Kobe steak, spuds and lots of coffee!

 I took my English discussion group on a trip to a museum designed by an English architect Josiah Conder and thankfully (or not!) it had an exhibition of English photographer.  Her work had fingerprints on, scratches etc which other photographers of the day would have thrown away but she loved these imperfections. Julia Margaret Cameron was around in the 1800s and was very modest saying her photographs would not be surpassed! 
When I got to the tube station it was raining heavily. I was wearing my Crocs and I almost came a cropper or is that a Croccer? 

At the beginning of the week I'd had a brainwave. Why don't I do the last week of the intensive level 2 course and do three private lessons beforehand to summarise each of the weeks I have missed? So I was in email contact with the “school” I went to. After various failed attempts when I eventually spoke to someone it became clear that I could not book a lesson for the next day. Also I couldn't commit definitely to a date as I was waiting to know what date the CEO had chosen to interview me for a marketing job!!  They later emailed me to say they wanted someone with better Japanese and I quote

“looking for a candidate with strong Japanese skills. We believe you will be able to reach that level in the future, but for now, we would like to encourage you to study Japanese every day and give the very best of you.”  Sounds Japanese?  But actually it’s written by an Italian!! Condescending.....?

Saturday morning we caught a train to Osaka, we had a strange breakfast on the train of our fridge contents, arrived in to meet J – who had just landed from London- and then went to Kobe to go to our Air B and B accommodation.  It was as advertised but not quite the same as the photos – clutter everywhere.  It would've taken a professional cleaner about 15 mins to make it look 80% better but I think that the guy who owns the place decided to save the cash and do it himself. Dominic said it looked as though the owner had just moved out (to his Mum and Dads) for the weekend!

Steak in Kobe – of course Dominic rang Steakland! Yes really..

Sunday was museum day.  The fashion museum is in a great looking building but the museum itself was very disappointing.  

 No problem as it was just a short walk to a sake brewery.  It had displays of all the old instruments that they used in sake making and also had clips from footage taken in 1928. Interspersed with this were videos showing what happens now.  So 1928 the place was full of men rushing around the place doing various activities. Fast forward 88 years and there is one man wondering amongst machine controlled vats of sake. 

I had read about a display looking at art from the viewpoint of people with sight impairment at a museum designed by Endo. We went into one room and I was convinced that this was the special exhibit however I was wrong but thankfully had not put my mitts all over the art!

It was in an area downstairs, we had to leave your valuables and take off any jewellery and put on an eye mask.  We were told to hold onto the rope to guide us round the room a few pieces of art were set up for us to feel. We emerged out of the room and took of our eye masks and when asked we were told we couldn't see what we had felt!!

They had a Foujita exhibition on - look at the likeness!

Excelsior coffee is made to look American but is a Japanese coffee chain.  J was amazed at how many people were using the cafe to study we reckoned about 70%. Not sure how any cafes make any money as people nurse one coffee for an hour or two! The floor above was for smokers and the smell permeated down to us.

Monday we stuffed all our bags into a locker at the station and headed off. We did many forms of transport. Bus to a funicular railway, a bit of walking and then onto a cable car which sailed above the treetops. Dominic said this was his favourite part of the day.

As usual at the onsen the male and female bathing was separate but this time at the far end the wall between the two sides got lower and lower until it was nothing. It was a great idea however the area in which you could sit out of the water was in full view of both sides!!  Lunch was bizarrely in a room that looked like 1900s England! The food was beautifully presented and went on for several courses more than expected. 

At the end of it we were all exhausted. 

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I discovered a new product. Chewing gum, banana flavoured. What's to get so excited about?  It looks like a polo mint and you can whistle through the hole!!!! Love it. Have been scouring town to see if I can buy a massive packet of them but so far it just comes in packs of two and I have to buy a whole load of boring chewing gum to go with it.

A lot of bods go on tours so I signed up for one to a wind chime festival. Of course lunch was involved and we had monk food ie vegetarian and without five ingredients - onion and garlic are the key ones that I can remember. At the festival there were lots of wind chime producers selling their wares. Handily they each had a map of Japan and a dot on it to show where they come from. 
I went out to Jimbocho with Kayo the area is well known for bookshops of all varieties and also sporting goods. At one of the shops I found a very attentive English student.

Kayo took me to a famous curry restaurant and what do they serve with curry? Boiled potatoes in their skins with a decent sized pat of butter!  OMG!!!

 

A friend was organising a trip out to see Lotus flowers, again lunch, and then a visit to the Tokyo Stock  exchange.  I could only join the stock exchange bit and by some random mechanism I identified Ricoh on the list of companies. 

When we had come to Tokyo on holiday Dominic took me to a coffee van that I absolutely loved.  It had a display of tiny biscuits and cakes and there was a little water garden in a pot outside. When we moved here I decided that that van would be my local and we chose to live very near to it.  However before I could visit it again it disappeared but last week I found it ! Yeh!

It is now officially the end of the rainy season. However this morning we were woken in the early hours by a torrential downpour and thunder!