I woke up with a slight hangover but nothing too bad – just the result of combining beer, wine and tequila with lots of hot sauce. Kuniko and I got organized and we were out the door and off to the train station.
We caught a train all the way to the outskirts of Kyoto to meet up with some of Kuniko’s old college friends. The plan was to do a BBQ, and so we met up at the Nagao train station, and looked up at the cloudy sky with a little bit of trepidation.
We decided to go ahead with the BBQ despite the scary weather, and so we went to a shopping center for supplies. On the way there we got to see some firefighters practicing ropework, and it was cool to see how fast they could cross between buildings just climbing ropes.
After we got all our supplies we went to a park and got set up. We put the BBQ under a tree for some shelter, and there was even a fold out picnic table to sit around. The weather finally crapped out on us and it started to sprinkle, and then rain. Fortunately the tree protected us pretty well, and the big umbrella over the picnic table did a good job, too. The rain never really came down very hard, and by the time we finished eating it had stopped for good.
Hanging out with everyone gave my Japanese skills a good workout, and it was a challenge to keep up with the conversations. Everyone was nice enough to chat with me a little bit, and I had met everyone before so it wasn’t like a bunch of total strangers.
After spending quite a while relaxing and talking we packed things up and headed back to the train station. From there it was a two hour ride back, but we went beyond the expected and stopped in Sannomiya to do some shopping at the Bargains there.
The Bargains are really just controlled riots in stores. The more people mob up the more other people think there is a great deal, and the more people mob up.
Whenever I go shopping with Kuniko I get lots of looks from people as we walk around, but try walking around with a white T-shirt with splatters of BBQ sauce. That is a double-whammy-attention-getter.
We were out shopping late enough for me to get hungry again, so we stopped in a conveyor sushi place and ate a snack. It wasn’t so good, though, and we left a little unsatisfied. After we got home, Kuniko had some stomach problems, but I didn’t – even though we split each plate of sushi right down the middle. She was OK after a little while, though – maybe it was just eating too much today.
There are pictures from today in the gallery. Tomorrow we have early morning plans – it should be an interesting day!
