November | 2020 | Addams in Kyoto

Hello everyone, and let me begin with a huge WOOHOO!!! Finally, something really positive for the world has happened this year 😊. Yes, I know there are still issues to be faced, including an unwillingness to face reality, but I feel like some weight has been lifted from my mind with the US election result. It certainly was a tense time, waiting for the results to come in, and I now know a lot more about the American electoral system (which is crazily complicated), but the sense of relief when the numbers started moving in the right direction was enormous. We celebrated, of course, and even watched the Biden/Harris speech live. My favourite thing has been watching the videos of the reactions of people in the US – the giant dance party that erupted and the noise of cars tooting and people yelling in joy when the media called it. Fantastic.

So, back to Kyoto and our other activities outside obsessive election watching. The weather is continuing to cool, and with it the Autumnal colour spectacle creeps in. It has definitely started earlier this year, as has my donning of puffy clothing. We have had many overcast days, with some rain, and the occasional sunny day. In fact, we weren’t able to go on my birthday outing, to Nara this year, for two weeks thanks to the weather.

My birthday happened to be on a Saturday this year, which was perfect as there was a restaurant we wanted to go to in Nara which only opens on Saturdays since re-opening after the COVID shut down. Not sure why that is, but it is a mother and daughter operation, so they can choose to run it as suits them. The problem was that on my birthday a typhoon passed by Japan along the eastern coast, bringing with it the usual wind and rain. So, we postponed until the following Saturday. The forecast the next week looked ok up until the Friday, when it changed to rain…all day…so, postponed again.

The following Saturday was looking good, so we kept our fingers crossed and planned. We awoke to clear skies, and though cool, it looked like it would be perfect for wandering around – and it was 😊. As we had been to see the daibutsu (giant Buddha) at Nara a few times previously, I thought it would be nice to find some new places to go to, so after consulting the electronic oracle I found a garden which sounded interesting and a very old shrine which we hadn’t visited previously, the Kasuga Taisha shrine.

The Yoshikien garden was our first port of call. The land used to be part of a temple complex, used for monk residences. In the Meiji period it became a privately owned site, with the garden being created in 1919. Subsequently the land ownership was transferred to Nara prefecture and now it is open to the public. It is a stroll garden (for Monty Don fans), with some distinct areas; a pond area, a moss garden and a tea ceremony flower garden. There is also a tea house within the grounds. It is a lovely garden, free to enter and there were only three other people there when we visited. I would definitely go back again, if the opportunity arises.

The Kasuga Taisha shrine was established at the same time as the capital (in Nara), in 768 CE, and is dedicated to the deity responsible for the protection of the city. Later, in 841 CE, the Emperor proclaimed a prohibition on hunting and logging in the nearby forest, preserving the forest in its unspoiled state. There are about 3,000 lanterns lining the pathways around the shrine, which have been dedicated there since the Heian period. Many of them are more than 300 years old, and it is said that the custom of arranging lanterns on the approach to shrines and temples began with this shrine. The deer, which are protected in Nara, are thought to be sacred messengers for the Shinto gods.

Following these visits, we had lunch at the vegan Ramuna Café and after that my plan was to watch the mochi pounding (mochitsuki) at a famous mochi shop on the way back to the train, but we arrived just as they were finishing up…Oh well, it was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed our time there.

A huge lunch!

Interesting terrace houses, which are very unusual here

Prior to this outing, friends asked us to join them at one of the Kyotographie installations, being held at the Kyoto station. The exhibition was of photographs by Kai Fusayoshi, who has been an active photographer for the past 50 years, and is known for his photographs of ‘feminine beauty’, which was the focus of this installation. It was set up along the station building Sky Way. As we were headed there we came across a piano put there as a ‘street piano’ for anyone to play, often with cameras installed to record the pianists. We have watched excerpts of this from a number of locations on TV and had no idea there was one in Kyoto. A woman started playing as we arrived – she was very good.

There’s a garden on the roof!

Two other notable events for us were visiting a new bakery, the Kamogawa Bakery, which specialises in plant based bagels and other bread products and, of course, a night out for Halloween. We received an invitation to the bakery opening via Instagram, which was a nice surprise. We don’t know the people involved, but they found us and we were invited to a pre-opening ‘try-out’. We were treated to a free coffee each and some free bagels, which were very good, especially the Keema curry bagel (yes, I know it sounds unusual but curry-pan (bread) is a popular thing here). Yum! We had to sit through a presentation (also, yes, TANSTAFL for those economists amongst you), but that was interesting as even though it was in Japanese, we knew what he was talking about, overall. They have hired chefs to create the menu and items, are trying their best to be environmentally friendly (no plastic straws or take-away coffee cups) and are trying to be fully inclusive of all people.

For Halloween we went out to dinner at Veg Out, a local vegan restaurant, which fronts the Kamogawa and has views over the river and to the east hills (our home area). Part of the reason for this is we knew that this year the night of Halloween was also the night of a blue moon (the 2^nd full moon of the month). So, we were in the perfect position to watch moon-rise, and it was a clear night.

The lights in the sky are reflections of the internal lights on the window, not UFOs!

After this we went to a bar just up the road, which is a craft beer establishment. I’m not a beer drinker, but they usually have a cider on tap…except this night. They did have, however, a citrus beer which I tried and liked. I like this place; the décor is very interesting, with a lot of tiles used as a decorative feature, and they play good music. On arrival we had to sanitise our hands and our temperatures were taken, which they were strict about and which I find comforting, not an infringement of my rights. We invited our friends to join us, which they did at the bar. We had fun – oh, I forgot to mention I was dressed up, as a witch of course 😊.

Fuzzed out to protect the innocent…

The witch is in the house/bar

Before I go, I thought I’d mention one trial I had to go through during October – my driver’s licence came up for renewal. For some reason licences are set to be renewed as of your birthday, though they give you a month to do so. Craig had already been through the process, so I knew what I was up for, a two hour lecture on road safety as it was the first time we had renewed our licences here. Apparently everyone in this position has to go through this torture, along with those who have received fines for road offences and been in accidents (I think).

We left home at midday and arrived home after 4pm. I stood in various queues for over an hour, the first one being the majority of the time, and then had to sit through the lecture, which was in Japanese and included two video presentations. There were just under fifty people in my lecture group and there were other lecture rooms. Some of the people in my group fell asleep (all men, I believe). I stayed awake. Thankfully the nightmares have stopped…(kidding, I survived ok).

Oh, I forgot one thing. Since we moved here there have been some things we missed, and people of course, but the one item of food we have really craved, believe it or not, is Cornish pasties (veg, of course). Recently Craig bit the bullet and tried out making pastry using some added gluten in the flour – for some reason the flour here is really soft, so it is no good for pastry, or many other baked goods, without. They were good, even if one broke open!