The house of Yukari's good friend Hiro, which is where I stayed while
in Kyoto. He has a really beautiful traditional Japanese house, although
this picture doesn't do it much justice.
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Hiro drove Yukari and me to the train station that day, but first he
took us to visit Ikkyuji Temple. Here are Yukari and Hiro washing
their hands before entering the temple grounds.
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Here is a statue of Ikkyu, the greatZen master, who lived about 600
years ago. He is famous in Japanese history for being an especially
clever young boy.
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We took the train to Kyoto Station and met Mari, and then went up Kyoto
Tower to view the city.
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After lunch, I tried my hand at pachinko--a Japanese pinball game played
as a form of gambling. You win back small steel balls for getting
the ball you launch into the machine to land in certain holes. If
you end up with enough balls (thousands!), you can trade them in for prizes.
It was 100 yen for 100 balls and I quickly went through 500 balls, all
of which disappeared into the machine in short order. :-(
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Later that afternoon we took the train to Nara, where I caught these
girls in kimonos. January 15 is a national holiday that is roughly
translated as "Becoming an Adult Day." All people turning 20 that
year celebrate becoming an adult and the girls dress in kimonos for the
day. It is funny seeing Japanese girls dress up in their traditional
national costumes while walking down the street talking on their cellular
telephones!
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This is the famous large Buddha statue in Nara. We managed to
get in just before closing that day.
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Nara is also famous for the wild deer that roam around the city--particularly
on the temple grounds. Here I am feeding some of them.
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That night we met up with Hiro again and went out for dinner.
We had a special meal of nabemono, which is a quick-cooked stew
made in a hot cauldron right on your table. It is most renowned as
the food that sumo wrestlers eat to put on weight. Here I am trying
a side dish of fugu--raw puffer fish. Puffer fish are highly
poisonous and the chef needs a special license in Japan in order to prepare
it. So I tried it and...
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...Oh no! It looks like the chef goofed! No, no, no--it
is just me displaying outstanding over-acting talents. :-)
The fish was actually quite good!
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