It’s been almost a month since I last posted on Blogostino. How sad is it that it takes being ill at home from work in order to find time to sit down and write? Very sad indeed.
I have been writing, but it’s all been in preparation for my Fringe show in September. Back to my Japan travels!
Before leaving Koyasan, there was a 6am prayer service before breakfast to attend. It was quite interesting, sitting in a temple with three monks chanting mantras, hitting bells and lighting incense. There’s obviously more to it than the way I described it, but it’s kind of hard to accurately represent what’s going on in that room if A) I don’t understand it and B) I don’t practise Buddhism.
After the ceremony, breakfast was served in my dining room – another fine feast with a serene garden view – and then a nap before leaving Koyasan.
On the way to Kyoto, the weather was quite terrible, a first for this trip. But once I arrived at Kyoto some 2-and-a-bit hours later, the weather had cleared up and it was quite a nice day. Greg was arriving the following day and had some form of itinerary set for us, so I had a day to explore around on my own.
After checking in at Tarocafe, I decided that four items required my utmost attention – visiting the Osamu Tezuka museum, devouring a Sasebo burger from Kyoto train station, checking out a restaurant called Veggie Table and a bar called Cafe La Siesta.
I’d already encountered my fair share of gaijin failure on this trip, my first day in Kyoto was no exception.
Osamu Tezuka museum – formerly at Kyoto Station – now shifted somewhere else.
Sasebo burger – GONE.
Veggie Table – Impossible to find/GONE.
Cafe La Siesta – found (after about an hour of searching) and visited.
Cafe La Siesta just happened to be another video game bar that I came across in my Googling efforts. Kohta, the owner, is a really laid-back guy. He hosts chip tune nights there occasionally and even has a variety of themed cocktails to try, including Pac-Man (mango and banana liquer with a small piece of Pac-Man shaped ice-cream floating in it) and Goemon (sakura blossom liquer, soy milk and black sesame ice-cream). Cafe La Siesta also has a ridiculously sized Game Boy attached to one of their walls.
I’m not sure how one could play said Game Boy effectively, but it was freaking cool anyway you cut it.
On my way back to Tarocafe that night, I saw a seedier side of Kyoto. There was a man (probably in his 50s) who was a bit worse for wear after a night out drinking. But then he passed out on probably the worst place one probably could – an escalator.
He chipped at least two of his teeth and cut a massive jagged gash in his left cheek. I helped lift him off the escalator, which is harder than it sounds, because the stairs are always moving and you’re trying to lift a dead weight from the back when the front is in a position that doesn’t have moving stairs. The guy ended up in a weird kind of folded position at the top of the escalator before someone else helped me lift him off.
Returning to Tarocafe, there was some sort of takoyaki party that was winding down – drunken fun to witness and writing drew my first night in Kyoto to a close.
A rather lazy day followed awaiting Greg’s arrival. I was faffing about in the station and walking south of the station (somewhere I’d never thought to go previously) and getting some lunch when he arrived at Tarocafe. It was great seeing him again. For a few hours we walked around Kyoto, catching up and discussing plans for the next couple of days.
Kyoto really is an alcoholic’s dreamland. The next 48 hours of my trip will be proof enough to validate that statement.
Greg and I had dinner at a place called Ruins. Quite a nice restaurant, but no music whatsoever. Greg and I found this quite strange and spent a great deal of time discussing the pros and cons of not having music in a restaurant.
I had the best-tasting curry rice I’ve encountered. Bar none.
We were considering going to an Italian place nearby. The guy that runs the place seems to never have any customers. Allow me to describe him to you for a moment. He’s a large Japanese guy with bleached blonde hair with a permanent sad expression on his face when there’s no customers there, which is just about all the time, so that expression never changes.
Ishimaru Shoten was our first stop. Ishi was working behind the bar and recognised me almost instantly. Considering I hadn’t been at the bar in 18 months, it was pretty impressive. He remembered me because of the J-Rail pass I stuck to the bar.
When Greg’s friend Nana arrived, we made a pact to be out until first train. In other words, we were settling in for a big night. While we were drinking at Ishimaru Shoten, an Australian named Patty and a Canadian named Leslie found the place by mistake and joined us for the bulk of our night from that point onwards.
Greg then took us to a bar known only as Kazu’s Bar. This is another one of those “you only know it if you know it” kind of deals. Absolutely no signs or anything to indicate that a bar exists on the third floor of this particular building.
The bar itself is lit entirely by candles. There’s a small lounge area at the back and the bar and bar walls have been stripped of all paint, wallpaper and colours to rough, unfinished cement.
To give you an idea of what it looks like…
Kazu, the owner, is a really great guy. Always up for a chat about whatever you feel like talking to him about. Kazu was asking me about Australia. By 3:30 or so, Patty and Leslie called it a night. I headed back upstairs to chat some more to Kazu when the night took a bit of a weird turn.
A woman arrived at the bar. She immediately made a beeline for me. Within 10 minutes we were making out on the lounge at the back of the bar.
10 minutes later, she had to leave.
You know how sometimes the universe tries to send you messages? Or at the very least, you’re familiar with the concept.
Some time passes, and the woman returns to the bar…
And tries to jump out of the window.
If that wasn’t a signal saying, “Stay single, Paul!” I don’t know what is.
Next time – more drinking escapades in Kyoto…