Kyoto, Japan - 1st February 2023

During our time in Kyoto, our friend Kaz had flown to Turkey and back for a meeting. When we arranged to meet at a gluten free Soba noodle restaurant sourced especially for me by Eri, we weren't expecting that he would have come straight from the airport, complete with suitcase!

After devouring delicious soba, we made a visit to the Kyoto International Manga Museum together. Unlike Kaz, we were not afficionados of the Japanese comic books and graphic novels, but were happy to accompany him on the visit he'd been wanting to make since moving to Kyoto.

There was an extensive library of Manga works in many different languages.

Many style of Geisha.

Among the fascinating artwork on display was an exhibit where dozens of Manga artists had been asked to create an image of a traditional geisha in their own style and these were displayed together. The array of different styles was amazing.

Casts had also been taken of the hands of the country's most famous Manga artists.

After our museum trip, we were invited back to Kaz and Eri's apartment for dinner. We hoped we could find room after the delicious noodle lunch. On our way we were tasked with visiting a local butcher with Kaz to purchase the special paper-thin, tender cut of beef needed to make sukiyaki. Our new neighbours in Wales, Aya and Yo, had cooked this dish for us but, unsatisfied with the cuts of beef available in Wales, they insisted that Kaz and Eri invite us for 'proper' sukiyaki.

During the busy activity in the kitchen, Emma insisted that we played shop with her, only to be frustrated once again and our inability to understand the shopkeeper, who now spoke in fluent Japanese to us.

The sukiyaki was delicious, even if we were unconvinced of the merits of dipping the noodles in raw egg before eating them.

Family dinner.

Sukiyaki Eri-style.

We brought along some red wine, which Kaz happily helped Phil to drink to help recover from his long journey and day of sightseeing. Kaz then insisted that he walk us all the way home.

Warming up for Setsuban Festival.

The walk home turned out to be very interesting as it was the beginning of the Setsuban festival, traditionally held on the day before the beginning of spring in the old Japanese calendar. The festival is famous for bean-throwing, where roasted soybean are thrown a people wearing oni (demon) masks, in order to drive away evil spirits.

Mibu Dera, the temple close to our house, was famous for Mibu Kyogen, masked, comedic, silent plays and the atmosphere around the temple was lively with crowds waiting to see the play and stalls selling crafts and food.