Bus Ride Through Kyoto
Misato and I had planned to wake up early, leave for Kyoto with Ross at around 9AM then we would return in the early evening to continue working in the condo. Well, the morning did not quite work out that way.
We did not wake up early, with me leaving to meet Ross at the hotel at around 10AM. We were to meet Misato at the subway station at 10:15AM, giving her time to visit the dojo here in Osaka (a 10 minute walk from her condo).
Ross and I waited at the station and Misato finally arrived just before 11AM. She confessed that she had not even made it to the dojo! So we boarded a train, transferred at Shin-Osaka then made our way to Kyoto Station.
Once there we went to a bank to get some cash, but this particular branch did not accept any of our atm cards. The security guard somewhat rudely directed us out and exclaimed "Post office," so we walked a block down the street and used the atms there, with success.
Then we waited for a bus that would take us to the Gold Temple, toward the north of Kyoto. Misato was a bit lost for a while but we finally made it onto the bus which became incredibly crowded after a while. A bunch of students who had apparently failed their college entrance exams were all going to a continuation school and since they all boarded and exited at the same stations the overload was relieved as quickly as it was created.
At one station a rather dirty and disheveled middle aged man got on the bus and began talking in rather good English to Ross. He asked if Ross had been to Santa Monica then turned to me and asked if I was American also. He also asked if I was in the Navy, something I have been asked before and I assume most Japanese think when they see me. I thought then to make a tshirt which in Japanese read "No, I am not in the Navy!"
He seemed quite intelligent and well educated, but his clothes, while nice, were not clean and he was missing a lens from the right side of his glasses. Misato conjectured that he had perhaps been a worker who simply cashed out on society due to the extreme stresses during the Bubble Economy and subsequent recession.
After our goodbyes he left our the back door, apparently not paying his bus fare of 220 yen. It was very interesting to meet him.
We did not wake up early, with me leaving to meet Ross at the hotel at around 10AM. We were to meet Misato at the subway station at 10:15AM, giving her time to visit the dojo here in Osaka (a 10 minute walk from her condo).
Ross and I waited at the station and Misato finally arrived just before 11AM. She confessed that she had not even made it to the dojo! So we boarded a train, transferred at Shin-Osaka then made our way to Kyoto Station.
Once there we went to a bank to get some cash, but this particular branch did not accept any of our atm cards. The security guard somewhat rudely directed us out and exclaimed "Post office," so we walked a block down the street and used the atms there, with success.
Then we waited for a bus that would take us to the Gold Temple, toward the north of Kyoto. Misato was a bit lost for a while but we finally made it onto the bus which became incredibly crowded after a while. A bunch of students who had apparently failed their college entrance exams were all going to a continuation school and since they all boarded and exited at the same stations the overload was relieved as quickly as it was created.
At one station a rather dirty and disheveled middle aged man got on the bus and began talking in rather good English to Ross. He asked if Ross had been to Santa Monica then turned to me and asked if I was American also. He also asked if I was in the Navy, something I have been asked before and I assume most Japanese think when they see me. I thought then to make a tshirt which in Japanese read "No, I am not in the Navy!"
He seemed quite intelligent and well educated, but his clothes, while nice, were not clean and he was missing a lens from the right side of his glasses. Misato conjectured that he had perhaps been a worker who simply cashed out on society due to the extreme stresses during the Bubble Economy and subsequent recession.
After our goodbyes he left our the back door, apparently not paying his bus fare of 220 yen. It was very interesting to meet him.
posted by Aaron at 8:36 AM
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