Went down for breakfast to our favourite bakery for the last time.
We must live in dormitory lane. Every morning as we’ve gone down to the bakery, the main road has been lined with tour buses. Today they were eight of them. Then as we headed down the small lane towards the bakery and the market, we were passed by three or four large hordes of school children, all being marched single file by their teachers with a flag waving attendant at the front, down to the buses which were waiting to whisk them off to the daily sightseeing. They must be up reasonably early as they’ve already had breakfast and are on the road by half past seven. They get disgorged from a large number of different buildings up and down the lane, so we’re guessing that there are a multitude of school hostel dormitories in the neighbourhood. A lucrative business around Kyoto.
So, lots of unanswerable Japanese questions for you today.
The first is why do all cafés and restaurants play 50s swing music? We’ve had songs from Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and lots of renditions from the great American songbook at every restaurant we’ve visited, even the Indian one. Last night we were sitting at a Japanese restaurant listening to Tony Bennett. This morning as I was buying coffee, I was listening to “Do you know the way to San Jose”. It’s neither authentically Japanese, nor contemporary. So what gives?
And talking of noise, why are they so obsessed with noise? You are asked not to use your mobile phone on a train because it will annoy others, and there are signs all over the place reminding you to ensure that there is no ‘noise leakage’ – presumably from your headphones. However, the trains keep up an incessant series of announcements, and the buses do likewise. Every council and rubbish collection truck actually talks to you as it goes down the street. Noise leakage from your ear buds on a train is the least of the potential problems.
So we decided to get away from it all and after a breakfast coffee hopped on the bus and went out into the suburbs to walk along the path next to a canal that they have called the Philosophers Path. Should have been very quiet and peaceful, with absolutely no noise leakage, but that didn’t account for all the roadworks that they were doing, the noise of the machinery, and the beeping of the trucks. Anyway, it was a lovely walk in the early morning, although it’s remarkably hard to philosophise on demand.
Then we did a last walk through the old part of Gion, went back to the hotel, checked out, and headed off to Kyoto station for our train to Osaka.
Almost an empty train, and when we got to Osaka we found lunch in an arcade, cloaked our bags, and headed off to do an afternoon visit to Osaka Castle.
When the shogun built Osaka Castle and wanted it to be secure from invasion, he didn’t do things by halves. There are two full-size moats, one river, and four sets of walls before you get to the castle itself. The castle is then built on a stone mound some 20 m high, so it is virtually impregnable. Sure enough, whenever they were attacked, the enemy didn’t bother attacking, and instead decided to lay siege to the castle and starve the buggers out.
Climbed eight stories to the top floor to have a good view of the city, checked out the museums on the intermediate floors on the way back out, and headed off to the train to retrieve our baggage.
Arrived at the accommodation in the dark, and wandered down to 7-Eleven to pick up a bite for tea.
Osaka Castle
The Philosophers Path
Osaka Castle Moat and Wall
Osaka Castle