Iwakuni Matchlock Musket Firing

Previously, I wrote about the matchlock musket demonstration we saw during our New Year's holiday to Iwakuni. I finally edited together the videos Becky took to give you a taste of the historical fun.

Tamba Sasayma Wild Boar Festival

Shortly after arriving in Miki, we heard about the annual Tamba Sasayama wild boar festival. Sasayama is in central Hyogo, slightly more rural than Miki, and it is famous for its botan nabe (wild boar hot pot). The festival is a celebration of wild boar cuisine and the boar itself.

The main event is a race between three boar piglets that is held three times during the event. After seeing pictures online, we were a little surprised when we saw how short the "race track" was. Some other English teachers said they arrived one minute after the first race and had already missed it!

Eating delicious boar burgers

We went and tried some boar cuisine including the botan nabe, which seemed very healthy and had an excellent miso broth. We also enjoyed the original "tambaga" or wild boar Tamba burger. One of the main events was a boar roast, which sold out before we could buy any. We did however get over to the barbecue, where the roaster was grilling up bones so people could taste the scraps of meat that stuck to them. I struck up a conversation with the roaster, and he gave me some choice bones. He was going to discard the head as inedible, but a couple of fellow English teachers insisted he try grilling it. The end result appears like a giant drumstick but is really just a skull with a bit of meat to pick off.

We looked for seats around 30 minutes before the race. We found some with a good view, but they were ground seats, which meant we battled the cold and our feet falling asleep while we waited. I'll let the video speak for itself, but once the race actually started, it was a fun and fast show!

On the way home, we decided to go to the Kobe Sanda Premium Outlets, which was more or less on the way home. Shortly after getting off at Sanda Station, I realized, for the first time ever, that I had left my bag on the train! At first, I had no idea where it was, but then I was slightly relieved when I remembered leaving it on the overhead rack on the train. In most countries, this would mean a lost bag plus the camera and other contents that were inside. But this is rarely the case in Japan. I told the JR Sanda Station staff, and within four or five stops of where I got off, the staff from another station figured out where it was an got it off the train. I was so thankful!

The outlet mall was fun and a great way to finish an amazing day. It was a little tiring and expensive getting out to the country by train and bus, but we're planning to get a car in the near future, making trips like this one easier and cheaper.

Weekend in Kyoto

After being in Japan for six months, we were finally able to make it to Kyoto. Kyoto is about two hours away, and there is so much to do there, so spending the night makes the trip worth while. After putting off going for so long, we finally decided on this weekend because it was the one after Becky's birthday and because there was a big flea market happening.

Every first visit to Kyoto has to start with a look around Kyoto station. The station can be described as '90's futuristic', and while the exterior feels a little bit dated, the interior is nothing less than impressive!

Kyoto has several famous flea markets. Most of them are held once a month and almost always on the same date. This means they often don't fall on a weekend. We went to the Kobo flea market at Toji temple. It is one of the biggest and most famous monthly flea markets in Kyoto, and its layout is also fairly chaotic. Its wares are very eclectic and include crafts, fresh produce, antiques, and vintage kimono and fabrics, to name a few.

Eating fried mochi

The rain dampened the mood a little, but it didn't stop us from having a great time. We picked up some vintage Gion Festival dango (dumpling) plates, a vintage hand bag for Becky, and a one hundred plus year old Meji era print.

Meiji era print advertising a fabric company

For dinner we went to the fantastic efish cafe, which has great food, a beautiful interior, and a range of great home products for sale. After dinner, we made a quick stop at Hanjiro, a clothing store that sells a mix of vintage and new items and has one of the best interior designs in Kyoto. Photos aren't aloud inside but I got a few shots of the amazing foyer, which is probably the best part anyway.

For dessert, we went to Cafe Independants, a cafe that has a bit of a French cafe feel but with all the attention to detail that Japanese interior designers strive for. We were there too late to check it out this time, but adjacent to the cafe is a record store where my older brother usual drools over rare Japanese experimental albums.

Day two started on the path to Kiyomizu Temple. We found a route that took us through a cemetery that was anything less than impressive.

Kiyomizu Temple is one of the most famous in Japan, known especially for its massive wood beams that are joined without nails. Roaming around the temple made us marvel at how much care was put into creating a building that honored Buddha. This is in contrast to a large portion of the current American church that either refuses to build impressive buildings out of a poverty mentality or builds them more for the church members in mind and not to honor God. Kiyomizu Temples is quite inspiring.

Rocks wearing aprons

From there we walked down a popular tourist road and through some of the many historic streets of Kyoto. The sun came out in the afternoon, and we just enjoyed exploring and ambling for most of the day.

We're 90% sure this was a non-geisha dressing up for a fantasy photo-shoot.

On our way home to Miki, we stopped at Harborland in Kobe. Why would we stop when we were exhausted after a weekend of constant walking? To visit a statue honoring the memory of Elvis Presley of course!