Okazaki Park:
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art:
outside Kyoto Kaikan:
more class photos at Heianjingu:
shichi-go-san =)
poor kids were beseiged by gaijin tourists who closed in on them & their parents:
newborns were brought along for blessings too, in a special 'kimono sling':
autumn is time for chrysanthemum flower shows:
walking towards e Kyoto Handicraft Center:
e cat found itself right outside e Kyoto Budokan, surrounded by shops selling all sorts of martial arts equipment:
protestors at Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection, something like Kyoto's equivalent of e Scotts Road-Orchard Road junction:
look just like e ones that e cat saw outside Tokyo's Yasukunijinja in 2002....
from here e cat went shopping! first to Tower Records @ Kawaramachi OPA building, where e Kyumei Byoto 3 OST CD was found & bought within minutes. they had a few Mizoguchi Hajime CDs but listening to CDs before buying them isn't permitted at this branch, so on to HMV @ Kawaramachi VIVRE building....
Takoyakushi-dori:
one of those noodle shops (like those on train station platforms) where customers eat standing up before rushing off:
cat noren:
HMV was found but it is a small outlet where none of what e cat was hunting for was available. & not much time to make a trip to e Kita-oji branch....
Matsumoto KiYoshi pharmacy at e Takoyakushidori-Shinkyogoku intersection:
special mention & a big fat photo for their wonderful service. e cat was supposed to buy some sort of 'made in Japan, unavailable in Singapore' makeup product, armed with only e item packaging & zero Japanese vocabulary for terms associated with makeup &/or shopping. somehow transpired through e language barrier (with e help of a calendar) that 'no more', '2 more days', 'how many' & 'come again'. & they wrote down e cat's name by cooking up a katakana 'soundalike' equivalent.
much later on e cat would realise that they had placed a special order on e cat's behalf for 5 pieces of e product to be delivered to their store, which would take 2 days, & placed their trust in e cat (totally uncontactable with no cell phone, & they didn't even have e cat's 'real' name) to return to collect & pay for it. all this at no extra charge, & no deposit or prepayment required. speechless =) e cat so loves shopping in Japan! but maybe not e prices =P
2 out of e 3 items on e cat's own shopping list settled chop-chop! =)) what remains are e Mizoguchi Hajime CDs & omiyage for friends & colleagues....
Shinkyogoku shopping arcade was where e cat bought e booklet of 8 Hello Kitty postcards ;) one of e busier shrines along Shinkyogoku shopping arcade:
full moon night (Loy Krathong in Thailand?) along Takoyakushidori.
on such autumn nights people flock to popular moon-viewing spots around Kyoto, usually places with a large pond for enjoying e reflection of e full moon on e surface.
konbini bento dinner, with miruku (milk) flavour Qoo:
tomato rice with pork topped with cheese, carrots & broccoli bento from ampm (one of e cat's favourite konibini chains, ever since it chanced upon one at Kudanshita on its first night in Tokyo), where you pick out a small card (with e price & no. of calories indicated) corresponding to e picture of e bento, & e cashier will get it out of e freezer & microwave it for you after payment is made.
seems that milk flavoured Qoo is sold only during e colder months, & this winter there are more than 5 designs for e PET bottle packaging - Qoo with a Japanese macaque/reindeer/polar bear/penguin/Artic fox/etc.
change of room mates again, new one is Keiko, a foodie who has been to Singapore in 1998 & loves Singapore food. in town to visit friends who run a French-Vietnamese restaurant, likes jazz & collecting shiny stickers - she gave e cat a packet of Disney cat stickers after e cat gave her a strawberry muesli bar when she was still hungry after e kare-raisu dinner she cooked for herself in e hostel kitchen =) spent quite a bit of time keeping her company - she reading, e cat writing its journal - in e 3rd floor living area, as she found e large group of Thais on our floor too noisy, & e tom yam they cooked too pungent for her nose.
amusing part was when she showed e cat e Asahi Shimbun article on e royal wedding - covering e faces of e Japanese Princess Sayako & her new husband with her hands, she said 'beautiful dress, beautiful shirt'. & then removed her hands & said something like, 'not beautiful woman, not beautiful man....old....no Japanese man/lady want'....& apparently many Japanese that e cat met felt e same way =P
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