room full of electronic mahjong machines.

These arcades are incredibly noisy, especially when people play Pachinko, the slots game that involves lots of little metal balls rolling around in the machine. Lots of people smoke while they sit for hours with buckets of coins punching buttons. Robby notices that none of these games involve social activity. For example, at all the Streetfighter games, each player plays the machine instead of each other. So playing is a very isolated & private experience.

Enough of Shibuya’s excitement. We need sleep!

Shibuya, Shi-Shi-Shibuya, Roll Call!

Annex Katsutaro is nestled in a neighborhood includes small boutiques & markets along a sloped, narrow pedestrian lane that leads to the Nippori JR station. It’s a charming walk when all the shops are open and Japanese residents are out & about. The only drawback is that this area near Ueno Park has very little nightlife.

This morning we take a short subway trip to Akihibara to search for Electric City. We find it quite easily. There are signs everywhere in the subway station that we strangely missed the first time we were there. Electric City is a vast network of alleys & streets that consist of shops that sell electronics. We first stumble upon a 6-story sex shop that includes manga pornography, life-sized dolls costing $6,000 (there is even an adolescent one, gross), & costumes. The array of sex paraphernalia in Japan is most shocking. The rest of the shops in Electric City are pretty mundane. You can buy anything from video games, washing machines, and DVD players to tiny screws, microchips, thick & thin cables, & all parts necessary to assemble a computer from scratch.

Today is Saturday, so the streets are brimming with wandering, wide-eyed young men & older men who come for a specific item. We pass many young women dressed in maid uniforms who are scattered about handing out leaflets advertising maid cafes. We find one & venture in to ask for a menu. We aren’t really interested in spending money there, but we want to check out the scene. There is classical music piping through the speakers, groups of young people sitting around, & maids in frilly dresses serving snacks. You pay $6 for a Coke & the service of a maid. We aren’t sure if the maid is required to spend time or play a game with you, but it’s all so bizarre.

In the evening, we head further out from our hotel to Shibuya. The bright lights & swarms of people are overwhelming. Robby feasts on a savory crepe (a sweet buttery crepe wrapped around cucumber, tuna, & pizza sauce), & I stroll through the Loft, a department store that sells everything, & a furniture store called Franco Franco, which reminds me of Crate & Barrel but more colorful. I need a break from walking, so we go into a small cafe on a side street, & I order a slice of chocolate cake. We sit at the last open table & wait 10 minutes for service. All the other customers are young Japanese people. When the we order, the waitress tells us that we have to order two items (one for each person), so we leave. We find Gas Panic, a popular bar, but the bouncer prohibits us from going in. He points at a poster, “Members only,” yet he lets in the two people who follow us down the stairs. We figure that he looked us up & down, saw our horribly unfashionable clothes, & refused out patronage. Tonight is starting to look like exclude-the-tackily-dressed-foreigners night.

Luckily, we find another small hip hop bar with a warm Nigerian owner & a friendly bartender. We meet Kumi, an outgoing and smiley Japanese woman who works at Coach. Her friend, another regular at this place is a young Brazilian woman who is an amazing dancer. We watch her a bit until a large group of Americans come in & occupy the floor with their stereotypical American grinding. So tasteless, we think. But by the end of the night, everyone is dancing to some ‘90s hip hop & reggaeton music & having a good time. We leave the bar by 11:15pm & catch the subway back to Annex Katsutaro.

Nagoya: Only worth it for Toyota

We'd rather not remember Nagoya.
We would not have stopped there if Robby wasn't intent on visiting the Toyota Commemorative Museum.

Arriving to Nagoya is like arriving to any gritty urban city - dusty, dirty, impersonal. Even the people seemed ruder. For the first time, someone cut in front of us as we waiting in line for a subway. Even in Tokyo, where hordes of people rush onto the subway train, they all pile in in an orderly fashion, careful not to cut. All those generalizations of Japanese precision & perfection don't exist in Nagoya, where the subway toilets are the dirtiest we've seen & walls & streets are coated with dust & grime. This city reminds us of Ankara, Turkey, which, in turn, reminded us of downtown Los Angeles - not the part of downtown with gleaming skyscrapers & renovated Art Deco buildings.

Our hotel, Meiryu Ryokan, is recommended by Frommer's. It's located near the Kamimaezu Station off the Tsurumai Line. It's a bit pricey (8400 yen for a double). The room is decent - two tatamis, A.C., T.V. - but the communal areas are drab. Thankfully, there's an onsen-type bathtub in the large women's restroom. We are glad to spend only one night in Nagoya.

When we arrive, we drop off our bags & head toward the Toyota Commemorative Museum. Even after all the complaints about Nagoya, the Toyota Museum & factory are worth visiting. The museum is enormous, & explanations are detailed & all in English. The first part of the museum is dedicated to the work of Sakichi Toyoda, who industrialized the methods of weaving. Many different working looms are on display, along with explanations of the various materials used. Sakichi Toyoda supported his son Kiichiro Toyoda’s fascination with motor vehicles. Eventually, Kiichiro Toyoda created the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1930s. The second part of the museum is all about his achievements. Many early models are on display, as well as the leaf-inspired concept car & explanations of the inner workings of the cars themselves. If we had more time, we would have read everything, but we arrived an hour and half before closing & had to zip through the looms to reach the cars.

In the evening, we take the subway to Osu Kannon, a thriving shopping area similar to Harajuku. When we get there at 6:30pm, shops begin to close. By this time, Osu Kannon is dead & empty. The clothing here is incredibly cheap. T-shirts cost $10 apiece & there are sale signs everywhere. After staring at a group of girls lined up in front of a dessert shop, Robby follows suit & indulges in delectable whipped cream & chocolate syrup sandwiched between two warm pancakes. Strange, we only see women & girls line up for desserts, never men.

The following day, we board the subway at 8am for Toyota-shi, Toyota City. We have a 10:30am appointment for a factory tour. Kiichiro Toyota chose to build his factories on 200-some acres of land outside of Nagoya. The ride to Toyota-shi takes 1.5 hours by subway & bus & is fairly easy to find. Transportation will cost approximately $20 there & back, but the tour is free & definitely worth it. Robby is tickled thinking that we will see an actual Toyota vehicle assembled. We arrive early, so we hang out in the showroom, which holds the latest models of Lexuses, Priuses, & other models. The tour begins with a 20-minute bus ride, which takes us to the Tsutsumi factory, where Priuses & Scions are produced. After the museum visit & a talk from the guide, we’ve memorized the four steps of car production: stamping, welding, painting, & assembly. We start at the assembly portion of the factory. All the suppliers of Toyota parts are located near the factory, so parts are shipped to the assembly area & sorted by workers. They load & unload items from one box to another, push them onto automated wheeled carts, which hum cute tunes as they maneuver their way down a prescribed course. The assembly portion also includes the installation of parts such as windshield wipers, doors, etc. Next, we move to the welding section, where automated arms piece parts together. Robby will speak more about the factory later since he was more fascinated. Of course, he drenches the guide in a million questions & begins his conversation with “We love Toyota. Her (Jeanne’s) family really only drives Toyota.”

Although I do not have Robby’s enthusiasm for cars, the trip to Toyota City is definitely worthwhile. This is our first time witnessing an assembly line, & we are impressed by the efficiency & cleanliness of it all.

After returning to Nagoya from the Toyota factory, we pack up our belongings & take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. We accidentally board the Nozomi line, the fastest line excluded from our JR rail pass. Luckily, nobody checks our tickets & we are not kicked off...as I feared might happen.

Now we’ve settled into Annex Katsutaro in the Ueno area of Tokyo. It’s considerably quieter & more upscale than the Ikebukuro neighborhood we stayed in when we first arrived to Japan. It’s also 4,000 yen more per night, & our first impression, unlike my parents who stayed here when they came to Tokyo last month, is not favorable. We might move...

5 more days in Japan!

More later!

Folk Life in Takayama

Robby is still sick & I wake up with 8 bug bites on my right shoulder. Mosquitos? I don’t know. I search all over our little room but can not find any plump & satisfied buggers hanging out on the walls. Thinking of little bugs feasting on one shoulder gives me the chills.

The owner of Minshuku Kuwatani-ya asks for us to change rooms, so by late morning we settle into a room more than twice as large as our last! Plenty of room for Robby to let his suitcase explode. No, actually he is much neater than I am in this enormous room.

It begins raining this morning, so we postpone our bike ride to the Hida Folk Village. Instead, we join Christine, a Singaporean math teach who is staying in our minshuku, on a walk through central Takayama. We walk through the Miyagawa Morning Market, where shopkeepers set up booths along the Miyagawa River. We see the monkey-baby figurine everywhere. Some sell wooden crafts, like pendants, earrings, & hair clips. Others sell fabric dyed especially in this region. The most prevalent type is dark blue with white patterns (flowers, geometric shapes, etc.). When my sister and I traveled to Guilin, China, in 1999, we saw the exact same fabrics. Christine says that this style is common in the rural areas of Japan. How uncanny that these patterns are the same as the ones in rural China.

Through intermittent shower storms that begin & end in a breath, we walk through the oldest neighborhood of Takayama, where the old houses - with their dark wood, cobblestone streets, & narrow stone canals (gutters, actually) - remain intact. Every shop sells souvenirs. We once complained that we couldn’t find any souvenir shops in Tokyo & Kyoto. Now we find them everywhere in this rural, mountainous town.

We have lunch at an expensive, mediocre restaurant, Suzuya, that serves Hida beef. Christine received the recommendation from the tourist information office. Robby is reluctant to stay, but I insist, afraid of appearing too frugal. I should have followed Robby’s lead. We should have left. We pay about $18 for a small meal that consists of local vegetables & Hida beef cubes cooking on top of a large leaf that sits on top of ceramic container with a flame in it. Novel, sure, but not worth the money we pay.

Restaurants can be a hit or miss. Robby thinks we should be careful of hostesses who speak crisp English. We should also watch out for fancy or trendy decor. We need to stick to our goal of eating at mom-&-pop restaurants.

Disheartened, Robby & I return to the minshuku for a nap. Then we meet up with Christine again for a walk through the northeast part of the town. We climb a residential neighborhood to look over Takayama with its mountains in the background. Robby isn’t impressed by the view, for what compares to the Alps, he asks. Sure, I respond, but consider that everything is smaller in Japan, even the mountains. Christine tells us about her life as a teacher in Singapore, which I find is much more difficult than the life of an American teacher. She works from 8am to 7pm, & teachers do not receive a lunch break unless their schedule allows for one. Students finish class at 3pm but all stay at school for enrichment programs - not study hall, but classes of choice that also assign homework. Teachers are required to stay at enrichment programs until 7pm, then they go home to “mark”. This is quite different than American schools, where some teachers bolt out of their classroom in front of their students in order to maneuver their car out of the teachers’ parking lot by 3:05pm.

Christine returns to the minshuku for a home-cooked meal, while we find a small diner run by a woman & her daughter. The diner is smaller than the size of our new room in the minshuku, & the walls are covered with framed calligraphy & pressed patterns of wood & flowers. Modern jazz streams through the speakers, & we order hot sandwiches & Hida beef with rice. With a cup of bitter green tea pudding that keeps Robby awake all night, our decent dinner costs about 2300 yen. Not bad.

Takayama is cold in the evenings, and I haven’t brought a pair of jeans, so we forgo a night stroll & return to our minshuku. Robby gets lost in his Nintendo DS game Advanced Wars: Dual Strike. I surf the T.V. channels & find the British television show MI:5. Then I commit to a Japanese-Chinese movie about four couples who wander through Shanghai all night. The main character is a female taxi driver who can’t shake a Japanese visitor who has experienced temporary memory loss. He follows her through the night, & though they can’t communicate, he learns about her unrequited love for the taxi company’s mechanic. It all sounds tame, but at one point Robby looks up to find my sleeves wet & my nose dripping. Some Chinese movies are so good at conveying longing. Robby laughs at me for being such a sap.

Miserably Sick Robby Sleeps on the Shinkansen

Poor Robby is ill today. Today is a travel day. We take a 40-minute ride from Kyoto to Nagoya, then a 2.5-hour ride to Takayama. Robby sleeps and misses the scenic train ride. The small mountains are covered with trees, mostly bamboo and evergreen. Small towns have large, ceramic-roofed houses surrounded by modest plots of land, either rice patties or vegetables. Every garden or plot of land is neatly tended; every inch impeccably clean. When we get closer to Takayama, we weave over & across, following the same wide, shallow river. The lush greenery & rushing river reminds me of Washington State.

We arrive to Takayama, a small historic town flanked by two rivers & surrounded by picturesque mountains. This town is surprisingly English-friendly. Maps & signs are posted everywhere in Japanese and English, and many restaurants have English menus. Takayama is like Yangshuo near Guilin, China, and Goreme in Capadoccia, Turkey: foreigner-friendly towns far out from the big cities where foreigners can find rest in the natural scenery of the countryside. Towns like these have done well catering to backpackers.

We find our lodging, Minshuku Kuwatani-ya, settle in, and take a walk into the central part of town. We seem some recurring themes here:
- BEEF: Hida beef is offered in butcher shops & restaurants - even beef sushi rolls
- A red figurine in a black handkerchief with cones for arms & legs. Our waitress says it’s a “MONKEY BABY”
- WOOD: Woodcraft is common art form here, so we walk by many furniture stores full of wooden chairs, tables, clocks, etc. Jorg would love it.

Sunday in Osaka

We adventure out of Kyoto and into Osaka today, which is only a 30-minutes JR ride. From the JR Osaka subway station, we hop onto the local subway to Osaka Castle, the city’s main historical attraction. When we walk out of the station, we see women scattered around holding signs. We approach Osaka-jo Hall & see hoards of women lined up. A shopkeeper explains that the women with signs are requesting tickets for today’s concert, starring a Chinese band & another called Toshinki. As we pass Osaka-jo Hall, we gawk at the sheer number of women of all ages patiently waiting for this boy-band’s concert. We find the band’s big rigs planted behind the hall - each rig has a large headshot of each band member.

The grounds of Osaka Castle are very impressive, one of the most impressive historical site we’ve visited. It takes a 7-minute stroll to get from the wide outer moat to a wide inner moat. The in-between space has been turned into a park with shopkeepers, live performers, & dog walkers. One dog walker, an eccentric elderly man, walks two small white dogs with dyed hair; one has florescent pink ears & tail, the other florescent green. Each dog wears a tiny kimono. In an empty parking lot, we see a group of teenagers practice a pop dancing routine and a man race his remote-controlled motorcycle in circles.

The castle is surrounded by artistically designed stone walls. Some surfaces are wide slabs of flat stone. The castle is small, but it is elevated by the stone walls, so it looks huge & distant. The interior has been turned into a museum, so we have 8 floors to explore. Oddly enough, the six floor is missing. Each floor holds artifacts that lay out the history of rulers in Japan, including the creator of the castle, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was the first to unify Japan. Surprisingly, many displays have English translations.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the same paranoid shogun who built Nijo Castle in Kyoto with its nightingale (creaking) floors & hiding places for his bodyguards. Tokugawa Ieyasu foretold that his battle for Osaka Castle would take only three days, & he predicted correctly. The great battle is called Summer of Osaka, & the most valuable piece in the castle is a large, 6-paneled painting on the battle & its aftermath. At first glance, the painting reminds me of Where’s Waldo?, whereas it reminds Robby of his Nintendo DS game Advanced Wars: Dual Strike (he became addicted to it during our honeymoon in Turkey, & he has brought it with him again to Japan). Group of tiny soldiers are depicted attacking one another, & they are represented by their flags. Toyotomi’s troops carry red flags & a golden gourd while Tokugawa’s troops carry red flags. Famous generals can be sighted in this painting, & one entire floor of the museum is dedicated to identifying & explaining the known participants in the battle. Osaka Castle is painted in it too, & behind its little windows are the faces of crying women. It’s a breathtaking detailed piece of work that no postcard could do justice.

Upon leaving the castle, we see an artist stationed in the park who is drawing caricatures of a couple. He draws them manga style, & his work is well done. His sign posts, “10-15 minutes, couple 1600 yen.” So we stand and wait because he seems to be well into their portraits. 5 minutes becomes 10, which becomes 15, then 20. He doesn’t acknowledge our presence, &, as an afterthought, we should have interrupted him & spoken with him. We get frustrated waiting & waiting & end up leaving after 20 minutes. We realize that perhaps he didn’t want to draw us in the first place, so he took his time with his current couple to avoid us. That pisses me off even more. Oh well, lesson learned. If we had communicated first, we could have avoided our long wait.

We go to the Hep Five shopping center near the Osaka JR station in order to explore the Sega Amusement Park, which is located on the 8th & 9th floors. The shopping mall is enormous with shops mostly for women. Osaka’s women are as fashionable as Tokyo’s. There are many primped women patrolling the streets, though fewer & less extreme than Tokyo. It’s frightening for me to see them wobble around in heeled shoes all day. They look like beginning ice skaters whose feet either lean inward or outward.

A part of the 9th floor of the amusement park is occupied by Studio Sega, a slew of photobooths. The place is packed with small groups of girls, who pay outside, go into the booth for their pictures, then stand outside the booth to scan their photos into their cell phones or have them printed. I think there is some sort of photoshopping or cheesecloth effect done to the photos because, as we sneak glances of the girls’ shoulders, the results are prettier than the real deal. No wonder the girls love these booths - they offer perfected images of them. The 9th floor also contains many coin toss games, where you toss a 100-yen coin into a machine that pushes one layer of coins onto the second layer. Your goal is to toss so many that coins from the first layer will be pushed off the ledge & out of the machines. We have these machines in the states too, but these are more complex. People think that they need skill to succeed at this game by strategically tossing the coins in certain places, but it’s all a game of chance. We also find a few virtual rides, like a water rafting very much like Star Tours at Disneyland, except the riders are sprayed by waves & mist.

After the overstimulation of the arcade games, we head back to Osaka Station & have dinner at an underground eating establishment full of cheap-eats. We have yakisoba & a flour & cabbage pancake called okonomiyaki. Not bad. Then we go back to Kyoto for the night.

More temples? Let’s go to the Rub a Dub!

We check out of Gojo Guesthouse at 11am today. Robby is disconsolate. He loves this place with its relaxing & welcoming ambience & its friendly clerks.
We travel to northern Kyoto to our next ryokan, Rakucho. It is located in a quiet neighborhood near a street hardly as busy as Gojozaka Dori. But our room is big & had lovely touches of details: a hanging rack for our towels, shelf space, tea, laundry basket. & our room faces a small garden. All the bathroom fixtures are modern, which equals clean, which appeases Robby’s forlorn demeanor.

At 1:30pm, we leave & catch lunch on our way to the bus stop. We find a small, empty ramen shop. At first, we don’t see anyone inside until we peer over the counter & find a bobbing head of hair. “Sumimasen (Excuse me),” we say. The bobbing head stirs & up pops a middle-aged woman. We order our food (ramen & soba) & wait as the woman makes a phone call then aimlessly busies herself with boiling water. A salary man comes in for lunch, but after a short exchange with the woman, he leaves. 10 minutes later (an awfully long time to wait for ramen), her son shows up on his bike. He hurries into the kitchen & begins cooking. Now we see activity behind the counter; the fan is turned on, lids are lifted to reveal steam, colanders are whipped around, vegetables are chopped. It is then that we realize that this woman does not know how to cook. We caught her unawares in the late afternoon, so we had to wait for the competent cook to arrive. How odd. If we understood Japanese, we would have caught on right away from her phone call. The ramen is too salty, but the soba is delicious.

We head out for Kinkakuji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. It’s all right, only an impressive golden building beside a serene lake. Robby passively rails against these temple visits. I agree with him, though I don’t have the fervent aversion he has. We learn very little about these historical sights, so we leave feeling dissatisfied that all we saw was a building. It’s our own fault for not have researched the history of these places before coming to Japan. We were wrong to assume that information in English would be offered to us at all these places.

At Rakucho Ryokan, we nap before going to central Kyoto. Dinner is at Mosburger (for the second time, the first time being in Tokyo). We go to Rub a Dub. Robby invites three young guys, two Japanese & one French, to join our table. They are three techies from out of town, nice guys. Robby gets his chance to inquire about Japanese technology. An Indonesian college student from Osaka joins us later, but by then we have to leave to catch the bus. Robby promised an early return to the ryokan, so we board #205 to Rakucho Ryokan & get to sleep by midnight.

By now my two blistering mosquito bites have popped.

Nara (Todaiji) & its hungry deer & Fushimi-Inari & its endless torii

We take the JR from Kyoto Station to Nara to visit the big Buddha at Todaiji. What an impressive sight. The bronze sitting Buddha is 160 feet tall. Eleven smaller figures are carved into the golden halo behind him. Lots of school kids. We follow about 60 4 year olds into the first entrance.

Japanese school children are adorable. Why is that? They are certainly more well behaved than American ones. We don’t see exasperated teachers trying to calm a few disruptive ones, as we might observe in an American classroom. All the kiddies have little straw hats with elastic bands under their chins. They all wear little backpacks & hold hands as they walk. They’re extremely cute. The Japanese adolescents & teenagers are dressed in black & white uniforms. The adolescents look awkward; they’re tall, but they’ve still got a bit of baby fat on them. The girls’ skirts are calf length, very modest. The high school girls have shorter skirts & long knee socks. They are more fashionable with dangly things hanging from their trendy vinyl shoulder bags. Some teenage boys gel their hair so that it looks mussed - deliberate spikes on the top of their head point in every direction. Some also sag their skinny black slacks & leave their shirts untucked. These kids are restless in a different way than the younger school children. They are cliquish, travel in small herds. We identify the class clowns very quickly. But, on the whole, all these students are still a gazillion times more well behaved than American ones.

After admiring the Daibutsu (Great Buddha), we head back to the bus station. We allow only one temple visit in Nara today. Robby is excited about feeding the fearless but gentle deer that walk among the tourists. We buy some deer food (open-faced fortune-cookie-like biscuits) & Robby walks over to a herd lying in the shade. About four deer get up & begin following him closely, poking at his arm with their noses. He freaks out when one nips him in the shirt. Fear makes them more excited.

Subway to Inari, just south of Kyoto Station. We are there to see the famous Fushimi-Inari Shrine, where tens of thousands of red toriis (Shinto gates) line paths that lead to the top of a mountain. I walk the trail counting the tightly packed gates, and at 780, Robby takes over. He counts until 1130 until we both give up. There are split trails with more red toriis, so it is impossible to count all of them. The walk is peaceful but tiring for us. My legs feel like soft rubber by the time we return to the base. By then, we’ve met a nice couple, Mark & Carmen. We make some good conversation; since they have reached the end of their trip, they advise us about our future destinations. At the bottom, we resume our friendly conversation with Rob, an animated & talkative Scottish Canadian who sells handmade jewelry from a cart. He gives us the insightful perspective of an ex-pat. Having lived in Japan for 32 years (he came when he was 18), he got married, had children, & discovered that he could not live a salary man’s life. Now he is married to a Filipina who makes jewelry for him to sell at the base of this famous shrine. He said that he feels very grateful for what Japan has taught him, but there is a line that he can never cross. He will always be an outsider, & he will never acquire the Japanese cultural mentality. We’ve been told that no matter how long one has lived in Japan, the Japanese will always see her has an outsider, even correct her perfect Japanese. That’s just how insular & homogenous the society is here. Rob sounds weary of his life as an ex-pat, but Japan is the only home he knows.

From Fushimi-Inari Shrine, we head back to the Gojo Guesthouse for some rest. Tonight will be late night for us. We spend the evening hanging out at Rub a Dub, the reggae bar we visited the night before. Because tonight is Friday, the tiny bar is packed by 11:30pm. Robby, the social butterfly who never ceases to bring people together, has arranged for us to meet some of the interesting people we’ve encountered in Kyoto: Mark & Carmen from Germany, the Swedish couple who just arrived & are staying next door, Mai & Yohai, two clerks at Gojo Guesthouse. We also meet up with Masa & Saiga (sp?), our favorite bartenders at Rub a Dub. Dancing begins at midnight when the reggae rhythms pick up, tables are moved to the edge of the room, and people get down. Robby & I couldn’t be happier.

We leave the establishment at 2:30am and walk home with Mai & a Frenchman she brought who had just arrived at Gojo. Mai is an incredibly free-spirited and open young woman who sports messy dreadlocks. She lived in Holland for a bit & has traveled all over Europe. Robby says that she reminds him of his childhood friend Ninja. Every issue moves her passionately & she thinks & curses like a European. In Japan, she is a fish out of water. This year, she will travel the world & hopefully find a place to teach Japanese. She is an adorable hippie who defies the status quo Japan.

We are meant to stay the night in Nara, but because we are so tired of shrines and because Robby love Gojo Guesthouse & its employees, we cancel our reservation at Seikan-so & stay one more night.

In bed by 3am. Good night!

Think deep thoughts, then go shopping

Today marks the year anniversary of my grandmother’s funeral. My niece’s birthday fell two days before & Robby & my wedding nearly a month later. What a fateful time of year that was.

Today Robby & I take the bus to the Ginkakuji (Silver Temple). He is still averse to visiting temples because we never really know what we’re looking at & only watch others worship. So we don’t enter Ginkakuji & instead take the Philosopher’s Walk downhill. Along a canal filled with weedy plants, some ducks & fish, trees hang low over the water & we stroll along a narrow stone path. Old houses line each side. We don’t talk about anything philosophical or deep. Instead, we chat about shopping & culture. We come upon a group of middle-aged art students sitting on a bridge & sketching the scenery with pencil & watercolor. Their teacher is a bald smoker who talks rapidly & eagerly in English. He makes sudden motions with his hands & jerks around energetically, like an artist with OCD. Robby thinks that he looks like as Asian version of Gene Hackman (as the Royal Tenanbaums father).

Returning to civilization, we catch a bus to the Heian Shrine, a large orange, white, & green shrine near the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Robby is more excited about the food in Japan than the gardens & shrines, so we search for lunch before going to the Kyoto Handicraft Center. Lunch comes in the form of fried chicken for Robby (the lunch special) & a yummy sandwich for me. We are the only foreigners in this little homey restaurant.

The Kyoto Handicraft Center is a disappointment. It’s a six-story building full of souvenirs, some of which is high end & some of which is all purpose. Most of it looks like it is made in China, & we are not interested in buying pearls & real woodblock prints, so we get out after exploring each floor.

After visiting one section of Kyoto University’s campus, we walk by a super-cheap sushi restaurant. Nigiri pieces are less than 150 yen each. We aren’t hungry, but we can’t pass this opportunity by. There is no waiter in this tiny restaurant. The sushi chef serves us tea & takes our order. He even gives us one free roll. 8 pieces of sushi for 550 yen. Unbelievable!

If you are interested in eating here, it is on near the corner of Maratumachi Dori & Higashioji Dori.

In the evening, we visit Rub a Dub, a local reggae bar that Robby had stumbled upon a few nights ago when he couldn’t sleep & went for a walk. We chat it up with Masa, the bartender. He is a kind & curious young man who tells us that he has difficulty meeting women because he can see their heart but they cannot see his (his words paraphrased). We sense that his occupation as a bartender prevents him from properly connecting with the women who frequent Rub a Dub. We are impressed that he conveys so much eloquence in English, a foreign tongue. We dance a little then meet Paul, an American expat who has lived in Kyoto for over 10 years. He is a radio music DJ & occasionally spins funk & old school hip hop at local clubs. He is so friendly & insightful, & we dive into an interesting discussion about the Japanese tendency to acclimate to different Western trends. He says that some Japanese happen to see an interesting hobby or style in a magazine, movie, or T.V. & take it on as their own. This acculturation of different fashions & trends is not defined by economic status or political beliefs. It is all about what they think is cool. There is no issue of authenticity, imitation, or misappropriation because everyone in Japan is, in a sense, a poser. In the states, people challenge each other’s authenticity to a certain genre they choose to identify with. Are you keeping it real? Are you from the street? Do you appreciate the history of hip hop or rock? This fosters a great deal of insecurity in us. We like hip hop, but we come from the suburbs...etc. This issue does not occur in Japan. They enjoy the fashion & music of a particular genre, whether it be reggae, hip hop, hippy, or gothic lolita, and that’s it.

We dance with the bartenders, and a lone salaryman quietly joins us. Robby teaches Masa an easy dance step, shows off his fancy footwork, then uses me as an excuse to leave (at 1:30am). I am unaccustomed to sleeping this late.

We walk through the Gion District in search of a cab, & the streets are crammed bumper to bumper with taxis that are waiting for patrons to emerge from the businesses & geisha houses (we think) in the neighborhood. We finally reach the large street & hail a cab, but he is going in the wrong direction. We get in, he makes a u-turn, then starts the clock when we have reach the point where he picked us up. Wow.

A Temple-heavy Day

(an email to my sister, who is coming to japan in a few weeks)

by the way, it's really important that you know where you are going & that you utilize all the tourist offices in the cities you go to. robby and i are really really tired of getting lost. so few people speak english here. it usually works out because we just tell them our destination, but we've walked in circles quite a few times looking for something. it's especially worse when we've left the guide book in the room. this morning, i looked at several online maps of nara to figure out where our hotel is. the first thing we'll do is go to the tourist office there & ask about bus passes, etc.

we've done SO much walking that we're sore & tired all the time. prepared to do lots of walking! even the walks in the frommer's book are really long. we did the first walking tour yesterday. skipped sanjusangendo hall because we're really close to kiyomizu temple. we are tired of temples. we've seen at least 6. they are all starting to look the same & we have to pay to get in. for kyoto, you must visit kiyomizu & kinkakuji temple (golden temple). don't pay to get into kodai-ji or ryozen kannon. seeing them from the outside is enough. but pay the 300 yen to get into the main hall of kiyomizu temple. the jishu shrine inside is a fun one to visit. i really want to visit fushimi-inari shrine, the one with hundreds of red torii (gates).

we're getting better at choosing restaurants. if the food is take-away (packaged & ready to go), we won't buy it unless we're going back to the ryokan. we stress way too much about where to each the take-away food (i'm not kidding, there is NO public place to sit anywhere in japan! even when you're at a tourist site, there are few benches to rest your feet.). we really like the quick & easy restaurants where you pay & choose through a vending machine & hand your ticket to the waitress to get your food. the portions are big & the dishes are cheap (600-700 yen). even the box set lunches in dept. stores are too expensive for us. they range from $9-11. we also try to look for small mom&pop curry places. cheapest foods: curry, udon, soba.

okay, gotta wake up robby now. we're forgoing frommer's walking tour #2 & taking the bus to kinkakuji. the day pass here is 500yen. not bad considering one trip on the bus costs 220yen. these day passes will probably be sold in your hotel. there is a district bus too, so if you go too far out of the city center, like to katsura imperial villa, you'll have a pay a little more. the bus map is VERY helpful.

geez, i've practically written a blog posting here.

p.s. the kyoto craft center does not exist! we walked all over the gion district looking for it. finally, we went to a police station. we found that we had walked past the building. we get there & find out that it has closed & been replaced by other businesses. so frommer's needs to do some editing. grrrr...
as robby said, "there is no cake!"

by the way, as we've been told by a few friends, police stations are great places to get directions. 80% of their job is giving directions. plus, they will pull out a big map with business names on them, so they can tell you exactly how to get where you're going.

p.p.s. do the part of frommer's walking tour #1 that leads you uphill through otani mausoleum. the slopes filled with 15,000 tombs are amazing. each tomb has an erect concrete pillar, so when you look over them, the cemetery looks like the skyscarpers of manhattan.

also, the nishiki-kori dori is a fabulous place to see where the residents of kyoto shop. it's like the harajuku of kyoto but less extreme. it's a lot of fun to people watch but be prepared - there won't be any places to sit or rest unless you go to a cafe or restaurant.

Audra turns 1!

Happy 1st birthday, Audra! You’re great at standing, and I hope you start walking soon!

Castles, Gardens, & Window-shopping in Central Kyoto

PICS HERE

Today we have a 10am reservation at Kyoto Imperial Villa. We take the 206 to Kyoto Station, arrive 20 min. early, & hop on #33 to our destination. We get there an hour before our reservation begins, so we kill time by snacking at a busy roadside mochi shop. A variety of beautifully exotic & delicate mochi pastries of all shapes & colors sit lined up under the glass countertop. Robby orders three: one looks like a dumpling skin folded in half, filled with red bean paste with ground peanuts sprinkled on top; one is a firm green jelly triangle with green jelly balls on top; & another dark green one looks a traditional mochi ball without powder on the outside, with a caky white paste inside. They are served on separate dishes with large wooden toothpicks & two cups of cold green tea. The mochi is delicious.

Still with time to kill, we walk toward the Imperial Villa along a river. We see a homeless man sleeping under the bridge, a fisherman with a motorcycle parked beside him, & further ahead, where there are flat grassy lawns, old people putting with large wooden golf clubs.

When we arrive at the Imperial Villa, I pull out my reservation printout & hand it to the guard. A puzzled look crosses his face. He explains that this is Katsura Imperial Villa & our reservation is for Kyoto Imperial Villa! We cannot spontaneously set reservations for Katsura Imperial Villa even though we are standing at the front gate, & I feel like a fool. Robby takes it very well. At first he blames the clerk at the tourist office, but I pull out my itinerary & discover that the mistake is my own - I had written “Kastura Imperial Villa” instead of “Kyoto Imperial Villa”. Robby is so sweet - he laughs it off & says that there’s nothing wrong with an occasional adventure. I feel so guilty that I have traveled on two buses only to arrive at the wrong location.

We hop back on the bus to Kyoto Station then to another to Kyoto Imperial Palace. Another mishap occurs:
We are dropped off at the northwest corner of the park & we enter through the center north entrance. We walk clockwise (eastward) along the tall palace walls. We walk on pebbly gravel along the north wall, then lengthwise along the east wall. which is really, really long. We assume that the entrance is on the south side but find the gates closed, so we walk the length of the south side & up to the west side. We find the entrance on the northern side of the west wall. We waste so much energy circling the Imperial Villa!

We change our reservation to 2pm & sit to wait for an hour. An older gentleman sits at our table & strikes up a conversation. His English is very good. He asked where we are from & says he has been to Long Beach, San Pedro, Anaheim, Sacramento, Oakland, Ensenada, & San Diego. Actually, he has been on almost every coast in the world because he was a seaman for 40 years. He was extremely talkative & interesting. Born in 1938, he started working on ships when he was 18 and went from navigating to becoming captain. He sailed large barges, shipping Japanese goods, such as cotton & cheap clothing, to countries all over the world. Robby asks if he had ever encountered pirates. Once, he says. He was sailing from Singapore to Thailand across Malaysia when pirates attacked. He and the crew locked themselves in the ship as the pirates approached on small fishing boats & climbed up “like monkeys”. They could not open any of the doors to reach the interior of the boat, so they gave up & left. When he & his crew emerged, he found pirate footprints on the deck. He says this happened only once & many decades ago. From then on, he was always careful & alert when crossing Southeast Asia. He is a pleasant gentleman, and we rarely have an opportunity to meet a Japanese person who speaks English so confidently, so we feel refreshed after our morning fiasco.

The English tour through Kyoto Imperial Palace is quite but thorough. There are at least 50 tourists in this group, but the tour guide carries a microphone & wears a speaker. We are not allowed to walk into the buildings, but we can circle the exterior & some of the doors are open for us to view the wall paintings inside. Here are some facts we learn about the palace:
- Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over 1,000 years.
- It was burnt down several time & rebuilt.
- The walls extend 450m north-south & 250m east-west. (Wow, we did a lot of walking!)
- Three types of architecture appear in the different buildings: shinden, shoin, & sukiya styles.
- The shinden style consists of white walls, orange (“vermillion”) pillars & rafters, & ceramic roofs. The buildings have wooden floors & no ceilings. The largest building on the compound, Shisinden, is over 7 stories tall & holds the throne of the emperor & empress. An orange tree & cherry tree stand at it entrance, symbolizing prosperity & loyalty. This style is largely influenced by the Chinese, though the Chinese used more red. The bright vermillion was believed to ward off evil spirits. The white paint was made by crushed sea shells.
- Most characteristic of the shoin style are its many-layered roof. Over 70 layers of cypress bark are layered & held together by bamboo nails. No wonder the problem with fires. The builders feared fire so much that the kitchen was a detached building set away from the main compound. The cypress roofs are replaced every 25 years.
- The sukiya style consists of what we typically see in traditional Japanese architecture: tatami floors & sliding doors.
- The emperor officially has one wife but can also have many concubines, though he does not as many as the Chinese emperor.

After the tour, we have lunch at a tiny restaurant called Hometown Curry & Coffee. There are only 4 tables that seat two & a counter that seats 4 people. A middle-aged man cooks behind the counter & there are a few bookcases of manga in the corner of the restaurant. Most people come in to read the newspaper or manga with a cup of tea or coffee. Luckily for us, he fishes out an English menu AND he speaks a little English coherently. Robby orders homemade beef curry with rice, & I order a mixed sandwich with egg & potato. WOW. This is one of the best meals we’ve had in Japan. Sure, the sushi is spectacular, but this home-cooked is pretty fabulous too. The slightly spicy brown curry has beef, carrots, & potatoes. My sandwich has a layer of warm fried egg, mildly sweet potato salad, lettuce, & a few sauces (mayonnaise & ketchup). What special food! Robby keeps telling the owner how delicious our food is (in Japanese). This sure beats the strange skewers we ate last night!

After lunch, we take two buses to Nijo Castle. We’re getting pretty adept at figuring out the bus map & getting off at the right stops. Nijo Castle is free AND we get to walk inside the Ninomaru Palace, which as 33 rooms. This castle was once the home of famous Tokugawa shoguns. The most interesting feature of the Ninomaru is its nightingale floor. The shogun feared attacks from enemies so there is an inner & outer moat too. According to Frommer’s guide, the floorboards “creaked when trod upon in the castled corridors. The nightingale floors were supplemented by hidden alcoves for bodyguards. Furthermore, only female attendants were allowed in the shogun’s private living quarters.” Talk about paranoid!

From Noji Castle, we go to Nishiki Kori-Dori, a huge covered shopping area near the Gion district. Along one long alley, there are many booths that sell vegetables, pickled dishes, mochi, prepared foods, raw fish & octopus, & dried goods. The alleys that run perpendicular have larger clothing shops. It seems like the Harajuku of Kyoto but not so extreme. We spot a few American clothing shops there: XLarge, Patagonia, etc. Robby is delighted by the funky & colorful clothing. He is tempted to buy a pair of trendy pants. The cost of clothing is comparable to the U.S. (maybe even on the pricey side), & I have yet to see a Japanese person scouring through the sale section. We see one girly shop with a doll-like clerk behind the cash register, & we laugh at all the t-shirts with garbled English phrases on them. Observing Japanese fashion is so fun. I think we’ll do more shopping in Kyoto than Tokyo.

We buy some prepared food but have no place to sit & eat it, so we order a cup of tea at a cafe & sneak upstairs to eat it. This distresses me so much that I literally lose my appetite & cannot stomach the food that I’ve bought. Where do Japanese people eat once they’ve bought prepared foods? After perusing through the shops, we head back to the Gojo Guesthouse & turn in for the night.

I recommend the mochi shop we visited this morning. If you happen to be visiting the Katsura Imperial Villa via bus, you will be dropped off immediately after crossing a bridge. This shop is right across the street from the bus stop.

Phew, we’ve done a lot today & made good use of our day bus pass.