Dumb Nostalgia: By the old walls

Kurt Vonnegut smiles down on Osaka.

Given an afternoon off, a few of us took the train out to Kyoto. It was a bit of a stretch navigating the underground. The Tokyo subway system is a cinch, but Osaka is slightly more confusing, and once you venture out of the city the little bits of English get increasingly less common. We worked it out though, and it was completely worthwhile.

I had been out to Kyoto a few years before. I remember it being very traditional, and very old. This time around we hit the covered food market. I strolled through and grabbed handfuls of pickled things, and maybe a few cups of eyeballs. These things happen.

We had some amazing dinner, and sat by the river and shared some sake, then hiked up through the temples and shrines of the old city. It was a moment so far removed from the chaos of traveling, and traveling in a group, and traveling in a group of miscreants that gets a little tedious from time to time. It really was an excellent trip. I was toying with a new camera for most of it as well. If anything the pictures look a little bit dreamier than the actual place, but I'm not complaining.

The show was in Shinsaibashi with all of it's crazy american shops and sad, sad robot lamp posts.

And the Japanese Obama-mania continues.

I spotted this, and instantly wanted to translate Robert John's lyrics back into their original English, just for kicks. I don't think our interpreter was interested in any more of my nonsense at all. After five straight days of me asking how to say 'give the gorilla a megaphone' and 'where do all the high school girls hang out?' in Japanese she was about to snap.