I’ve been in Japan for a week and having the responsibility of children in a place like Japan is pretty crazy. Only this evening I had picked up the kids from Kyoto station to take them home… back to the apartment, a 20 min train journey to Kusatsu. Barbara and Christophe were meeting with an American couple for dinner. Although I was pretty aware of which platform I needed to go to… we rock up and it is what I can only describe as total orderly chaos. I managed to get on the wrong train. It could have been worse, considering how the Japanese are so civilised and shy, you can only imagine. But what can I say, we like to have a good time! I did find a few smiles amongst them.
So finally I realise… and almost 2hrs later we were home. It’s just pretty daunting trying to figure out where the hell you are and how you went so wrong. Which has been the story of my life for past 2 days.
I’ve been exploring Kyoto, with a genuine intention to spend it constructively visiting the recommended sites as a good tourist does. I failed miserably, either getting completely sidetracked or started what I managed to subject the kids to this evening.
But you get sidetracked for a reason. Yesterday I managed to pretty much make it to the tourist office, gather a great deal of information and master the subway… a little. Before meeting a couple of Canadians at a 7/11 drinking beer cause they had given up on the tourist trail. I would like to think I was still holding out with a little more hope. But after one beer I was stolen and it was the Pig and Whistle for the rest of the night. Which just so happens to be the Irish pub that I saw advertised in the tourist office for an expat party that I thought I may attend in a time of social need I am sure. Now I know exactly where it is!
They were nice guys - Pilots who loved to drink. They were here as a group, describing the others as intellects. It was clear they clashed with each other, I can imagine and it sucks, it seems that way all too often. They bought me dinner and I was home by 10.30, Barbara calling me as I make the door to see when I was going to be home… she gives me a present. Christophe saw I had lost an earpiece from my headphones, and they had bought me a new pair with retro lighting bolts on the side.
Today, I went back to the tourist office. B efore I managed to see a small exhibition just on the way. This was my aim today, it was the King’ 20th anniversary, all exhibitions were free entry so I was planning to take full advantage… planning. This one was the works of a Buddhist monk Enku in 17th/18th century. At the age of 32 he started carving images of Buddha and deities… with smiley faces out of wood. As you go through the room starting with his early works, they are rough and vague. They are also described as ‘abstract, bold and dynamic’... I think they are making allowances for his not so great work cause they know he can carve some beauties! When actually I would like to think he was just an average guy who suddenly had a passion and was just hell bent on producing a perfect carving... vowing to carve 100 000s before he died in his 90s. He only considered his first piece when he was 80 something. They were pretty fantastic, I like that he wasn’t in any hurry, now throughout the centuries people have passed them down as objects of worship.
After, I was to go to the Museum of Kyoto after a little phaffing of course! On the map it seemed to be pretty straightforward. I found my way nicely on the subway to the correct station, but trying to leave at the correct exit just blew my mind. Back and forth, I knew I had to leave at exit 5… 1 2 3 4 but no sign of 5. So I risked it and chose an exit, and there I had decided my fate for the rest of the day. Trying in vain to find this place, whilst at the same time getting sidetracked down the little, if you can say again ‘chaotic’ in Japan, wooden streets hidden behind the concrete with fantastic shops… and subtle temples with their quaint gardens and those trees! I feel stupid saying this but these bizarre shape trees you see in Japanese drawings really exist and are awesome… I want to say something else but I am at risk of sounding a little out of my league. But they truly are something else. And they are just trees!
I’ve decided the Japanese style and taste are like no other, not to everyone’s liking but I think they create effortless class to everything. Even the boutique shops… I never thought that was possible. Street after every endless street I could see myself spending a lot of money here, one day hey? The museums will have to wait, I am in no rush and that’s the best part of it all. I can’t wait to go back and get hopelessly lost again.
