back to september

remember last september when laurie and i went to japan to visit with casey, chieko and ray... i think i posted about thursday.. so here is friday...

we opted for a "walking tour" of kyoto

with our guide "johnnie hillwalker"

johnnie took us on a 4 hour, 1 mile (if i remember correctly) slow, back streets and shops of kyoto.... it was very, very slow.

unfortunately some of the local shops (home industry) that we were supposed to see, not on traditional tours, were not open.

we looked into a shop where they made prayer beads, and toured a fan shop

the fans are hand painted and printed,

this woman was gluing the paper, pressing it, to the bamboo.

this is also done by putting it under heavy stone.

one worker will make 500 fans per day according to johnnie

some of the work might be done at home:

one might make the paper

another prepare the bamboo

it is then brought to the shop to be assembled and glued

now i may have things a little mixed up.. i wrote things down, but i am old now and my notes were really messy

we passed a shop where they make tofu, also not open, but johnnie told us it was the "best tofu in japan!!"

we didn't go into a green tea shop, where they sold the "the best green tea" in japan.

we saw a store that sold alters to place in your home for worshipping your ancestors.

the best of everything is japan, come kyoto.. johnnie said so!

we said hello to a buddhist priest who told us to "have a nice trip" supposedly the only english he knew.

we also saw and old geisha school. but no old geishas.

we went someplace else, but i can't remember exactly what it was, a temple or shrine ? but we learned a little about buddhism and shintoism

my notes say...

buddhist - dead

shinto - alive

which i think means

buddhists live a life in preparation for whatever comes next... good karma now, means good karma later and the shintoist (?) live a good life for this life.

i know there is much more to it and i should know more, but at this point we were almost comatose and more focused on the spittle in the corner of johnnies mouth.

we took off when no one was looking and did some more exploring and shopping (casey's favorite thing) on our own

we saw a "geisha" posing with tourists

a dog dressed as a samurai

a bunch a women dressed alike

( i think they are flight attendants)

we said good bye to casey at the train station, he went back to kanazawa and we went to osaka

shopping more at the station in osaka, because there was still room in the suitcase, haha.

we stayed in a hotel near the airport, comfy.