A short walking tour
At 3 PM I was greeted by Higashi-san and Kano-san, the main admin for the T.T.T. program and her assistant, respectively. Higashi-san is quite petite, somewhere between 22 and 26 and rocks a pretty wicked bowl cut. Kano-san is similarly petite, quite fashionable and speaks relatively good English. Soon, two of the other participants of the T.T.T. program, Jane and Phillipe, arrived. Jane lives about 30 minutes outside of London. We bonded over Little Britain. Phillipe is originally from France, but he's studying to obtain his master's in set design at UCLA. He likes to talk a lot.
We took a quick walking tour of our neighborhood in Kyoto, making sure to hit all the necessities -- the banks, the library, the post office, etc. Kyoto is like many large cities in that there are a few "main" streets that run throughout more or less the entirety of the city and which surround a large network of smaller side streets. The side streets in Kyoto, however, are almost always one-way and are what many Americans would consider alleys. Fortunately, these alleys aren't filled with the usual American alley fare, i.e. bums, dumpsters, trash, etc. Instead, the alleys serve as true side streets and are often lined with businesses, restaurants, and condominiums, which the Japanese refer to as "mansions."
Finally, we arrived at the Kyoto Art Center.
The center was surprisingly busy. I guess I'm used to the arts in America, which always seem to be sparse and floundering, for some reason or another. In any case, after visiting the arts center, we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hotel to catch some shut eye before tomorrow, the always dreaded orientation...
We took a quick walking tour of our neighborhood in Kyoto, making sure to hit all the necessities -- the banks, the library, the post office, etc. Kyoto is like many large cities in that there are a few "main" streets that run throughout more or less the entirety of the city and which surround a large network of smaller side streets. The side streets in Kyoto, however, are almost always one-way and are what many Americans would consider alleys. Fortunately, these alleys aren't filled with the usual American alley fare, i.e. bums, dumpsters, trash, etc. Instead, the alleys serve as true side streets and are often lined with businesses, restaurants, and condominiums, which the Japanese refer to as "mansions."
Finally, we arrived at the Kyoto Art Center.
The center was surprisingly busy. I guess I'm used to the arts in America, which always seem to be sparse and floundering, for some reason or another. In any case, after visiting the arts center, we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hotel to catch some shut eye before tomorrow, the always dreaded orientation...
posted by Matt Hooks at 12:00 PM
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