Kyoto Friday evening
It's great to be back in Kyoto
Kyoto Task #1: find the English bookstore and get
new reading material.
Kyoto Task #2: dinner.
On Kyoto's smaller streets, there aren't really street signs. Oh, there's signs. Lots of signs. (see my Signs entry.) So, finding Maruzen, the 135 year old bookstore (now 8 stories tall) took a little bit of looping around, which was fun. On the way, I walked by all of the restaurants and even a cafe where I had been before, and I remembered them well.
Kawaramachi-dori, I think.
Up to the 8F of Maruzen, the foreign book floor. I rode the elevator with a pair of foreigners and we didn't even bother with a salutation but there was no question which elevator button was getting pushed.
There are so few foreigners here, even though there are 5 times more than I saw in Osaka, that when you see them, for me at least, there's a moment's hesitation of whether or not to acknowledge them. Do they live here? Are they traveling? In general, I've found that there's very little incidental interaction with people on the street or in trains except to ask permission to get by someone blocking your way, or vice versa. So the foreigners who happen to be here, seem to follow that code as well. People walk by me without lifting an eyebrow although they'd have to be blind not to notice me as easily as I notice them. So I reciprocate, and do nothing.
The bookstore was a lot of fun, and I spent 2 hours reading. For learning about Japanese culture from a Western perspective, Honda-san had recommended Ruth Benedict's WWII cultural appraisal and U.S. occupation manual for Japan, called the Chrysanthemum and the Sword. so I read the first 50 pages rather quickly. Great.
I picked up a book of odd modern Japanese tales and liked the first one enough to buy the book. I also quickly read a book on Japanese "Kata" (something like rules) for Westerners learning to work with Japanese and understand the culture and mentality. That was very enlightening.
There were actually several kinds of books there en masse. You had all the Penguin classics. There was the Tuttle series of books on Japan, mostly fiction. Then there was a large learning-Japanese section. A travel section. Lots of simple, single-subject learning books like Japanese cooking, bonsai, origami, and the like. Then there were very expensive academic books: Econ, Politics, Anthro, Physics and Math too. And best-sellers, including non-fiction were all there. You could even get the paperback of the 9/11 report.
When I got too tired to continue standing I took my new book down to the 3F cafe they kept recommending over the PA. I was expecting a cafe, American bookstore style. Um, no. This was a little closet of a room with me at the counter, a woman at a small round table, and a young woman serving up some kick-ass strong coffee. Still, my single cup of coffee (for $3.80!) gave me a chance to rest and consult the Lonely Planet for dinner recommendations.
Foreigners may be few and far between but I actually heard Hebrew twice today. First was in the Kyoto Station. That unmistakable "ehhhh" between words that's so Israeli, followed by actual Hebrew. The second time was at dinner at a place called the "884 Store." Some real hipsters dishing out the food. Nice folks. By "hipsters" I mean teased-out hair, stylized beard, cool clothes. The soundtrack was raggae. After dinner, the album changed and the familiar reggae beat comes on, and the singer comes on: "Yerushelayim, Yerushelayim." Woah, did my ears perk up. Then the next song was in Hebrew and English. I had to ask about the music. The chef comes out (he's like 25) and speaks English really well (relatively). He tells me it's one of the guys from the Wailers, and he's from Ivory Coast. I asked to see the CD case, and he pulls out a Minidisc with the name on it--Alpha Blondy, "Jerusalem"--he's got the LP at home, no CD.
Dinner at the 884 Store.
Note that the little pink pocket-book pictured by the menu in the arms of a black ceramic statue is "Purple Ronnie's Little Guide to Doing It," which I learned a lot from over dinner; including funny British slang. This places has graffiti all over the walls by the dinner table. One large section of Japanese block-lettering was particularly interesting and difficult to decipher.
Kyoto at night is really cool.
Garage entrance on Kiyamachi-dori.
Plastic drinks.
Blue lights in a fountain/pond on Oike-dori.
Kyoto Task #2: dinner.
On Kyoto's smaller streets, there aren't really street signs. Oh, there's signs. Lots of signs. (see my Signs entry.) So, finding Maruzen, the 135 year old bookstore (now 8 stories tall) took a little bit of looping around, which was fun. On the way, I walked by all of the restaurants and even a cafe where I had been before, and I remembered them well.
Kawaramachi-dori, I think.
Up to the 8F of Maruzen, the foreign book floor. I rode the elevator with a pair of foreigners and we didn't even bother with a salutation but there was no question which elevator button was getting pushed.
There are so few foreigners here, even though there are 5 times more than I saw in Osaka, that when you see them, for me at least, there's a moment's hesitation of whether or not to acknowledge them. Do they live here? Are they traveling? In general, I've found that there's very little incidental interaction with people on the street or in trains except to ask permission to get by someone blocking your way, or vice versa. So the foreigners who happen to be here, seem to follow that code as well. People walk by me without lifting an eyebrow although they'd have to be blind not to notice me as easily as I notice them. So I reciprocate, and do nothing.
The bookstore was a lot of fun, and I spent 2 hours reading. For learning about Japanese culture from a Western perspective, Honda-san had recommended Ruth Benedict's WWII cultural appraisal and U.S. occupation manual for Japan, called the Chrysanthemum and the Sword. so I read the first 50 pages rather quickly. Great.
I picked up a book of odd modern Japanese tales and liked the first one enough to buy the book. I also quickly read a book on Japanese "Kata" (something like rules) for Westerners learning to work with Japanese and understand the culture and mentality. That was very enlightening.
There were actually several kinds of books there en masse. You had all the Penguin classics. There was the Tuttle series of books on Japan, mostly fiction. Then there was a large learning-Japanese section. A travel section. Lots of simple, single-subject learning books like Japanese cooking, bonsai, origami, and the like. Then there were very expensive academic books: Econ, Politics, Anthro, Physics and Math too. And best-sellers, including non-fiction were all there. You could even get the paperback of the 9/11 report.
When I got too tired to continue standing I took my new book down to the 3F cafe they kept recommending over the PA. I was expecting a cafe, American bookstore style. Um, no. This was a little closet of a room with me at the counter, a woman at a small round table, and a young woman serving up some kick-ass strong coffee. Still, my single cup of coffee (for $3.80!) gave me a chance to rest and consult the Lonely Planet for dinner recommendations.
Foreigners may be few and far between but I actually heard Hebrew twice today. First was in the Kyoto Station. That unmistakable "ehhhh" between words that's so Israeli, followed by actual Hebrew. The second time was at dinner at a place called the "884 Store." Some real hipsters dishing out the food. Nice folks. By "hipsters" I mean teased-out hair, stylized beard, cool clothes. The soundtrack was raggae. After dinner, the album changed and the familiar reggae beat comes on, and the singer comes on: "Yerushelayim, Yerushelayim." Woah, did my ears perk up. Then the next song was in Hebrew and English. I had to ask about the music. The chef comes out (he's like 25) and speaks English really well (relatively). He tells me it's one of the guys from the Wailers, and he's from Ivory Coast. I asked to see the CD case, and he pulls out a Minidisc with the name on it--Alpha Blondy, "Jerusalem"--he's got the LP at home, no CD.
Dinner at the 884 Store.
Note that the little pink pocket-book pictured by the menu in the arms of a black ceramic statue is "Purple Ronnie's Little Guide to Doing It," which I learned a lot from over dinner; including funny British slang. This places has graffiti all over the walls by the dinner table. One large section of Japanese block-lettering was particularly interesting and difficult to decipher.
Kyoto at night is really cool.
Garage entrance on Kiyamachi-dori.
Plastic drinks.
Blue lights in a fountain/pond on Oike-dori.
Posted: Fri - October 29, 2004 at 10:41 PM
Quick Links
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Oct 30, 2004 08:50 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Oct 30, 2004 08:50 AM