The day dawned cloudy and overcast and then invariably it started pouring. And it wouldn't stop. Do gods mind the rain I wondered? It was the day of the Gion Matsuri parade in kyoto when they had 26 floats of various gods on wheels dragged my many men around the city streets. Apparently I needn't have bothered , the shrines of the gods on the floats were comfortably covered in plastic keeping them nice and dry. While the humans suffered in the rain dragging the floats. I say suffered - but they seem to be having a whale of a time. And their comical shaped hats did a great job of keeping the water at bay.
It was another sight watching cops with rainbows and umbrellas trying to keep people out of the way of the floats. And to see the locals lined up along the sidewalks trying to get a glimpse of the floats as the gigantic wheels came upon a corner - while they tried to stay dry at the same time. And the darn cameras and smartphones. No one goes anywhere without them anymore.
When I had my fill of the rain and float pics, I moved on to nishiki market - which was lined with numerous stalls of all kinds of picked vegetables, fish , restaurants , cafes, sake shops, souvenirs shops and more. As I sampled some of the treats , I came upon my lunch spot , motchisuki-ya which was famous for its charcoal grilled mochi stuffed with all kinds of different stuff - sweet, savory , they had it all. I tried some red bean stuffing, some yellow bean powder covering and some soy and nori ones followed by a dessert treat. They were mouth wateringly yum!
Onto Tokyo then, my hostel was close to the akhibhara district , so after I checked out my little closet , which would make for a bed for the night, I walked down to the eclectic part of Tokyo. Down the huge , 7 story, colorful sega stores, anime stores and all sorts of Japanese manga. There was every kind of electronic gadget you can imagine. They also had 'maid girls' dressed up like comic book characters trying to lure customers in. I suspect it wasn't just for shopping too!!
The ultimate geek paradise - it's called. For me , I was trying hard not to yawn ;)
It was another sight watching cops with rainbows and umbrellas trying to keep people out of the way of the floats. And to see the locals lined up along the sidewalks trying to get a glimpse of the floats as the gigantic wheels came upon a corner - while they tried to stay dry at the same time. And the darn cameras and smartphones. No one goes anywhere without them anymore.
When I had my fill of the rain and float pics, I moved on to nishiki market - which was lined with numerous stalls of all kinds of picked vegetables, fish , restaurants , cafes, sake shops, souvenirs shops and more. As I sampled some of the treats , I came upon my lunch spot , motchisuki-ya which was famous for its charcoal grilled mochi stuffed with all kinds of different stuff - sweet, savory , they had it all. I tried some red bean stuffing, some yellow bean powder covering and some soy and nori ones followed by a dessert treat. They were mouth wateringly yum!
Onto Tokyo then, my hostel was close to the akhibhara district , so after I checked out my little closet , which would make for a bed for the night, I walked down to the eclectic part of Tokyo. Down the huge , 7 story, colorful sega stores, anime stores and all sorts of Japanese manga. There was every kind of electronic gadget you can imagine. They also had 'maid girls' dressed up like comic book characters trying to lure customers in. I suspect it wasn't just for shopping too!!
The ultimate geek paradise - it's called. For me , I was trying hard not to yawn ;)
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