man, the dust in here is seriously choking. it's one of the few things I hate about Japan and I suppose it's probably worse in Osaka...there are just so many people on a relatively small land mass that insta-dust is unavoidable. My laptop and monitor, black, start to take on a grey tinge after just three days. Occasionally I set down a glass of tea ( Read more... )

With my laptop in my bag, my tummy full of Korean food and my Kyoto mapbook in hand, I am off on my quest to find Ishiyama-dera and gain its inspiration.

Ishiyama-dera: a Shingon temple near Kyoto and favourite pilgrimage of the author of the classic Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji ( Read more... )

As planned, last weekend I again hit the streets on a bicycle, this time a rental from the Yamaha shop below the cafe in Kyoto. The guy (a fluent English speaker) rented me a mama-chari for just 200 yen, because it was late afternoon when I arrived. It was blue and had a basket. I rode it from Rokujo (6th Street) to Nijo (2nd Street), then to Sanjo ( Read more... )

[12:06] <@meganegaki> I like how when I check Google Maps for directions, it tells me to "take the train."Yesterday I had a lovely day in Kyoto. I packed up my laptop and intended to go SOMEwhere quiet and just write, trying for the shrine gardens near Shichijo. This fell through as they closed at 4, so I opted to walk along Kawaramachi-dori to ( Read more... )

The next day in my backlog of Stuff To Post About was Gion Matsuri's Yoiyoiyama (that is, the 2nd day of festivities before the big parade...the other days are called Yoiyama and Yoiyoiyoiyama)...heralded by the trumpet of heavy rain and rolling thunder. Hooray! I put on my yukata anyway (Marisa wasn't feeling great, and decided to pass) and we set ( Read more... )

A quick update that was auto-saved from the sleepy Gate 137 in Pearson International. I'd been travelling for over 20 hours at that point. D:

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After my last post I continued gallivanting around Kansai with Marisa. The week was pretty packed; I was in either Osaka, Hyogo or Kyoto for six consecutive nights. Augh, wallet crying out in pain. On ( Read more... )

I can't believe I leave for Canada in less than a week. I am absolutely freaking out. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff to do, and Marisa's still here (till Wednesday) so I'll be dragging her all over the place trying to get ready and get my place cleaned up and meet up with people I probably won't see ever again after this ( Read more... )

Whew. It's getting close to crunch time here! Marisa will be here on Saturday, and 17 days from now I'll be on my way to Kansai International Airport for the first time. In the meantime I have a lot of stuff to do; I need to write an exam for my global studies class, tabulate the grades for the rest of my classes, mark another 120 essays, entertain ( Read more... )

The most massive spring vacation ever continues! On Friday, after school, I hopped a train to Kyoto and met up with Gaia and Pizza (as ever, real names omitted, but for the sake of the family members following this blog, Gaia is the friend from California who came down to see my convocation the year before last; before we went off to Chicago to see ( Read more... )

On Thursday (which is the day after I last posted :D) Drew and I met up in Kyoto after school. He spent most of the day in Fushimi-Inari, climbing stairs, while I had no classes thanks to a sports test, but couldn't get vacation time for that day. We planned to go to see The Spiderwick Chronicles together with Laura, maybe get something to eat, ( Read more... )