Geez! It's been so long since I've written a new post that I can't even remember how to do it. I guess I've got it now. Yes, we've been to Japan and back. This was our first trip in two and a half years, and it was a strikingly different one from usual. Normally, we stay in a hotel in Kyoto, and that remains our base throughout our stay. This time we stayed in Ricky's new small apartment in Osaka Prefecture. Our base location was so far from Kyoto that it cramped my social activities. May was unseasonably hot. After trekking to and from Kyoto a few times I decided that I would not contact some of my friends after all. People who work would not have been able to get together until the evening. I couldn't face a 90 minute trip "home" after dinner. Since I hadn't warned anyone that I'd be visiting no one's feelings were hurt. At least I hope they weren't! We had many plans when we arrived but only accomplished a small part of them. My severe back pain made everything difficult and slowed us down. We did see a Takigi Noh performance - Noh performed outdoors by torchlight. Interestingly, one of my old neighbors and friend has been making Noh masks as a hobby for about 10 years. When she and several other friends got together with Toshi and Ricky and me for lunch, she brought along two of her wonderful masks to show us. She's a very talented artist and they looked professional. They're carved from wood and then painted.
We had many delicious meals - something we always look forward to when we visit. We also visited a very large temple complex we'd never visited before - Myoshinji. One of the sub-temples had several beautiful gardens.
The trip was perhaps not as productive as usual but we got to spend a lot of time with Ricky.
I'm suffering badly from jet lag. When I can't sleep I've been reading about witches and vampires.
Happy reading!
We had many delicious meals - something we always look forward to when we visit. We also visited a very large temple complex we'd never visited before - Myoshinji. One of the sub-temples had several beautiful gardens.
The trip was perhaps not as productive as usual but we got to spend a lot of time with Ricky.
I'm suffering badly from jet lag. When I can't sleep I've been reading about witches and vampires.
Happy reading!