So anyway, Saturday was a free day, so when Mark and Polly said they wanted to go into town to pick up some stuff I was glad to come along.
Of course... Polly changed her mind at the last minute... so it was just Mark and I.
But before that...
It was a beautiful, yet scorching day, and as I walked down to the Imadegawa subway station because I fancied a walk (read: because I'm a cheapskate) I figured this'd be as good a time as any to get some photos of the Imperial Gardens and the full campus, so here we go.
This here is the North entrance to the Gardens, the way I usually get in because it's right opposite the entrance to the University. This gate may look pretty impressive, but you see them all the time in Kyoto, sometimes even in front of normal, if slightly old-fashioned, houses.
The roads here are massive, like they were built for Gundams (more on that later). As impressive as the size of the place is, you do end up feeling a bit dwarfed by the size of it in a way that makes me feel like I shouldn't be here. Feels very artificial. Which is what it is, I guess.
This is... umm... some kind of temple enclosure. I don't actually know, as with a lot of the complexes in here, what lies within the gates, as they are permanently sealed. But yeah, these are the sort of walls you get here in the Gardens.
But this is what you want to see, right? This is the north gate to the Imperial Palace, where the Emporer used to live. It's open to the public, but you have to pay, and you clearly don't get in this way. I've not been in yet, but I hear it's pretty impressive.
Anyway, those are the more interesting photos of the Gardens. Didn't have a great deal of time, and I wanted to split that little time between here and the campus. And I'm glad I did, for as I entered the gate at the south I noticed something was different. People, everywhere, kitted out for some kind of party. Turns out it's graduation day! Tried to get some pictures of the pretty kimonos and jovial atmosphere, but I kinda felt like I was intruding on an event I was underqualified for, so I got a few shots from the distance.
Here's where I'll be spending most of my time. The building on the left in picture 1 is the Shiseikan, where we had our placement test, whereas the square one is the Shingakukan (the divinity school) which I have never been in. Then, on the right, is the Kofukan, where I found out today I have about 80% of my lectures. The girls in front of it were wearing saris. Not kimonos. Saris. Wonder why...
Here's the Meitokan, with its lovely cheap convenience store, copy shop, cafeteria, stationary shop, Doshisha merchandise shop and Starbuck's knockoff. This is also where notices for events are posted. The other photo is of the chapel, which I have never been in. They do services at funny times: Monday at 3, Wednesday at 8 and 1, Thursday at some point as well. Want to go in at some point, but again I feel I need a reason.
Library, front and back. Massive building with those bookshelves that move to save space. The ones you squash people with. Or... not. Impressive collection, and with the Linguistics essay (urgh) on top of whatever work we get in Uni I may end up here a lot.
But that's not what I really want to talk about. What I want to talk about is this:
Teramachi! Cavern of Wonders! This is where Mark and I spent most of our time on Saturday; having lunch at a quaint little noddle restaurant, gazing longingly at the model guns, looking at Japanese CDs that had until now been a painful import away. Going to the Karasuma area is really interesting, there's a shop for near everything. Shops for clothes, food, phones, cameras, CDs, DVDs, instruments, manga, accessories, books, souvenirs...
...Gundams...
...Gundams...
...Gundams!!
Well, admittedly that's not a Gundam I'm holding. That's an RPT-007K-P1 Gespenst MKII, quite possible the coolest robot ever illustrated and then turned into a plastic model. Cost me 4000 yen, that's about £20. Worth it, most definitely worth it. Spent about 8 (non-consecutive) hours putting the little guy together in the end, and he's come out perfectly!
Anyway, that's all of note for Saturday, so let's move on to Sunday.
Church in the morning, this time with Mark coming along too. It was nice to walk through the doors to be greeted by familiar faces, it's starting to feel like a more comfortable place these days. Back away from all-age services this week, returning to the difficult vocabulary of an adult service. Today as James 2:8-13, on adultary and murder. Good stuff. Oh, interestingly, the book of James is 'Jacob's Letter' in Japanese. Curious.
Right after, as I may have mentioned, was a young member's event; a meal of kitsune nyuumen (very thin noodles with some kind of tempura bread stuff, very nice) and chat. Talk was on Britain and British culture, megachurches, the environment and essay topics. I've been given the name of a Japanese language professor in the church who apparently I should talk to on keigo in a religious context, awesome. We alos planned two events: a softball game on the 25th of next month (come if you can, gaijin who don't suck at sports!) and nabe (stew) and prayer on the 22nd November. There's also a Doshisha Christian circle we might go to if only the university would tell us where clubs are held...
Then back home, via the supermarket and (closed ><) post office, where I say the creepiest spider known to man...
...and now here I am writing this and putting the Gespenst in awesome poses. Very tired, so I think food, film and early sleep tonight. Tomorrow's an early start for the first day of class.
Thanks for reading.
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