One view of Kyoto

From Fushimi Inari:

Laundry

A week or two ago was the end of the rainy season. Over the course of a month and a half there wasn't so much as two full days of sunny weather and most days were overcast and/or raining for at least a little while. I don't have a dryer, so I have to hang my clothes outside on a sunny day to dry them.* Each morning when I got up for work at 6:30 I had to guess whether or not it would be sunny later so I could hang my clothes out to dry. I was about 1 in 6 or 7 in guessing the correct weather.

Anyway, by the time the rainy season ended I had accumulated a large backlog of clothes to launder. I'm on vacation now and it's extremely hot and sunny, so I've gone about clearing this pile gradually. My last load got washed with an unexpected guest:


It's hard to see, but it's in about the middle of the picture, between the white sheet and the light blue towel. Here's a closer look:


This beetle was about 3 inches, not so big by Japanese bug standards. I have no idea how or why it went in the laundry machine, but I made sure to wash everything again. It seemed completely intact when I threw it out and is still lying on the ground where I threw it. Still, it's the largest bug near my apartment so far, though there was a mukade living in one of my tomato plants earlier.

*I could have gone down to a laundromat to dry clothes, but it seemed pretty busy with everyone else's laundry. Plus it costs about 100 yen for 8-10 minutes of drying.

Osaka Beer Festival

Most stores in Japan that sell beer have maybe 10-20 different varieties made by one of the four main drink companies: Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, or Suntory. Each has one or two 'premium' beers, which is to say actual beer, and a handful of beer hybrids made of rice, corn, and various other fermentables. Most cities will have a limited number of local beers sold in specialty shops and you can usually find foreign beers like Guinness, Heineken, and Budweiser. Bars often have a limited selection on tap and whatever bottles the owner happens to like.

In contrast, the Osaka Beer Festival had over 120 different types of beer. While I know some bars in Minneapolis and Chicago that can say the same thing, I would be hard pressed to find 120 different types of beer in the entire city of Kyoto. Everyone who entered got a small 50 mL glass. It was free with the 4100 yen entrance fee:


Most the beers were Japanese and on tap, but there a few were from other countries and some only came in bottles. Here was some Chimay from Belgium and Anchor from San Francisco:


The event was held in Osaka Dome, which is a baseball stadium that houses the Kintetsu Buffaloes, the only Japanese team to never win the championship. It was at the top of the Dome in an area where you couldn't watch the game. As I walked towards the Dome from the train station I was surprised how many kids were heading that direction. Only a few came up to drink:


Later on some Japanese posed for a picture. Little did they realize my camera was also handy:

Gion Festival

This Saturday was Gion Festival. I'm not sure exactly what it's for, but different groups make giant shrines to pull through the streets of Kyoto. The largest are called yama (I think). These massive carts are pulled by dozens of men (I didn't see any women) and have more people riding it playing flutes, ringing bells, dancing with fans, or holding the top steady on the roof:



The carts have large wooden wheels and are jerked sideways at corners in three or four pulls. Each time they do pull it it seems like the cart will break or someone will fall off.:


Meanwhile, the people on the float itself are playing flutes, ringing bells, or dancing with fans. For three hours:

Lake Biwa

Yesterday I met some friends at Lake Biwa for barbeque. Just a few minutes outside of Kyoto, Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan. Supposedly it's the third oldest lake in the world with many unique plant and animal species that can only be found there. I wouldn't really know; I was just there to barbeque:

Vegetables

Here's some green peppers that I grew behind my apartment:



Here's some tomatoes:


And afterwards I made a little salad (with some store-bought tomatoes):