Travel report day 8 - Shinkansen action in the back section



11:03h: Another three minutes for our bullet train to leave for Kyoto. The personnel at Tokyo station was very friendly and able to speak english very well, apart from the guy at the ticket reservation who could not, or would not make a reservation on the right-hand side of the train, the side with a view to mount Fuji.



Time for the distance Tokyo - Kyoto: 2:36h
Listening to: Sascha giggling about winning every single match in Street Fighter Alpha GBA
Status: pissed off about the sloppy controls and Sascha winning every game


14:35h: The Tani House welcomes us with a modest but traditional architecture with, as Sascha soon finds out, low ceilings. Ms. Tani serves us green tea and helps us around regarding directions. We will probably rent bicycles tomorrow to see the local sights. Here's the room:




19:02h: Walking back from the Funa Oka Onsen, the supposedly best public bath in Kyoto. It has several different baths, from herbal to out door wooden panel style. We chat with two locals, a friendly elderly man and a shoulder - to - butt-cheeks tattooed boy of our age. Later the older one tells us he was an honest yakuza or 'street fighter' (the real kind). After the incredibly hot but refreshing bath, we chill out at the bath's TV room with some cold Kirins. A friendly japanese guy chats us up in fluent german and we watch the baseball game together: the Osaka Tigers, the local heros.

Time in the out door bathtub: 10 minutes
Number of tattooed visitors: 3 (hehe)


On the way, we stumble across a group of school kids with lanterns, pilgrims to a shrine on the way. We find out later that this might be due to Buddha's birthday, but we can't remember where we got that particular bit of information from.

I'm rather distracted by a) our swiss neighbors calling the trains 'Schimpansen'
and b) Sascha eating his Toenails.
Night shots from nearby Izakaya and shrine:


Posted: Fri - April 9, 2004 at 11:05 AM         |

©