so i awoke early (5:45) saturday morning to catch to bus to hiroshima eki (station). once there i successfully navigated my way to track 7, car 11, seat 1A on the nozomi shinkansen. this is the fasted bullet train. it was absolutely amazing. 1 hour and 28 min later i was in osaka (this is a 5 hour bus ride mind you). now mayumi had been working till 1 in the morning, so i told her it would be just fine if she met me at 11am (instead of 9:30, when the train got in). i wandered. and wandered some more. debated about leaving the station to explore more, but opted to just wander. i purchased some omiyage (souvenirs) for people back home and then met mayumi at 11:30, after a brief phone conversation of ‘what can you see?’ ‘i see such and such a sign’ ‘which side of the sign are you on’ ‘i don’t know…’ and so on. coffee was had and then we were off on the JR train to kyoto (only 540yen and 30min). at the kyoto station mayumi had hired a taxi for the day. apparently this is the way to see kyoto, as the taxi drivers know all about the city and can basically double as a tour guide. uehata-san—spoke great english, so he was able to answer my questions and explain much of the historical significance of…well…stuff.
he introduced himself as uehata, but said his nickname was 'joe', so that's what stuck in my head. very cute. both of us being very hungry, mayumi asked him to take us to a good sushi place. we were shuttled off to a very classy restaurant, and we were the only patrons for much of our 2 hour late lunch. the sushi chef was amazing. all the fish was wild, except the eel—which was swimming in a tank at the end of the bar. first was a course of sashimi, then sushi, and then an amazing dessert of sweat green tea (basically concentrated) over ice with azuki beans (the beans in my favorite type of mochi, anmochi). we also had beer and shochu (which i couldn’t finish as it was just making me sleepy). the sushi chef and then owner had very involved conversations with mayumi. the owner used to date an american woman so there were many funny gaijin stories to tell. i was given his card and mayumi said that if i keep in contact with him i may be able to get into some exclusive parties and maybe get a meal from his restaurant. ii ne. next, joe took us to the golden pavilion. this is one of tHE sights in kyoto. apparently it was built by the first shogun of the tokugawa period. so it’s old (1397, originally). about 50 yrs ago they replaced all the gold leafing (it cost 700,000,000yen). All of this information was given by the amazing joe, he took photos for us, too--mayumi and i posed for the classic japanese photo—cheezu—about 20 times, he carried umbrellas for us and ran from my camera every time i tried to take his picture. it felt like the royal treatment. mayumi bought me a protection charm for my (soon to be found) new apartment and then we headed off to the next sight. on the way we passed a huge white kannon—for a moment i wish we were going there, then the place we ended at was worth missing the kannon. we went to the kiyomizu temple. it was incredibly beautiful. i kept thinking we had come to THE thing had come to see, but no, there was more. we prayed at three different, no four, shrines (?) and drank water from the mountain stream. there was an amazing view of kyoto (at sunset!) and the temple was surrounded by a huge forest. it was just so peaceful, i wish we could have stayed longer, but we made it just before closing. we then wondered down the street--chawan-zaka or teapot lane (more great pics taken of the sunset) and i stopped to buy some omiyage and we then decided to head back to osaka. joe dropped us off, gave us his card and mayumi paid the bill. at kyoto eki we stopped for more coffee and split some pasta at a kisaten (japanese style coffee shop, serving drinks and real food--mayumi really misses these back in the states). we went back to osaka, stopped off at an izakai (a japanese style bar with drinks and lots of small appetizer style dishes) off the main shopping district (near mayumi’s place), had some gin and tonics and dinner. we chatted and then wondered to mayumi’s to clean up and rest before heading out. on the way to her place i saw more of osaka. bright lights, good places to eat, the apple store, a nice kid who wanted to ask where i was from and a couple drag queens. after making circles around her trendy neighborhood, we arrived. her place was quaint, she’s paying for the location (and the fact that it’s fully furnished) rather than the size. after finding out where the good scene was tonight, we headed out to platinum—a club.
before that though, we stopped at an exclusive (secret) bar/gallery. mayumi is of course friends with the owner/designer. we were going to meet him at a bar, but he was heading out to nevada for a conference so his place was closed and he was packing for his trip. buut…he still let us come in, meet him and take some photos. his theme was red. everything was red, including him (clothing all red, sunglasses and berkies—dyed so even the cork was red), even his bike parked outside. so cool. he gave us postcards with a photo of an exhibition at burning man and gave me a card so i could check out his website and call him when i’m in osaka again. we said good-bye and went to the bar. well really it was a club. there were like six greeters at the door (mostly posh guys in suits, i felt underdressed in my plaid dress) and the place was packed. it was 3,000yen cover for women, 3,500yen for guys (about 30 and 35 bucks). we got more drinks, 3 gin and tonics for mayumi, 2 g'n'ts for me plus a greyhound (a new one to the bartender). we drank and watched the party below (there was a balcony around the dance floor for watchers). the music was eighties, then rap, then j-pop, and then techno. after finishing our drinks we headed down to dance. i quickly realized there was no room for my normal flailing style, so we just did the i’m-in-a-crowd-squirm. the guys dancing did not do the white man dance, but were much more enthusiastic. a nice change. the girls looked young, there seemed to be a number of night time workers (escorts, like mayumi’s job). we danced for a while. i got tired. we went home around 2:30, stopping to buy cigarettes for mayumi, tea and coffee for the morning and some ice cream. i took a shower and crashed in mayumi’s bed while she showered and then proceeded to crash. after waking up late the next morn (11:30) i checked my e-mail then we went to piano piano for lunch. this turned out to be a very swanky italian joint. i had a three course meal for lunch (only 750yen) that included salad with tako (octopus), a paninni with salmon, and a dessert of ice cream, fruit and whipped cream. mm mm good. mayumi then took me to americatown (the famous shopping district in osaka) and then to the ‘sanrio gallery’ (hello kitty land). i got my souvenir t-shirt and we then headed to osaka castle. mayumi had only been there one other time, even though she’s lived in osaka eight years, so i don’t think she was totally bored. the castle was rebuilt after the war (wwii?) so it looked old on the outside but was a very modern eight story museum on the inside. there was a great view of the city, we took pictures and then it was time for me to catch the shinkansen home. we trekked back to osaka eki, mayumi bought my ticket (spoiled me with first class, or ‘green car’) and my dinner to take with me on the train. we had coffee again and she walked me to my train. a tearful good-bye and an hour and a half later i was back in Hiroshima. my bus pulled up as i approached the stop and i was back at my apartment by 9:40. a glamorous amazing weekend. it’s weird to think that i won’t see mayumi till who knows when and that she will not be helping me with my japanese, or me with her english for this next year. things have changed so damn much.
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