Hello and welcome to October! Ok, I know it has been October now for nearly two weeks, but it is my first October posting since I haven’t posted for two weeks. Why? (warning, excuse follows) I decided to wait till I had some rather more interesting things to talk about, along with some photos.

We didn’t do anything overly out of the normal in the first week, apart from visiting a couple of vegan restaurants and handing out some of our cards. It was nice to meet some of the people in our fellow vegan businesses and they were quite excited at the prospect of a vegan minshuku opening in Kyoto, especially at Veg Out, which is very close to where our business is going to be. A number of the staff there had visited Australia and seemed pleased we were from Australia.

The other main outing we had was to meet with our builder and architect, to start the selections process. This was slightly difficult since we didn’t have overly much in the way of samples – it is hard to chose colours from photos on a device or in a book. The architect did have large samples of the exterior cladding, which enabled us to see the colour we previously thought was ok was, in fact, slightly pink. So we changed that! Other than that, we chose the tiles for our area, the wallpaper, the door styles and wood, the bathrooms styles, etc. At the end, we arranged to go to a Panasonic showroom to chose our kitchen colours and layout. (Yes, Panasonic)

During the meeting, our builder received a phone call from his friend who runs the taiko group I previously referred to. He had apparently contacted his friend to arrange for us to visit them and his friend was ringing to confirm the time and place. We found out that they generally practice twice a week, Tuesday and Friday nights from 7-9pm. We organised to go on the Friday night. As it turns out, it was a very wet day, so it was somewhat harder to find where they were once we reached the shrine, thanks to the rain and the mud!!! Luckily someone arrived as we were wandering around, lost, and let us in. The friend we were supposed to meet didn’t arrive until after 8:00pm.

Slight hiccup aside, we went in to find a very large carpeted space, on which they had put down a large tarp and were then placing plywood sheets, which had markings on them. These turned out to be place markers for their drums and positions they would take on stage. There were four people there when we arrived and by the end there were around 20. The drums varied from shime, through to one huge ohira daiko (large with a short body). This can be put upright on a stand, or on a flat stand. When on the flat stand it can be played with the normal, but very large, drum sticks (bachi) or a single stick which looks rather like a baseball bat in shape.

We watched the whole practice, which was entirely taken up going through around five pieces and making sure that each part was as best they could make it – it turns out they have three concert performances happening during October, so are preparing for them. They were very good and the pieces were great. At least one of them we recognised as one of the pieces Kodo plays. I was trying to work out where we could fit in, if in fact they did consider us, because it really was quite slick.

At the end, two of the members talked to us to see what we thought. Our builder had told his friend we were looking for a group to join and they asked us if we were still interested, particularly in light of the fact that we have relatively limited Japanese and they spend time at the end of each class discussing how it went and any problem areas. One of the women said she was worried it would be a problem and we indicated we thought it might be difficult us joining given they have a set of pieces they play regularly and have all the parts worked out, etc. We gave them our card and they said they would contact us via email.

On Sunday, we received an email asking us if we would like to join them! We assume they had discussed this amongst themselves and decided in the end to invite us. We, of course, are very happy with this, if a little apprehensive. We will have to pick up the pieces they play very fast…

On Monday we went to the Panasonic showroom to do our selection. It is interesting the differences between what we are used to in Australia in terms of a standard home kitchen and what they have. First big difference is the sink – when I say sink, I mean they have a single, very large sink as standard (no draining board), where in Australia, we generally have a double sink, which is much smaller, and a draining board on one or both sides. Another very obvious difference is the lack of an oven. They have a cook top, which mostly has three hobs and a griller underneath, but rarely an oven. They showed us an oven when we asked, but it was quite small. It also was a microwave!!! It was also quite expensive. So, we are going to stick with the micro/oven combo we have currently – much cheaper.

Yesterday, we went on an outing to the next prefecture to Kyoto prefecture, Hyougo. Our destination there was a walking trail along a disused railway track, the Fukuchiyama line, which passes through the Mukogawa gorge. Known as the Takedao Hike, it is around 5-6kms long and has six old railway tunnels along its length. We had seen it on tv a while ago, during a segment we regularly watch where two men walk between onsens within a prefecture and show various sights along the way. I particularly wanted to go on this walk as they had seen some bats in one of the tunnels.

We had to catch three trains to get there, which took just under an hour and a half, then walk around 1km from Namaze station to the beginning of the trail, but it was worth it. The weather was a balmy 29C and sunny, so perfect for a hike/walk. At the beginning of the trail there was a laminated sign which warned of a bear sighting on the tail in June this year, but we figured it was now October, so it probably had moved on (maybe). Anyway, there were other walkers, so it was more likely that it would be scared off. It was a lovely walk, very scenic and not too hard – the rails had been removed just leaving the sleepers and stone base.

We took torches with us for the tunnels, which was absolutely necessary in all the tunnels, even the shorter ones through which you could see the other end. The longest tunnel is apparently around 450 metres, and it curves, so you cannot see the other end. It is pitch black inside. Unfortunately, the hoped for multitude of bats didn’t materialise, although we did find one sleeping in one of the refuge holes (I think that’s what they are…). Overall, it was definitely worth the effort and I would recommend it as a relatively easy and very pleasant hike/walk (having said that, we were somewhat tired at the end, which we put down to the uneven surface of the sleepers and stones).

Forgot to mention The Nearly House (an upgrade…) before. The windows are now all in and the electricals are close to being fully installed. Upstairs (up the ladder…), most of the walls are now in place. We asked the expected completion timetable at our meeting with the builder and were told they are about a month ahead of schedule!!!! We should be able to move in during January :-).

Before I sign off, just had to buy the packet of “Herbs for Halloween” pictured below. What were they you ask???? Salad leaves…

Cheers for now.