31 October 2017
Halloween was Saturday
The abandoned streets of Higashiyama
Apparently Halloween was Saturday, not yesterday, and not today as it should have been, but Saturday. Japan will move any event so it doesnt clash with school homework.
So that ends the great Halloween saga of 2017, basically I missed it. On Saturday in Shizuoka in the morning there were kids wandering about. On Saturday evening in Kyoto it was pouring with rain. That was it. It was a much bigger thing in Sapporo last year.
It is hard for me to understand why every single shop in Japan has spent money to completely Halloween theme their stores for no reason.
Thats ok, theres a real life Halloween south of Tokyo, where police have found parts from 9 different bodies in a guys apartment. Everyone living nearby said it smelt strange.
Anyway, this evening whilst out looking for trick or treaters to yell at I found myself at the top of the hill in Higashiyama, famous tourist trap street selling chopsticks and fans.
I was safe, it was shut, but I decided to hang about and take photos in the dark and hunt for a public toilet. Two of my more regular activities.
There were a surprisingly high number of people doing the same, and by that I mean people with huge cameras and tripods, and people charging around looking for the toilet. Once I had the toilets in site a woman charged past me yelling something and ran straight into the toilet half removing her pants without breaking stride! Impressive.
After all that excitement, it was time to locate dinner, and it was great, I cried from its greatness. I mentioned the other night I hadnt been to to the food hall at the top of what I call the binary store, since it appears to be called 0101, now I have been there, lots of choices, good prices, can recommend.
Tomrrow I go to Osaka, I havent been there for a few years, its a huge place and I am staying right in the busiest part. Okonomiyaki is in my future.
On my way up the hill I passed a huge number of bowl shops. I also learnt from posters affixed everywhere that from tomrrow, it is officially Kyoto bowl week. It goes from the first to the eleventh of November.
This means Japanese weeks last 11 days.
The view from the top of the street. The actual temple area is closed and guarded, from 6pm. Security guards were convinced I was going to leap over the chain and ignore the signs and flashing lights and go in.
I get approached by an angry little man with an LED lit baton a lot in Japan.
All these shots are handheld, some are 1/20. Quite sharp, low noise, camera nerd.
Dark.
Still dark.
This is the main photo spot. Millions of photos have been taken from here. Even now I jostled past 5 guys with huge tripods.
Last one, lower down a few shops were still open selling I heart Kyoto t-shirts and sashimi flavoured toothpaste etc.
JAPAN STILL SELLS IVORY! Its even banned in China now.
My dinner was great. Yes its a ramen shop, but they are advertising an unedible style of Ramen from Chongqing containing Sichuan death peppers. Challenge accepted.
If you look closely at the photo, there are two spoons, the white normal one and a metal one that had lots of holes in it like a teabag strainer, for those too weak to eat the soup.
The waitress gave me all kinds of warnings when I ordered, but I really enjoyed it. It was actually numbing and spicy, I cried a little and couldnt feel my lips. Good times.