Slowly putting up the Japan Trip pictures on Flickr in this set:
I’ll keep adding to it, I’m only roughly up to where the blog left off. Will also add some of my favourites here.
… and going to Toba, a little fishing village where my guide spent a few years learning Japanese.
Internet connections few and far between, there, so it may be a while until the next update.
Walking up to Kiyomizudera temple, Mr Y and I waded thru a sea of Sailor Suit lolitas, all frankly goggling at the hairy giant lumbering past and tittering behind their hands (mustn’t show teeth!). Their elder sisters, having escaped the uniform, favor more elaborate dress until they get married (young!) and have their first kid… after which it’s practical gear all around. I should have taken more pictures of shoes, which are particularly telling, but who wants these (ahem) innocent girls to think Gaijin have a foot fetish?
Every once in a while, you cross paths with Maiko-San. This is the local version of the Geisha, and when the locals talk about them, you hear affection in their voice. You see signs in restaurant that say: ‘Let’s meet Maiko-San on Wednesday!’ and it’s almost like there is only one Maiko-San, and she is a friend, or perhaps a distant family member.
Of course, you also see regular women wearing Kimono for other reasons, so it’s best (trust me on this one), not to point and proudly display your command of local folklore by yelling: “Look! Maiko-San!”.
They’re a shy bunch, on general principles, but every once in a while they reach out… oh wait, you’re not waving at me?
Lastly, it gets hot here in the summer, and Kyoto has rivers and canals so I suspect water fights are a common occurence…
Mr Y took us to a local Izakaya (literally: Sake store, but basically a drink+food hangout) for a guys’ night out.
A more gracious host could not be found, except perhaps for Mrs Y, of which more later. Suffice it to say we had a riot.
I have very clear memories of the wonderful conversation we had at the start of the evening, then it gets a little fuzzy.
In case you were wondering how efficacious Shinto is, my Nikon D70s has been sick lately (on/off switch stuck to On).
Somewhere on the mountain side, under the Torii, it was healed. I noticed just before I took this photo of one of the many, many piles of little votive Torii people place at the altars all along the path to the top.
