Saturday Kuniko took the day off from her club activity leader role, and we caught a train to Kyoto. I’m always amazed how quick and easy it is to get to Kyoto. We sat and chatted, looked out the window, checked out other passengers, and before you could say “space out” we were there.
The reason for the visit was for Kuniko to exchange a charm that she had purchased at one of her favorite temples. She made a wish on the old charm, and once that came true, she needs to bring it back and exchange it for a new one. I bought one, too, and together we performed the necessary rituals to get it charged up with a new wish. We’ll see if it works.
When we first arrived there was a really long line of people waiting to get a tour/sermon/lecture by a priest, and since we were definitely not interested in that, we walked by all the people and completed our business there.
On our way back to the station we stopped in and visited another temple, this one preparing for a matsuri event that evening. I took a few pictures there, and we watched a group of people surrounding a portable shrine resting in the shade to avoid the heat.
From there, we went to Arashiyama. The day was really hot, so we caught the train instead of walking three kilometers in the sun. It was totally worth it. We got to the side of the river and then crossed into town to have lunch and look at some of the touristy things. We had a simple traditional hot-weather soba lunch, and for dessert we had green tea ice cream.
On the way back we stopped by a pond with some pretty remarkable lily pads. They were growing a big stem that looked like a fake plastic attachment.
Next we caught the train into downtown Kyoto, and I was able to do some shopping at a huge bookstore there. I got two Japanese grammar reference books that I’ve been dreaming of for a while. As it happens, one of Kuniko’s friends, Tomo-chan, was in the area, so we met up outside the station and said hello. She’s getting married this month, and she looked very excited.
We paid a visit to one of Kuniko’s favorite dessert shops. She knows Kyoto inside and out – she went to college there and she went out a lot, so she knows all the good spots. The tiny restaurant was dedicated to French cakes, pies, and pastries. I took a few pictures inside – everything looked good, and there was a huge line for tables. We picked up some dessert to go, and the wait wasn’t too bad.
The last stop for us was to buy omiyage from the trip so we have something to give everyone on Monday. From there we took the train all the way back home, and had a fairly unhealthy mix of leftovers and gyoza for dinner. The cakes for dessert were spectacular.
The next day I was up early to go to a volleyball tournament. The master of the yakitori had cleverly talked me into helping out the Denya team. I met up with one of the regulars outside my apartment, and he drove me to the Akashi city gymnasium.
It was quite a place. Everything was in beautiful condition, it was clean and well-staffed, and it sat on a hill overlooking the city. We sat outside and waited for the rest of the team to wake up and come over.
Finally they started trickling in. I got a lot of attention from the other players, as I was the only team member that was foreign. Lots of people looking away quickly when I moved my head around.
We had the opening ceremony, and I noticed that our team was one of only two that didn’t have their own uniforms. The master had assured me that we were playing in the easiest league – the C league, but the other C league teams were hardcore. They set up spiking drills, they all had kneepads and it looked they had been practicing every day to get ready for the big event.
Some of the regular Denya guys have wives and girlfriends on a girls team called “BEST”. They were there playing and they did a really good job. They won last year, and the last I saw them they were facing off against a girl team called “CLOVER” who wore pink shorts and neopolitan tops.
We played two games and were elimated from both easily. The judges were strict and not many people were smiling. The Denya team really stood out from everyone else because I think our members were the first ones out of the door to take a smoke break after the games, some of our members were trash-talking the other team, and everybody on our team just laughed and had a good time. The other teams looked at us like we a bug that they found necessary to step on.
The good news about early elimination was that we could leave early, so we all bugged out and left the girls team to fend for themselves. We found the nearest watering hole and had the Japanese equivalent of a Denny’s lunch – soba, tempura, sashimi, rice, and little bits of pickles. We each had a couple of beers and lamented our losses. I guess last year they had won a game, and then lost the rest, so this was a step backwards. I even heard some people saying they might practice next year.
I came home and crashed. I’m coming down with a sore throat – so Kuniko let me sleep the rest of the afternoon away before we headed out to visit her folks.
The last stage of the weekend was a feast and a bath. Kuniko’s mom cooked up lots of food for us to eat for dinner, and then while Kuniko fiddled with the family computer to try to get it to print on envelopes I tried out their new bath.
It’s a little strange to be invited over to someone’s house for a bath. Of course it was Japanese style, so I used the water, and then the next person used the same water, and the next, etc. You don’t actually use soap in the bath – you do all that with a shower setup just outside the bath. Then you get in clean and you get out relaxed. They have this cool setup that keeps the temperature constant while you are in there, and it lets you know in another room when the temperature is where you want it. I was raving about that bath the rest of the night.
Finally we wrapped things up, and so we headed back with armloads of fresh vegetables from the farm, and a sizable bag of Kageyama rice. I’m bushed, and tomorrow is Monday – ugh.
