Kyoto style

its been so long that I forgot it only takes 13 minutes on the shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto so I arrived shortly after my bum hit the seat. the pride of japan was doing its best to look like british rail with people sleeping in between carriages, lots of smoking and kids being told to be quiet, but we still arrived on time.

the sun was again beating down with no sympathy so I walked to the nice shaded burn running along side the main river which was cooling and peaceful. it's great to be able to find quiet in such a busy city and with Kyoto it's relatively easy 'cause it's all lanes and alleys.

heading towards the centre I happened upon this bloke with a laptop and a speaker. there were a few of them creating feedback in a busy, if minor street. it was quite a surreal sound and kind of created a tense soundtrack to a relatively quiet place. I tried telling him that the laptop was too close to the speaker but he couldn't hear me. and the neighbours just looked pissed off. wait till the election hustings start.

I got the bus to Arashiyama, a beautiful suburb to the west of the city, and camped out with beer and riceball to watch the big fires that are lit on the mountain slopes (Daimonji) to help lead back the dead for the festival of Obon. I went to Arashiyama because they also have thousands of lanterns floating down the river (Shoryo-Okuri Manto Nagashi) which is kind of like a runway for the returning souls. turns out that this is also the place that that cormorant fishing happens (Arashiyama Ukai) - the one you always see in the guide books. you can see some pics of the lanterns in my flickr images to the right.

the lanterns were really good to watch and the distant sound of the cormorants with the flames licking all around them was quite spooky. all in all it was a nice departure from the boom boom boom of hanabi and the feedback of downtown.