Travel report day 10 - A short trip to Tokyo weekend madness and then some...
10:06h: At the Kyoto train station, I spot a young
geisha
(probably a maiko,
an apprentice geisha), one of
less than
a thousand maiko and geisha left in Japan, but can't take a picture due to her
having to board a train and also looking extremely scared as I ask. We take the
Shinkansen to Tokyo, speeding there in two hours and feeling very relaxed.
Here's a picture of an all-traditional family. Sorry for the
back-shot.
13:30h As on every Sunday, Harajuku is crowded with tourists and kids posing for pictures. No further comments (@_@)
Funny enough, the two weirdoes from the Kimi Ryokan also showed up in one of the main roads. We still have no clue on where they are from, but London seems like a good guess. Check out the soda can the guy is holding for this japanese photographer (you can't see:). Plus some more from the train station:
A nearby building distracts the crowd from the dress-up kids, as a guy in rubber straps scores one dunk shot after the other on the roof tops. Donertime.com brings us a quick kebab snack. Since one of the salesmen at a clothing store recognizes my R* t-shirt and tells me that Grand Theft Auto is really famous in Tokyo, I decide to leave some greetings to the oh-so-western styled streets of Harajuku.
20:00h: The Kyoto train station is an incredible sight at night: The station itself, with it's 15 floors and Escher-esque architecture, makes you realize the amount of design and money that flows into the japanese railway system. We take the 8 escalators up to the sky garden, where I take a number of panorama shots. We'll head there tomorrow morning fur lunch!
Later that night, at our favorite onsen, we meet a north american piano player and teacher who has been living in the states and japan for the last 20 years. He simply flies back and forth every 2 weeks. Talk about commitment!
21:25h We enter the restaurant next to last night's izakaya and things start getting rather weird. The friendly, but overly big smiled master chef beckons us towards two seats at the counter. As we ask for the menu, he grinningly points at the hand-written menu.
Panic factor: 20%
Well. He then makes weird gestures towards the exit, which we falsely interpret as "go out look at picture" but actually means "follow him", directed at his young waiter. Who speaks english. A little. As does the local drunkard who invites us for a round of beer.
Panic factor: 50%
Sashimi and Tempura are good but rather expensive. Luckily, after a couple of minutes, a (supposedly) Onagata, a male kabuki performer that plays the female roles, joins our already close-to-panic party.
Panic factor: 70%
Mentioning that we're here for hanami doesn't really improve matters, as it dawns on me at the moment of uttering that hanami is something you do with your spouse.
Panic factor: 80%
Which immediately results in the question whether we were married.
Panic factor: 98%
Hysteria shields are nearly maxed out as we finally manage to pay (Important help: just cross your index fingers or hands at the waiter, everybody knows that sign here) and flee from this odd place.
13:30h As on every Sunday, Harajuku is crowded with tourists and kids posing for pictures. No further comments (@_@)
Funny enough, the two weirdoes from the Kimi Ryokan also showed up in one of the main roads. We still have no clue on where they are from, but London seems like a good guess. Check out the soda can the guy is holding for this japanese photographer (you can't see:). Plus some more from the train station:
A nearby building distracts the crowd from the dress-up kids, as a guy in rubber straps scores one dunk shot after the other on the roof tops. Donertime.com brings us a quick kebab snack. Since one of the salesmen at a clothing store recognizes my R* t-shirt and tells me that Grand Theft Auto is really famous in Tokyo, I decide to leave some greetings to the oh-so-western styled streets of Harajuku.
20:00h: The Kyoto train station is an incredible sight at night: The station itself, with it's 15 floors and Escher-esque architecture, makes you realize the amount of design and money that flows into the japanese railway system. We take the 8 escalators up to the sky garden, where I take a number of panorama shots. We'll head there tomorrow morning fur lunch!
Later that night, at our favorite onsen, we meet a north american piano player and teacher who has been living in the states and japan for the last 20 years. He simply flies back and forth every 2 weeks. Talk about commitment!
21:25h We enter the restaurant next to last night's izakaya and things start getting rather weird. The friendly, but overly big smiled master chef beckons us towards two seats at the counter. As we ask for the menu, he grinningly points at the hand-written menu.
Panic factor: 20%
Well. He then makes weird gestures towards the exit, which we falsely interpret as "go out look at picture" but actually means "follow him", directed at his young waiter. Who speaks english. A little. As does the local drunkard who invites us for a round of beer.
Panic factor: 50%
Sashimi and Tempura are good but rather expensive. Luckily, after a couple of minutes, a (supposedly) Onagata, a male kabuki performer that plays the female roles, joins our already close-to-panic party.
Panic factor: 70%
Mentioning that we're here for hanami doesn't really improve matters, as it dawns on me at the moment of uttering that hanami is something you do with your spouse.
Panic factor: 80%
Which immediately results in the question whether we were married.
Panic factor: 98%
Hysteria shields are nearly maxed out as we finally manage to pay (Important help: just cross your index fingers or hands at the waiter, everybody knows that sign here) and flee from this odd place.
Posted: Mon - April 12, 2004 at 01:19 AM |
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Published On: Nov 08, 2005 09:15 PM
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Published On: Nov 08, 2005 09:15 PM