The Kyoto-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 10

Day 10 - Tuesday, June 5th

Another easy day in Kyoto. One that involved our going to a ghetto zoo. The Kyoto Zoological Park was quite sketch and once again, we found ourselves surrounded by school children. It had a petting zoo section for crap's sake!

There were no alligators which made it lame. And as per usual, I end up at a zoo on a really hot day so the red pandas refused to show themselves. But the vulture was really damned hilarious to me. He lumbered around like nobody's business. Beetchie enjoyed the multiple fowl because according to her, if it's a bird, it's edible.

After the short-lived zoo visit, we made our way back to the maze strip mall and couldn't find the movie theatre we had seen the day before. Why did we want the movie theatre?

We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End.

Look, don't judge us okay? We wanted a movie experience in Japan and it was really hot that day!

Anyway, the movie theatre impressed Beetchie due to something about the high resolution screen and reserved seating. I was impressed by the fact that I could eat caramel popcorn as my choice of popcorn and it was good too. A choice in popcorn that isn't extra butter! It was a little burnt but still, it was fantastic. I was confused by the hippo mascots and the fact that the Japanese were very quiet in the theatre.

As for the movie itself, it was better than part 2 save that whole stupid role of that "jamaican" woman. Ugh. But TD5, we need to discuss.

Next we hit up Gion Corner, which literally was a corner. Those Japanese can be so humourless sometimes though alright, maybe I found that slightly amusing. Unfortunately we arrived too late as the Geisha had already retired for the night. It was only a little after 8 p.m. but who am I to judge a Geisha? They certainly know how to reel in the money. Damned rich Gion...



Things We Observed This Day - Volume VIII

1. Frankly, we'd observed this a long time before but the Japanese are all about day trips and school trips for their kids. I question whether the children go to school at all. Look at those children, the real animals at the zoo!



2. We had nothing but bus misadventures on this trip. Even when it wasn't our fault, we still mananged to hold up the bus because their stupid machines didn't want to read our 500 yen.

The Day's Eats:

1. Takoyaki.

2. Bad Hot Dog/Onion Cheese Bread.

3. Maple, condensed milk sandwich.

4. Caramel Popcorn.

5. Ramen with really fatty pork.

Obligatory Animal Picture for Beetchie:

Here's your squeaky toy sounding bush-dog, Beetchie. I'm sure he had a WTF moment of the day when you insisted on wakin' his tired ass. 'Thanks. Thanks for waking me.'



The Shooed Away Count:

1. The bus driver kicked us off his buss for holding up his bus. I think I got a free ride off of him or Beetchie. It wasn't our fault the stupid change machine wasn't working properly!

The Tokyo-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 2

Day 2 - Monday, 5/28

We awoke at 5 AM to go to one of the largest and best Fish Markets in the world -  the Tsujiki Fish Market. It was a bit underwhelming at first but we weren't exactly sure we had run across it. The streets are filled with little shops selling packaged goods from seasoning to dried fish.

I was half expecting fresh fish strewn about in these stalls but found nothing at first. As we walked further we realized we were exactly where we needed to be. I found my fresh fish eventually including a bunch of other strange things I'd never seen before and can still not properly identify.



I guess for 200 yen you really can buy nothing but bullsheet.  Just kidding of course.  Man, if someone were to prepare this for me, I'd be all over it.

I managed to not be killed on those busy streets but I did not escape my foot being caught on a plastic thing on a shady corner and taking a really bad spill that had my knees badly bruised and hurting for a few days. I also twisted my foot which seemingly cleared up after 2 days but I must have busted it up something fierce because it started to hurt again 3 days ago. I'm in pain as I write this. Weak. We can catagorize that as the 1st incident/misadventure for the day.

Next we went to Asakusa for the giant temple there, known as the Sensoji Shrine.

Sensoji is crowded, has tons of tourist stalls selling all manners of trinkets to traditional clothing and of course, street eats leading to the giant shrine, pagoda and gardens.

At the entrance of the actual temple is this massive lantern that could kill a small village if it fell on it. On either side, are the Japanese gods of Wind and Thunder. It's a great spot and here are some pics for you guys to see. I'll send the entire set when I upload them to shutterfly sometime this week.

How I can just kill a man...or tiny village, or two little girls from NYC.

Various shops when you get inside!

All part of the temple grounds.

Incident number 2 involved Beetchie drinking the shrine water when really all you are supposed to do was intake, spit and not swallow. You'd think that swallowing the germs of millions of people would deter anyone but anyway....

We then went to Ginza to catch a Kabuki show but a wrong turn took us not to the Kabuki theatre but a high class theatre featuring Japanese Traditional Dance. We went, and were amongst of sea of upper class Japanese elite all decked out in suits and many of the women were wearing kimonos. And in we bounced, two kids from NY looking like two hot messes. Yeah, we were stared at but that's okay because our yen paid for our seats...up in the balcony...off to the side but whatever!

The show was decent. Beetchie's convinced it was a slow version of the L-Word.

Our day ended on a high note. We ate at this little place in the area near our Oakhotel Inn.

Quote of the Day:

"The Holy Water, it burns!" - Beetchie

Things We Observed This Day - Volume II:

1. Those Japanese wrap everything up. Everything! They enjoy present wrapping, I guess. And it's so easy to be conned by two little old people when they're so sweet. Curses on them!

2. The Subway is on time. Always. Though I mean, I did see a minute late train. Shameful! Transfers are rough though and costly. It costs you to transfer subway lines. Ugh.

3. You may not be able to smoke and walk but you sure can smoke and bicycle. Those bullshitters.

4. 230 dollar pair of chopsticks that I really wanted but could not justify spending that money on them. Oh but how that pure silver sparkled...

The Day's Eats:

1. Sushi donburi breakfast at 6.30 AM from the Tsujiki Fish Market. Yes, X. Fresh fish from one of the best fish markets in Japan that early in the morning = good times.

2. Sweet potato soft serve ice-cream and tofu soft serve ice cream

3. Street eats of fresh red bean soft cookies

4. I finally ate manju on a stick! and hated it. The coating of that weird bean powder really didn't sit well.

5. Beetchie had a No. 6 which was a Teriyaki McDondalds Burger which turned out to be a weird sausage patty and anything but beef. I had a No. 2 which was an Fillet o' Ebi. I'd have to say I got the better eats this time around.

6. Flan from the high class cafe in Ginza.

7. Awesome food from the man we now fondly refer to as Hattori Hanzo. He fed us grilled mackerel, various meats on sticks and some bad assed fish balls - yum, and for some reason scalloped potatoes with pasta sauce?

The For No Reason Picture(s):

1. Here, have a ninja on a rooftop!



2. And this thing!

Within the vicinity of a Temple, no less. For shame.

The Shooed Away Count:

2 times -

1. At the Fish Market.

We ended up in an area we were not supposed to be at which was closer to the warehouses for arrival of the fish and shipments. Yeah. I knew it was too busy for us to be there! Beetchie made us get shooed away not to mention almost killed.

2. Our trip to try Pachinko in our neighbourhood.

The place was closed and we barged in there, wondering why it was so hard to get in. Beetchie insisted we push our way through the giant curtains and my ass almost tripped again.