Day 9, Kyoto

Had sort of made up with my father the evening before, so we met and went over to Kyoto Station for breakfast. We wandered from one end to the other deciding what we wanted to eat; but before we did, we stopped in one of the souvenir stores to look around. They had these little inexpensive maneki neko, or lucky cats, that were famous samurai. My dad wanted the entire set, which came with a display case. I picked up a couple of gifts for friends back home; a towel with a boy and a girl cat celebrating Shichi-Go-San, to remember the cute children I'd seen at the shrines by; and one of the samurai cats which was the Uesugi Kenshin one in honor of my love for Gackt.   Luckily I recognized several of the crests on the banners they had so I knew which one was the right one. Anyway, the lady kindly told us she would hold everything we wanted until we ate and came back.

We ended up at the first restaurant we had looked at, right inside the station entrance, where they'd offered us a discount coupon besides. My dad had French toast, and I decided to finally eat a real Japanese style breakfast, so I ordered a bowl of udon noodles (another one of my Tokyo friends, Takashi, had recommended I have udon in Kyoto for sure), which came with salad and salted rice balls. It was quite delicious. When leaving, we remembered we had purchases waiting at the other shop, so went back to find the lady had wrapped everything in beautiful paper printed with roses. Mind you, we hadn't even paid for anything, yet she took our word we would return and had gotten our purchases ready for us while we had eaten. Yet another example of the amazing kindness people have in Japan.

We did go back to where we'd gotten lost the day before; there is a bunch of shops, a huge department store, and then, if you go all the way to the tippy top, an observation sort of deck on the roof where you can look out over Kyoto. My dad mentioned then he wanted to go find some sort of museum he'd read about, but he also confessed he didn't know exactly where it was and so was going to walk around and try to find it. (WHAT IS IT WITH MEN NOT USING MAPS OR ASKING DIRECTIONS???) Not wanting a repeat of the day before, I told him I would go back to the station and do more shopping, and maybe wander close to the hotel on my own. So he walked me back to where I knew I was, and I meandered back through all the shops on the lower level of Kyoto Station.

I definitely already had favorite places to visit. There was the small grocery store where I bought Yatsuhashi Kit Kats which you can only get in Kyoto (they are kind of like a white chocolate cinnamon cookie Kit Kat, I was told, and are DIVINE---I still have some three months later I am hoarding like a squirrel to make last ), some Meiji chocolate and also some ch0colate Crunky bars (I love that name!). and I always eat Japanese treats at work, so I told her I would find us some good ones in Japan.  There was the other variety store that sold all sorts of treasures on one side and food on the other, which I unashamedly loved because they gave samples of manju every day. There were all the restuarants with plastic food in the windows, and the sushi bar I loved to peek in the window at, because it was the kind where the plates went by on a conveyor belt and you picked what you wanted (although I never did eat there). And my favorite of all, like it is here in America: the bookstore.

Even though I couldn't really read the titles, I quickly figured out where the sections were I needed. The idol magazine section (though irritatingly, Arashi only came out on magazine covers right and left AFTER I got home), the anime magazine section, and the music magazine section. Picked up an anime mag with lots of K-On!, one of my favorite anime series, and another magazine that had YFC in it for who is a good friend and lives not too far from where I do. Went back across the street to my hotel room for a bit, then decided to check out the mall on the next block.

Didn't wander all levels of the mall, came back and mostly went on the internet to my family and friends again and hung around the hotel. I was starting to get a little homesick. I wouldn't have traded my time in Japan for anything, but after several days of feeling sort of like a fish out of water, albeit a fish that actually looked like all the other fishes, I was kind of worn down. It was wearing on me to go around and not understand anything really, turn on the TV and not understand anything. People were very understanding; please don't get me wrong. But I was kind of depressed and struggling a bit.

I went back to the station to an amazing bread shoppe and bought a multi pack of Japanese sandwiches for supper (I told you I was hooked on them for some reason.). Egg salad, tuna salad, ham and cheese and a totally delicious breaded pork cutlet one, all tea sized and all yummy. That was pretty much it for that day.

Day 10, Kyoto>Tokyo

Finished up getting gifts for everyone, and fully packed, because they came to get my main luggage early in the morning to go on ahead to Tokyo. We would follow that evening on the Shinkansen. I went back to the same restaurant as the day before for breakfast alone. Tried the French toast (surprisingly familiar and good, though not nearly enough syrup, I thought, although the Japanese orange juice was to die for.). Hung out until my dad and I had to check out; but we still had nearly six hours until we took the train. The hotel kept our overnight bags and things for us until we would meet our guide to help us on the bullet train, so we went back to Aeon Mall and really checked things out.

For some reason, I didn't take pictures in the mall even though I had my camera, but I should have. It was huge and there was a lot to see, although we went super duper slow since we had so much time to kill. Checked out an electronics store () and I got to play with the Android phones Arashi are always doing CMs for over there (I wanted one, but Japanese phones don't work over here and vice versa). There was a huge grocery store on the ground floor, and that in itself was pretty amazing. I gaped at the fresh trays of sushi and tempura and all the good food I love. There was another sort of idol/Sanrio store and I DIDN'T BUY A THING believe it or not (although I wanted to just go nuts, but was aware most of my luggage was already headed to Tokyo). Had a snacky lunch of mochi we bought at the grocery store, and more wandering. Checked out the other side, which had a Japanese Toys R Us (interesting), a sporting goods store, and a home store, among others. Then finally, finally, I found a CD/DVD store, as I hadn't really run across one this entire trip!!!! And, laughably, once I found the Gackt section, realized I owned everything in it. But I did buy Ayumi Hamasaki's "Five" and the second making of GANTZ DVD for "Perfect Answer".

My dad told me the day before he never found the museum he was looking for, but stumbled across a Buddhist temple instead, and asked if there was a priest who spoke English. Imagine his surprise when he found a transplanted Japanese American one, and one who even knows our sensei here at home besides. So they ended up talking for some time. I do wish I had gone for that, but am glad there wasn't another getting lost and another argument.

Went to the Japanese version of the dollar store in the afternoon when all the kids coming out of school invaded, and was amused when a group of squeeing schoolgirls rushed in; they had just stolen most of the Arashi brochures from the AU phone store next door and were gushing over the boys. Was tempted to join in. Also, found out something interesting...watching Arashi, JE and other idol-type concerts, I often have noticed the, well, fans holding round fans in the arenas with writing and hearts on them. They're actually sold as 'concert fans'---they had some at the dollar store complete with the sparkly sticker shapes and love note kanji to put on them. Should have bought some or at least taken a picture. This was a day I really was just looking at everything and forgetting I had my camera with me.

We went back to the grocery store to get food to take on the Shinkansen, then went back to the hotel to collect our other bags and meet our guide. We got on the train and had an uneventful ride back to Tokyo while I happily ate freshly made gyoza and the Japanese Coke, that I, a Pepsi lover, was actually starting to get accustomed to. Luckily, one of the only Tokyo Shinkansen stops is Shinagawa, where we were staying, and they had a taxi waiting to take us back to the same hotel we had started at. I got back in time to see about 80% of Sho Sakurai's TV series for a second week.

The next day was to be our last full day in Japan...and a trip to the Ghibli Museum, which my dad had agreed on just for me...

to be continued...