July 16; exploring Kyoto in my yukata

Day 9

Today, I paraded around in my yukata as we explored the neighborhood.

browsing the convenient store
Photo Cred: Cat

First stop: Nishijin Textile Center

cool machines and demonstrations

They have kimono fashion shows several times everyday. We got to catch one. 

Second Stop: The Kyoto City Archeological Museum

A free museum that was totally up Cat's alley.

Next stop: Kyoto International Manga Museum 

The museum is actually a giant manga library where people can pay an entrance fee to read all the mangas they want, until closing time. We arrived at the museum with less than an hour left and decided to just wander around the gift shop. 

Couldn't take any pictures inside... so here's a peek from the outside

reading yard

Last stop: Downtown Kyoto for Gion Matsuri
We celebrated the rest of the evening at the festival roaming the streets filled with fantastic food and fashion and fun.

Cat getting ready to go

girls in yukatas

happy people strolling

float!

A popular festival game throughout Japan is a fishing game where players are given a rice paper paddle to catch their small goal fish.Whatever you catch is yours. The challenge: the rice paper is extremely thin and is prone to break at any time.

catching fish game

yay, person got one. 

more fun games.

Kristie sees turtle game. How would you bring that home...

food time!
Photo Cred: Cat

Soba noodles = 300 Yen

Grilled octopus = 200 Yen

This festival kind of makes up for me missing out on Pride and the Taste of the Danforth this year.

Vending machine of the day: 

July 11; a day with miyazaki

Day 4

I have had a great fascination with Japan since early childhood. It started with an early exposure to animes like Sailor Moon and then gaming with Pokemon. Miyazaki movies definitely had its impact on me too. Today, I was lucky enough to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mikata, a cute little suburban town in Tokyo. I could have died of happiness when we arrived there.

tickets!

The tickets were timed and we had more than an hour to spare. We wandered around the cute little town for a bit to find some wonderful things. In one store, there was an assortment of items from kitchen ware to cosmetics. Thought: when I get a house, I will buy my furnishings from Japan. We went into Japan's version of (the now bankrupt) Blockbusters.

True Blood!

Wandering the residential area

so pretty.

With the purchase of a ticket, we were not only granted admission to the musuem, but also we were given a ticket to watch a short film in the Saturn theater at the museum and also a little piece of film as a keepsake

(I got 3 frames from Spirited Away).

All the films that play in the Saturn Theatre are museum exclusives.  The short film that was showing for that day was called "The Day I Harvested a Star." Although it was a short, it did not lack the elements of a good Miyazaki movie. The mix of fantasy with a hint of steam punk is always a win with me.

Unfortunately, you could not take pictures in the museum so you'll just have to go there to see it for yourself. For a very brief rundown of what to expect, there were three floors of amazingness and even the washrooms were lovely! There was a special exhibit from someone outside of the Ghibli family, the Saturn theatre, real work from miyazaki, his inspiration, models, a gift shop, and a cute outdoor restaurant.

indoor elevator

Robot from Laputa

 Outdoors menu and restaurant 

The bus stop.

Totoro the receptionist

An afternoon of awing made me hungry for some wacky Japanese snack. I chose the takoyaki flavoured chips for some adventure. Note: takoyaki is octopus balls but these chips were just seasoned with takoyaki seasoning.

I returned back to the dorm with dinner: and a new umbrella Ella Ella eh eh eh (finally got an umbrella from Japan).

hostel dining

my tofu wrapped rice. yumm.

Companies often hand out packets of tissue on the street advertising their business. Handy. 

Ah.  I hope this honeymoon stage never ends.