The day before, as we
were riding the tour bus through downtown Kyoto, Jennifer's
shopping radar suddenly went into high alert. Outside the bus
windows we could see all sorts of department stores. Once we
returned to the hotel, we got directions to the downtown district.
Since we were on a pretty strict budget, we decided to take the
city bus since it would only be a couple of hundred yen each. It
turned out to be pretty easy. There were so many people who were
willing to help us out and point us in the right direction. |
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This was the building we saw
out the bus window the day before. As it happened, our bus dropped us off
right across the street from it. A funny thing, as we were riding the bus,
Jen was real concerned that we were going to the right place and that we
didn't miss our stop. She struck up a conversation with a couple of
teenage girls also on the bus to find out. The bus stopped suddenly and
then immediately left again before we could react. The girls thought that
should be our stop and Jen was distraught. Then the girls realized we
should actually get off at the next stop so they waved at Jennifer and
said "heiki, heiki" and then in a slow voice "Don't worry". Heh, it was so
cute.
On the mouse over
picture is a karaoke parlor, a really popular pastime in Japan. You
can get individual studios for you and your friends and wail away in
private. |
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Many of the shops
open right on to the sidewalk in the same manner as this little
clothing store. Jennifer checked out a few items but found the
prices really high. |
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While Jennifer
shopped, I wandered up and down the city streets. It was lightly
raining, but fortunately the entire walkway in front of the
various stores and shops was covered. |
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There were also
numerous game rooms along the street. Imagine my joy when I saw
all the different UFO catcher doll machines. Then my hopes for
snagging cool anime dolls was dashed when I discovered that almost
every machine was loaded with Disney toys. The few that weren't
had only these cheap, generic looking dolls. |
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Another really
popular pastime was Pachinko. Pachinko is played like a vertical
pinball game. You shoot a small ball up into the playing area and
then it bounces down through a series of pins. Most balls just
fall through the bottom, but a few fall into special pockets that
earn the player more balls that can be turned in for cash or
prizes. The sound is deafening. Not only from the thousands of
balls falling down the pins, but from the ear-splitting music as
well. In Kyoto alone, I counted dozens of Pachinko parlors and
each of them was huge with hundreds of players. |
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When we returned from
shopping, we caught the same bus figuring that it would return to
Kyoto station. It did, but not before circling the entire city. It
took us over an hour to get back. Next time we'll find a bus going
in the opposite direction.
After getting off the
bus, across from the station, we saw the Kyoto Tower.
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Inside a small mall that was
part of the station, we ate at a little French restaurant called Amici
around 8:30 PM.
As we headed back to our
hotel, we came across this small band playing just outside the station
doors.
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