I.A.M. Kyoto Part 1: Sharpening the Axe, April 15th

The trip to Kyoto went flawlessly, except for the fact that I left the house five minutes before my first train arrived, and had to drive instead of walk like I usually do. I made it with 30 seconds to spare, and no sweat, so all went well. The trip into Fukui was eventless (i.e. nobody threw themselves in front of the train, thus delaying our trip). I specifically went in about 90 minutes early so that I could go and see if there were any bags like the one we sent my brother for Christmas.

 

I'm needing a bag of like a thick, rough take-anywhere shoulder slinger thing with lots of pockets outside for stuff like pens, notepads, cell phone, airborne, and more. And then inside with a couple of slots big enough to say hold my computer sideways, as well as an A4 notebook and stuff. and a 500ml bottle of water on the outside, too. Of course outside pockets need flaps to tie, or button or buckle down. "Pocket-like" shape would be cool, too; kinda "neo-military-ish" if you know what I mean.

 

I want to be able to toss it around and roughhouse with it without stitching coming undone. I figured brass buckles and closures would be cool in canvas... or ... denim. I am hoping to find something like this unless the Fabric Goddess has any other awesome ideas (which in all honesty just came to me now as I was typing... I'd get a bag like that from her gladly if she could do one up.

 

I kind of thought it would be cool to take on exactly the kind of trip I went on to Kyoto so would want to put in it a change of clothes, toiletries, and the such. Having buckles and straps on the side, I could cinch it thinner when I was only needing it to go into town, or let it all the way out when I wanted to overnight. Very cool idea....

 

Well, I didn't find it in Fukui so went with my cycling bag which is cool for cycling, and feels great on the back, but not so hip when you want to look cool and impressive to meet five women, if you know what I mean? I caught the train and took an easy 90 minutes into Kyoto, reading "A New Earth" by Chart Tulle, and listening to an hour of my relaxation MP3's. It was a great trip.

 

When I arrived, I got a call saying the women would be a bit late because they had to go past Kyoto up to Osaka, and then get on a different train and come back. They did, and after figuring out that they were waiting at the Kyoto Shinkansen Central entrance while I was waiting at the "real" Central entrance, we met up. Pandasu gave me a great bit Axe Murderer hug, and her four wary-weary travel companions eyed me with caution, and politely shook my hand, keeping a good distance from this monster tall "Internet Axe Murderer"...

 

The Internet Axe Murderer (IAM) Conference in Kyoto had begun!

 

I decided to break the ice by taking them out for tonkatsu dinner. And so I did! We went up the nine stories of escalators in the Kyoto Station atrium and they enjoyed the beauty of the station. It's a wonderful work of art, that station, and I think it was designed by the same person who designed the Paris CDG airport which is also a wonderful work of industrial art. We ate, and they loved it all!

 

(You can catch all of this on the video once I process it).

 

After that we took a cab back to the Kyoto Guest Inn which was about a 30 minute walk from the station in the old shopping section of Kyoto. The innmaster was... weird. And that's all I'm going to say other than he showed us a bunch of magic tricks, insisted that we all listen to everything he had to educate us with, and bragged on about the "famous people" who had stayed there in the past.

 

The rooms were pretty darn small. I got a teeny one for myself with a rock hard futon on the floor and a cornhusk? rice husk pillow that felt like it had rocks in it. The five ladies enjoyed snoring all night long in another room that held five futon, and three pairs of underwear. And that's about it!

 

Well, five of the six of us went out for a drink and I introduced them to the taste of shochu as well as a couple local tasty dishes of mochi and yomogi grass. They enjoyed it. We had all gotten tired, but Teeza and Maria wanted to do the sento thing (Teeza is half Japanese and grew up here) so we found a local sento and enjoyed it! It was hot! And it had an "electrocution bath that had a current running through it. I THINK you are supposed to just dip body parts in. I jumped in up to my chest and was surprised to watch my hands turn into unopenable claws from the electricity coursing through my entire body. It felt like I was  being pummeled by a boxer. I got out, washed, soaked... and then did it again. Twice. I think the ladies next door heard me saying, "I'm dying here!" but I don't really remember it! It was an interesting experiment for sure!

 

After the bath, we headed back to the inn, and everyone promptly fell asleep and snored until morning.

 

to be continued...

 

Keep your eyes open for I.A.M. Kyoto Part 2: The Kyoto One Day Tour, April 16th, coming up next!